Teen Volunteers Fix Up Oklahoma City Neighborhood

By Jon Jordan, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY - A Southwest Oklahoma City neighborhood received a much needed facelift thanks to a group of out-of-state teens.

Chris Tasler is from Iowa and is a volunteer with Catholic Heart, a national work camp designed to revitalize neighborhoods for low income families and the elderly.

"We just go and help fix up places that need it. We mow lawns, scrap, paint and clean up inside of homes," Tasler said.

Both the homes and streets of the Riverpark neighborhood were cleaned up this week. One of the homes repaired belonged to Bob Gilliam. Before the repairs, he said the paint on his home had been peeling off, but now he said his house looks as good as new.

"You couldn't find better kids. They've done great, in fact they are doing better than any professional would," Gilliam said.

Jeanna Daniel is the president of the Riverpark Neighborhood Association and arranged for the volunteers to come clean up the neighborhood.

"These people deserve to have a nice home and a nice neighborhood," Daniel said. "There was graffiti on every single corner on every single street. The kids didn't have a lot to do. There was just boredom and restlessness."

Tasler said cleaning up neighborhoods and making it a better living environment for everyone is worth giving up part of his summer.

"It's great to see their smiles and joy when it's all done, it just gives you a good feeling," Tasler said.

Not only are the teens volunteering for Catholic Heart, but they also paid $500 to stay in Oklahoma for the week.