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Youngstown students fill 65 garbage bags in city cleanup
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Emmett Conner, a senior at the Choffin Career and Technical Center, helps remove garbage from a vacant lot on Youngstown’s South Side. About 20 Choffin seniors participated in the cleanup Thursday.
YOUNGSTOWN
As she put the remains of a book, shoe and wooden sign into a large garbage bag, Ivellisse Ayala said she is proud to be “making a difference in our community.”
The Choffin Career and Technical Center senior joined about 20 fellow seniors Thursday to clean up two overgrown vacant lots on Hillman Street on the South Side.
The street, near Sherwood Avenue, is primarily surrounded by other vacant lots, empty houses and the long-closed Princeton Junior High School.
“It’s work, but it’s fun,” said Ayala, who lives on the East Side.
Earlier in the day, a group of about 25 Choffin juniors cleaned Lansdowne Boulevard between East High Street and Stewart Avenue on the East Side.
The annual cleanup is organized by Jennifer Jones, the city’s litter control and recycling coordinator, and Choffin’s biotech and teacher-tech preparation program.
“They’re such good-hearted, respectful young adults who really care about the city and the environment,” she said.
Among the items found Thursday were baby dolls, vinyl siding, large pieces of metal and wood, a lot of glass and at the Hillman site a small handgun.
Jones said she called the city police department after the gun was found. Officers were tied up with other work, so the Mahoning County sheriff’s office came and took the gun.
Students filled about 65 bags of garbage Thursday, Jones said.
The cleanup was planned for April 23 to coincide with Earth Day, which was a day earlier. But the threat of a major snowstorm that day postponed the fourth annual cleanup, Jones said. The storm never materialized, but students were cleaning the empty lots Thursday with temperatures in the mid-80s.
The Hillman Street lot had grass as high as 4 to 5 feet. The city will mow the area as early as today, Jones said. To mow it before the cleanup would turn the garbage in the lot into “confetti,” as it would cut up the trash and make it more difficult to pick up, she said.
Justice Robinson, a Choffin senior from the North Side, helped Ayala. It was their second year in the cleanup program.
“The community will look so much brighter [after the clean-up] and people will want to come to Youngstown,” Robinson said. “We want to make Youngstown a better place and bring people here. I feel I’m making a big contribution to the community. Too many people talk badly of Youngstown, but it’s a wonderful place.”
Ryan Kowal, a Choffin senior who lives about five streets from Thursday’s cleanup site, says the activity combines work and fun.
“It says to the community that we want to help out and clean our environment,” he said.
“This program is a part of how we give back and take care of the environment,” said Holly Welch, a Choffin biotech instructor who helped organize the event.