CLEVELAND — It was a rainy Earth Day morning in Cleveland, but that didn’t stop volunteers in Euclid and Collinwood from getting out there to pick up the trash in their community.

What You Need To Know

  • Euclid and Collinwood hosted their annual "Big Clean" competition to see which community could pick up the most trash.

  • Despite rain, volunteers made it out to clean up for Earth Day

  • The competition ended with a celebration for everyone with food, prizes and fun.

“Rain or shine, you still gotta make the city look nice,” volunteer Kelly Overstreet said.

For the past 7 years, community leaders in Euclid and Collinwood have hosted a competition to see which community could pick up the most trash, and while they count a winner in trash bags collected, in this competition, they say everyone wins by making the cities cleaner.

“It helps all of us out because it makes the neighborhood look nice,” said volunteer Chris Grad. “It makes the city look nice, and it all snowballs from there.”

A lifelong Euclid resident, Grad said events like this bring out the type of people who care about the city and truly want to make it better, and those people are the reason he chooses to stay.

“Those are the people you want in your community,” Grad said. “And I’m surrounded by those people. My neighborhood is a great neighborhood. We all help each other out.”

Overstreet said she wants to instill that mindset into her children and that bringing them to events like this shows them the importance of being involved in their community.

“It also gives them responsibility and ownership of the place they visit and live in,” she added.

Since the rain was so bad Saturday morning, organizers offered clean-up kits for people to use later in the week when it’s nicer out.