Next city cleanup to be even bigger

First Living City Project event in 2019 collected 107 tons of trash.

Dayton hosted the largest cleanup of its kind in state history last year, with more than 1,500 volunteers pitching to collect over 215,000 pounds (or 107 tons) of trash.

And that record-breaking event is expected to be even larger the next go-around, coming up in April.

“We look to for the city of Dayton to double the collections,” said Joel Burton, director of the Living City Project.

Over the course of four hours last April, volunteers removed trash from 30 Dayton neighborhoods, including 21,000 pounds of tires.

The event was Ohio’s largest community cleanup of its kind, Burton said, and the Living City Project won an award and national recognition from Keep America Beautiful.

The Living City Project is a ministry of Declare, a worship community of multi-denomination churches.

On Saturday, April 25, the Living City Project will host the second annual citywide cleanup.

The event is expected to be bigger and will involve addi- tional communities, includ- ing Harrison Twp., Jefferson Twp., Trotwood and others.

In Dayton, the goal is to collect 250 tons of trash and clean up around 60 neighborhoods, Burton said.

More than 1,000 peo- ple have committed to volunteering for the cleanup by registering and putting their names on commitment forms, and there is still plenty of time to get many others signed up, he said.

Burton said he’s pretty confident the pool of volun- teers will reach 3,000 people. The cleanup focuses on streets, sidewalks, alleys, vacant properties and public spaces.

On Feb. 20, the Living City Project will host a “vision casting” and commitment meeting for potential host sites. The meeting will take place at the Salvation Army Kroc Center at 1000 N. Keowee St.