Members of the Valdosta High School Navy ROTC help move an old refrigerator off a piece of property on U.S. 41 Saturday as part of the National Make A Difference Day neighborhood clean-up.

VALDOSTA — Neighbors put on gloves and work boots Saturday to help neighbors in a combined city-county cleanup effort.

Keep Lowndes/Valdosta Beautiful, the City of Valdosta and Lowndes County joined forces with local organizations and volunteers for the annual Make A Difference Day event from 8:30 -11:30 a.m.

Volunteers gathered at two separate staging areas, one at Payton Park on Griffin Avenue, the other on Mcleod Circle off Hickory Grove Road, to help rid those neighborhoods of trash and debris.

More than 96 volunteers showed up to help at the Payton Park site, said Julie Killion, chairman of the Board of Directors of KLVB, and approximately 75 at the Lowndes site.

Work at the Valdosta site included picking up trash from around the pond at Payton Park, said volunteer Kim Tucker. Asked why she thought it was important for people to get involved in efforts like this one, Tucker said, “Many hands make light work.”

Ricardia Brutus, another volunteer, said the cleanup was an eye-opening experience. She and others worked picking up junk and debris at an open dump site past the railroad tracks. They picked up old mattresses, furniture and “a lot of random stuff.”

“It was horrible to just walk in and see a dumping site like that. It was like, wow, why would people do this.”

A larger cleanup effort centered around a dilapidated house next to the park belonging to Hazel McCoggle. McCoggle said she inherited the property two years ago when her mother passed away. Volunteers carried boards and large chunks of wood with nails sticking out to the street to be loaded onto dump trucks.

Commander Mark Gonzales, senior naval science instructor for the VHS Naval Junior ROTC, supervised the volunteers to ensure their safety. Gonzales said he planned to stay with his group until the 11:30 a.m. deadline, getting as much of the old house removed as possible.

“They are doing an awesome job,” McCoggle said. “I thank God for them, I really do.”

At least a dozen different volunteer groups removed approximately 20 tons of garbage and debris at the two staging areas, said KLVB executive director H. Aaron Strickland.

Second Harvest of South Georgia Inc. plans to hold its annual Make A Difference Day event on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. Volunteers are still needed to do jobs like sorting, cleaning and inspecting donated food items, assembling emergency food boxes, cleaning the warehouse at 1411 Harbin Circle, etc., said SHSGA development director Shannon Zapf. The Second Harvest event will include a kids carnival, Zapf said.

For more information, call H. Aaron Strickland at 229-671-2497. For information about Second Harvest of South Georgia, Inc., visit their website at www.ashsga.org, or call 229-244-2678.