The Selma Times-Journal

Riverview District residents had some help with Operation Facelift in a big way Saturday: a Denver-based team of Americorps National Civilian Community Corps members who will be in Selma for the next six weeks.

Operation Facelift is a project of the Riverview Neighborhood Association

to revitalize the neighborhoods located within the district.

The Historic Development Commission has approved 15 new projects in the district&8217;s neighborhoods in upcoming weeks.

The projects include new paint and shutters, work in residents&8217; yards and work on wood, brick, and pillars.

Saturday&8217;s workday covered two homes in the district, one on Riverview Avenue and one on View Street.

Residents in the district can put their homes on the list by joining the neighborhood association and participating in two other revitalization projects.

The association covers the cost of supplies,

and some have been donated by local merchants.

For Saturday&8217;s volunteers, the benefits exchange was mutual.

The group, about 16 in all, went to work beginning at 8:30 a.m. They scraped

lumps from layers of paint,

shoveled wagonloads of dirt and hacked away the roots of stubborn bushes.

Jessie Sharpe scraped paint from a home at 109 Riverview Avenue. Aside from projects on her own home, a bungalow on Alabama Avenue,

Sharpe was a newcomer to the scraping-and-painting experience.

&8220;I&8217;m learning,&8221; Sharpe said with a chuckle.

Sharpe has been a resident of the district for more than 29 years.