Little Living, a Sussex County nonprofit dedicated to creating permanently affordable cottage-style housing for working families, seniors and veterans, partnered with the Notre Dame Club of Delaware on Friday, April 25 to host a Notre Dame Global Day of Service event at the future site of the Market Street Village in Georgetown. The village is a cottage-home development which has been approved in Georgetown, similar to one proposed in Kent County that has met with resistance from county officials.
“This was more than just a cleanup day, it was a meaningful act of service and the first visible step in bringing Market Street Village to life, George Meringolo, President of Little Living, said. “To be part of Notre Dame’s Global Day of Service and recognized by Notre Dame for this project is a tremendous honor. It reflects the power of faith, service and community coming together to make a lasting difference.”
In the spirit of University of Notre Dame founder Father Edward Sorin’s vision, the university Alumni Association proudly hosts the Notre Dame Global Day of Service which is a day designated or Notre Dame students, alumni, parents and friends around the world to serve in the name of Our Lady.
Since the inaugural Global Day of Service in 2023, the Notre Dame family has hosted 541 service projects, totaling more than 28,000 service hours across all 50 states and dozens of countries. From planting gardens and building homes to collecting food, visiting the sick, and reading to children, the global university community has truly come together as one to uplift those most in need. This year, Georgetown became part of that worldwide effort.
Volunteers gathered at 515 East Market Street to help prepare the future site of Market Street Village by picking up trash and debris, cleaning the property and staking out the future community garden area. These efforts represent the first tangible steps toward transforming the site into Little Living’s future 20-home permanently affordable cottage community.
Recently recognized by the University of Notre Dame Alumni Association as a 2026 recipient of the prestigious Chuck and Joan Lennon Gospel of Life Prize, Little Living’s Market Street Village is not only designed to create affordable housing, but it will also transform remediated brownfield land into high-quality energy-efficient, rental homes for working families, seniors and veterans earning approximately 50 to 80 percent of the area’s median income.
“Community service is the cornerstone of our club and of Notre Dame’s mission,” Bob Verdugo, President of the Notre Dame Club of Delaware, said. “We were honored to join Little Living for this Global Day of Service project to help prepare the future Market Street Village Garden. The garden will ultimately feature 20 raised-bed plots, one for each household, and will help enhance food security, promote healthy lifestyles and strengthen community engagement for future residents.”
The Day of Service event brought together volunteers and supporters to help clean and prepare the site for future development, reflecting the spirit of service that is helping make the vision of Market Street Village a reality.
“We are deeply grateful to every volunteer and supporter who came out to help,” Meringola added. “A village starts one cottage at a time, and this day helped us prepare the ground for a stronger community. Little Living is taking a different approach to affordable housing by combining grants, private donations and responsible bank financing, not relying solely on government funding, to create a sustainable path toward permanently affordable homes.
Little Living is actively seeking community support, volunteers and donors to bring Market Street Village toward groundbreaking and full construction. To learn more, contact Tony Vinciguerra, Vice-President and Secretary of Little Living at 410-375-7826, via email or online.
