Ruth McDaniels: Planting the seeds of community

Ruth McDaniels is creating spaces of solace in Harlem. She felt it already as she clipped back some bushes recently.

"You don't even understand how therapeutic this is," McDaniels said. "I can't speak to it. I just know it feels good."

McDaniels is the president of the Friends of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard Malls. The lifelong Harlemite tends to the street medians between West 110th and West 155th streets as needed. Volunteers help her plant twice a year.

What You Need To Know

Ruth McDaniels helps maintain the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard Malls

She worked with Marie Littlejohn to spruce up the major thoroughfare, continuing the effort after Littlejohn's death

McDaniels recruits volunteers to plant in street medians twice a year

"It gives you a place to woosah, for a momen