Volunteers work to keep Pittsburgh clean: “We’re proud of this city”

An oversized poster board tracks the deep cleaning happening across Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood. All of the yellow highlights denote the streets already adopted.

“We got all the streets on Grandview [Avenue] and we’re still working on a few on Duquesne.”

It’s the brain of Helen Oldfield, who told KDKA-TV that her recent move from the West Coast left something to be desired at first.

“I was very depressed and shocked by the amount of dirt and litter everywhere,” said Oldfield, creator of the Adopt-A-Block program.

She started volunteering for the large cleanups along Grandview Avenue and loved seeing people rappel down the sides to collect the accumulated trash. 

“It’s the iconic street in Pittsburgh. It needs to be clean and look nice, but what about the rest of Mount Washington? When people wandered back through the streets, it was just horrible; it was a mess,” Oldfield said. 

It was from that idea that Oldfield’s Adopt-a-Block program was born. Now she’s more than 60 volunteers deep and trying not to just clean but shift attitudes.

“I think a lot of the mess that accumulates up here on Grandview, unfortunately, is due to groups of young people collecting in the evening and just hanging out,” she said. “And it’s a cool place to hang out, so why not? They come with their motorbikes, and they come with their fast cars, and they drink, and they eat fast food, and then they chuck it all over the edge. I don’t believe the trash is due to any local residents or any visitors or sightseers.”

Volunteers Barbara and Paul Franklin say this is part of their life now.

“We’ve been here about a year, and we moved back to Pittsburgh after being away for 37 years, and we noticed there’s just a lot of trash out there,” Paul Franklin said. 

The couple is now donning yellow safety vests, using an embroidery hoop to keep the trash bags open, and using grabbers to snag cigarette butts, cans, and even gum wrappers.

“When we do McCardle Roadway on Sunday mornings, I feel really good about that,” Barbara Franklin said. 

The volunteers keep on coming, snapping pictures of themselves getting their steps in and making a difference, block by block.

“There is still a long way to go, and we are getting there, and I feel the motivation going here,” said Oldfield.

The Franklins told KDKA-TV that it’s addicting, and now they notice trash everywhere. They hope people will see this story and spread it beyond Mt. Washington.

“We’re proud of this city, we’re proud of this neighborhood, and we want to show it in its best light, and we think we’re helping to do that,” said Paul Franklin.

Oldfield said she hopes to secure some funding to continue supplying her volunteers with much-needed gear. She’s currently receiving some money from the community organization Neighbors on the Mount to purchase the vests and grabbers.

She’s soon applying for grant money in the form of a Neighborhood Economic Development grant and told KDKA-TV that she hopes the city will consider her group for the funds to keep this going.