WARREN - Students walking up Milton Street S.E. Monday to Willard Elementary School will have nicer surroundings, thanks to several organizations that banded together Saturday to board up vacant properties and clean up abandoned lots.
The Trumbull Neighborhood Partnership was joined by several groups for its Community Board Up Day, which also took place on Burton Street S.E.
The idea was to help keep the neighborhood safer for children who walk to the new Willard Elementary School.
Lea Dotson of the TNP said besides the fact the properties look bad, they are also unsafe.
''Kids were playing in some of those buildings,'' Dotson said.
Dotson said the TNP tries to think out of the box in some of its projects because sometimes that is the best way to directly affect a neighborhood they are targeting for development.
''We want to take a more holistic approach to community development,'' Dotson said.
Students at Willard painted designs on some of the boards that will be used to board up the homes.
Sharon Brady, who helped organize the event, said it is also hoped an improved neighborhood will help set a positive tone for students on their way to school in the morning. Having to go to school up a street that has overgrown lots and abandoned buildings with easy access cannot be something that is conducive to learning, she said.
As several groups were sawing, cutting and boarding, a group of school children were cleaning a vacant lot and marveling at some of the finds.
Imani Simmons, 11, found fireworks, bottles, a pair of shoes, clothes and someone's drivers license. She said she was afraid of what she might find in the lot.
''No one just leaves their clothes on the ground,'' Simmons said.
Cierra Sparks, a senior at Warren G. Harding High School and a member of the Key Club, who had 11 members helping out Saturday, said she liked being involved because the project accomplished more than one goal.
''It helps our community and it also prevents some of our kids from getting hurt in the abandoned houses.'' Sparks said.
