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Members of Take Back The Neighborhood grew tired of looking at the large tree leaning on the roof of 311 Porter St. N.E. and decided to take matters into their own hands.

Members of the nonprofit organization and volunteers from Ray Miller Construction in West Farmington teamed up on a recent Saturday and in honor of Make A Difference Day to remove the 50-foot eyesore from the neighborhood.

Make A Difference Day, a national day of caring and volunteerism sponsored by USA Weekend Magazine and the Points of Light Foundation, was held Oct. 24. The local effort is coordinated by the Tribune Chronicle.

TBTN founder Frank Bodor, a local attorney whose office is located at 157 Porter St. N.E., said the oak tree fell onto the home during a windstorm last fall and the organization sent several letters to the owner asking him to remove it. The owner kept promising he would take care of it, but nothing was done, Bodor said.

He said the city could not remove the tree because it was on private property.

According to the Trumbull County Auditor's Office, the duplex is in trusteeship by Robert W. Evans of Largo, Fla. The two-story home was built in 1900 and once was the home of Warren real-estate broker James W. Biggers, uncle of "Charlie Chan" creator Earl Derr Biggers.

Bodor said TBTN sent Evans a consent form to release the organization from liability in the event the house were damaged during the removal process.

''We wanted to get the tree removed because a contractor would be leery about demolishing it with that tree sitting on it,'' Bodor said.

He enlisted the help of contractor Ray Miller, who Bodor got to know when Miller bought the building at the corner of North Park Avenue and Porter Street N.E., which used to house the administration offices of Packard Electric. Miller brought a truck with a 40-foot boom so the tree could be cut from the top, he said.

"If we cut from the bottom, it may have fallen on the house or a neighboring property," Bodor said.

Most of the wood was cut for firewood and the rest was chipped, he said.

In addition to removing the tree on Porter Street for Make A Difference Day, TBTN also cut down two trees on Waverly Street that were leaning toward an elderly widow's house and removed two dead hickory trees on Washington Street. They also cut branches between the John Stark Edwards House and Upton House on Monroe Street N.W.

Bodor said the organization last year marked all dead trees in the area with red marks and painted yellow marks on trees that needed trimmed. They are trying to get to as many as they can each year with the help of volunteers and companies like Miller's.

The organization covers the area bordered by Park Avenue, Woodland Street, High Street and Washington Street.

mkosinski@tribtoday.com