After George Floyd Protests Escalate, Volunteers Band Together to Clean up Damage

As some stores were looted and businesses damaged following the protests over the killing of George Floyd, many peaceful protesters are joining their neighbors to help clean up the damage. "The people of Reno, the people of Sparks, the Black Lives Matter, that's not what we're about,” activist Nastassia Sykes, of Reno, Nevada told KTVN.

Sykes worked alongside other local volunteers, who focused on washing the graffiti from City Hall and local businesses.

“I came down here this morning to see what was the damage just out of curiosity and immediately turned around, went home and got my family and brought them down here to help,” volunteer Jacob Stafford of Reno told KTVN.

His wife Michelle Stafford added, “I felt that we owed it to our community and the town to come down and help.”

In Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed, hundreds of volunteers came together throughout the weekend to clean up broken glass, armed with brooms, trash bags and shovels. Some volunteers even set up GoFundMe pages to help small businesses recuperate from the damage.

More than 2,000 volunteers of mostly local families also helped tidy up their community after a night of unrest in Rochester, New York.

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