70 Volunteers Collect 210 Trash Bags at South Bend Cleanup

When 70 volunteers showed up with gloves and trash bags on Saturday morning, they weren't just cleaning up Portage Manor. They were reclaiming a piece of their community that deserved better.

St. Joseph County Surveyor Derek Dieter organized the third annual cleanup of Portage Manor and the surrounding Portage Avenue area. The volunteers fanned out from Boland Drive to Council Oak Center, tackling years of accumulated litter along sidewalks, in parks, and around a neighborhood building.

By the end of the day, they had filled 210 trash bags. That's not just a number—it represents countless cigarette butts, fast food wrappers, plastic bottles, and discarded items that were choking a neighborhood where kids ride bikes and climb trees.

Dieter grew up when Portage Avenue looked different. "In the 50s and 60s, Portage Avenue was like a Norman Rockwell painting," he said. He's working to restore those cleaner, safer spaces where families can enjoy the outdoors without wading through trash.

The Ripple Effect

The cleanup matters most to the people who live nearby. Unlike wealthier residents who can drive to St. Patrick's Park or Potato Creek, families in Portage Manor need their local green spaces to be clean and safe.

Volunteer Patrick Sovinski highlighted why this work matters. Many residents don't have the transportation or money to visit parks across town. For them, the paths Dieter has created and the spaces volunteers are maintaining represent their only outdoor recreation options.

Volunteer Kaih Hass connected the dots between small actions and big change. "If you don't have any community pride, your entire community will go to waste," he said. His words capture what brings dozens of people out on a Saturday morning.

Amanda Davidson-Melton spoke for many when she expressed hope that inspiring turnout might prevent future problems. She dreams of a year when the cleanup isn't necessary because neighbors keep their own streets clean.

The volunteers ranged from longtime residents remembering better days to young people building the community they want to live in. Together, they proved that 70 dedicated people can make a visible difference in just one day.

The trash mostly came from littering, not inadequate waste services. That means the solution lies in changing behavior and building the kind of community pride that makes people think twice before tossing trash out a car window.

For now, Portage Manor looks dramatically better, and kids have safe places to play again.