(Courtesy of Ida Kelly)
When Lleyton Kelly’s family had their traditional goal setting meeting at the beginning of the year, they agreed they wanted community service to be a focus.
At only 10 years old, Lleyton was the impetus behind the family choosing the ABQ Ride Adopt-A-Stop program for their community service project.
The family adopted stops 6818 at Montgomery and Eubank, and 5947 on Montgomery through their realty office, Ida Kelly Realtors, LLC.
“I wanted to give back to the community,” Lleyton said. “Keeping a bus stop or two clean seemed a good way to help the city and bus riders too. Unclean stops don’t help people feel good about riding the bus.”
The Adopt-A-Stop program, which started in 2017, asks individuals and businesses to take charge of a bus stop by keeping it clean, removing graffiti and notifying volunteer coordinators of maintenance needs.
Lleyton’s grandmother, Ida Kelly — owner of Ida Kelly Realtors, LLC. — said Lleyton will be attending Eisenhower Middle School next year and the family plans to propose to the principal the idea of adopting several stops near the school for community service projects.
The program’s incentives include having the individual’s or company’s name displayed at their adopted stop, said Transit Department spokeswoman Megan Holcomb in an email.
In addition, businesses can receive discounts on advertisement space at their adopted bus stop shelter, Holcomb said.
The program currently has 50 stops out of 2,750 adopted.
La Zenita Restaurant, a recently opened restaurant serving New Mexican and Mexican comfort food, adopted a spot near their restaurant on First and Central NW.
Alfredo Ramierez, who co-owns the restaurant with his mother Zeniada Ramirez, said the restaurant adopted the spot to keep the area safer and do their part for the community.
“Community is all that we have, honestly,” Ramirez said, “We cook because we want people to try our food and in return we want … to take our kids to a safe school and we know our neighbors … we feel like we’re being a contribution not a burden to society.”
