AdoptOneBlock, along with fellow B Corps™ Thesis and Boly:Welch hosted the first annual We Believe in Portland clean-up on Friday, September 15. They invited purpose-driven Portland leaders and companies who are committed to restoring Portland to come help clean up downtown. What started as an idea from Ryan Buchanan, Thesis founder and chairman, became a reality, as Pioneer Courthouse Square filled up with energized Portlanders ready to be part of something remarkable.

Armed with buckets, gloves, and trash grabbers, more than 500 volunteers from over 125 teams hit downtown Portland, spreading out from Pioneer Courthouse Square. Each team was assigned an area, and at 11 a.m., hundreds of orange-vested cleaners blanketed the city to show their dedication to making Portland shine. Teams came from companies that included Wieden + Kennedy, TedxPortland, Elephants Delicatessen, and New Seasons, as well as nonprofits like the Oregon Community Foundation, The Contingent, and Oregon State University Foundation.

Each team was assigned a section of the city to clean up, and afterward, participants joined their teams for lunch at a downtown Portland eatery. Arnerich Massena’s team was assigned Morrison St. between Front Avenue and 13^th, and we enjoyed a shady walk up and down the avenue while collecting trash.

It was inspiring to see the veritable army of organizations and people committed to Portland and showing up for this simple yet powerful act of cleaning up. Thank you to all those who participated this year; we anticipate this will become an annual event, and look forward to being part of it for years to come. We love our Portland community and are excited to be part of keeping it beautiful!

To learn more about AdoptOneBlock, helping to make our community what it can and should be by implementing scalable solutions that make an immediate impact, visit https://www.adoptoneblock.org/ Watch the KATU news report about the event at https://katu.com/amp/news/local/more-than-100-businesses-clean-up-trash-in-downtown-portland. Check out our photos of the event below.