Staff photo / Chris McBride Andrew Martin, the Interact Club adviser at Warren G. Harding High School, picks up litter along the train tracks during a community cleanup on Mahoning Avenue in Warren. Martin and his students joined the effort organized by the Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership on Saturday.

WARREN — Volunteers came together Saturday to clean up litter along Mahoning Avenue, turning a messy area into a better visual for the community.

The Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership, or TNP, organized the event with help from the Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District.

About 20 to 25 people joined in, including workers from 7 17 Credit Union such as Renee Barnes and Jackie Bradley, Warren City Council President John Brown, Councilman Andrew Herman, D-2nd Ward, councilman-elect Michael Shrodek, D-5th Ward, and teacher Andrew Martin from Warren G. Harding High School. Martin brought several students from the school’s Interact Club to help.

The group met in a parking lot across from a rental car place at Mahoning Avenue and Belmont Street. They then moved toward the train tracks, where most of the work happened. Volunteers picked up typical trash like aluminum cans and plastics, which they recycled. They also cleared bigger items, such as parts of car bumpers and other debris.

Sev Tripoulas, the community programs coordinator for TNP and the event’s organizer, said the cleanup aimed to make neighborhoods in Warren better.

She added that seeing so many volunteers felt great.

“It’s so refreshing to see people take the time to give back to their community through volunteering,” Tripoulas said.

Tripoulas said her love for community service came from her parents.

“My parents were very involved in the community. My father owned a business downtown and they were always involved in things for the community. And the community was our family,” she said.

She was excited about the young volunteers.

“It’s so exciting to see the youth come out and volunteer, because they are now understanding what it takes to keep their city beautiful,” Tripoulas said.

Tripoulas said the recyclables collected will go to the Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District or drop-off spots at the Warren YWCA on North Park.

This was TNP’s eighth cleanup of the year, running from Earth Day through November. Tripoulas said anyone can get supplies like gloves, pickers, bags, mattress bags and vests to do their own cleanup.

“If anyone wants to do a cleanup, we have gloves, pickers, bags, mattress bags, anything that you would need, vests. We can give those to you. You don’t have to have an organized cleanup. You can just do one on your city block,” she said.

To get involved, call TNP at 330-647-6301 and ask for Sev.

Andrew Martin, the Interact Club adviser, said his volunteering started young. “My dad had always encouraged me to do stuff with church,” Martin said.

He praised the students for helping despite busy schedules.

“It’s a good thing to see this is a challenge. Community, I think, is one of the things that kids tend to leave out of the equation,” Martin said.

Councilman Andrew Herman, who was cleaning in his own ward, walked through an empty lot near Mahoning Avenue and Atlantic Street.

Seeing the debris up close was tough. “It’s discouraging,” he said.

Herman wants people to know the city does not have the same amount of workers just for picking up litter.

“They (City of Warren) did have people to pick up the garbage on the sidewalks and empty lots. They do not today. So everything you throw out there, volunteers and neighbors who don’t like looking at trash on the streets have to pick it up,” Herman said.

This was his fifth cleanup this year. Herman said cleanups help fight crime by showing care for the area.

“There have been studies done that prove that the worse a street looks, it’s almost like a magnet for crime. You attract the worst of the city to the worst place. And so if people feel like it’s neglected and abandoned, then that attracts some of the issues,” he said.

He recalled his first volunteering memory from his mother, a Girl Scout leader. They sang Christmas carols to elderly people in nursing homes.

“My mother wanted to give the elderly something to smile about on the holidays knowing that many of the elderly are left alone,” Herman said.

Volunteering has big benefits, Herman said.

“It’s good for your soul and it’s good for your body to get out and do stuff, get out and be a part of your community. You feel more connected to the people in your neighborhood, to your city. You get some exercise, you feel like you did something good.”