Photo courtesy of the Student Conservation Association.

By Justin Criado

The 9.11 Service and Remembrance event last Saturday, Sept. 6 at Allegheny Commons park proved to be a great day of community service and connection.

Nearly 40 volunteers came out for the Student Conservation Association (SCA) and Allegheny Commons Initiative (ACI) project, including Deutschtown firefighters and local police officers.

SCA program director Lori Gaido said the volunteers’ efforts to clean-up the park and the surrounding areas really made a difference.

“We were able to get all the major projects we wanted to done,” Gaido said.

Forty park trees were weeded and mulched, 27 trees along the street were weeded, 650 gallons of trash and debris were collected, and a 50-foot wall at the Aviary was weeded and cleaned. The Pittsburgh Department of Public Works provided mulch and trash pickup.

This year’s event was the first time the SCA partnered with ACI, and Gaido was happy with the result.

“We’d definitely like to come back here again,” Gaido said. “I think everything went well. We got a lot of support from the community.”

Barbara Burns, who owns a cafe on East Ohio Street, opened her doors for volunteers, providing refreshments. Citizens that were otherwise just passing by stopped and offered assistance, according to Gaido.

“Everyone was great,” Gaido said. “Some people offered to show us around and take us to different places that needed work.”

For more information about the SCA and ACI visit their official websites.