ORLANDO, Fla. – More than a dozen volunteers got together early Wednesday to clean up graffiti near Eagle's Nest Elementary School on Metrowest Boulevard.
Save the Earth from A to Z, a student volunteer group from World Mission Society Church of God, organized the cleanup in partnership with Keep Orlando Beautiful.
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"Take away the graffiti so the aesthetic comes back," Keep Orlando Beautiful coordinator Sean Hipps said. "Maybe it becomes more of a friendly place for individuals or it becomes more of an area where people don't come to loiter and hang out."
Volunteers remove graffiti from a 100-foot-long wall near Eagle's Nest Elementary School, which is located on Metrowest Boulevard near Kirkman Road.
Organizers of the effort said it's part of a social welfare initiative by ASEZ called "Reducing Crime Together."
The initiative aims to reduce the probability of crime by cleaning up neighborhood streets and removing graffiti.
"Studies show once we clean those things up, the crime reduces in those areas," volunteer Spencer Judd said. "If we see that the crime is reduced, that means that we've done our job."
Students from the University of Central Florida, Full Sail University, Rollins College and Valencia College participated in the two-hour cleanup.
The group said it will continue to monitor the area and plans to do similar cleanup efforts in the near future.
"We want to show this love to the world so that people can be inspired," Judd said. "We really believe that by doing this, it will kind of make this area a better place for people and families to have a nice time here."