FRESNO, California (KSEE) – “Keep Fresno Beautiful” is now “Beautify Fresno” – and Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer says the initiative’s goal is to give the city a regular clean up.

“We have a beautiful city, but sometimes our neighborhoods aren’t so beautiful,” said Dyer. “We have beautiful people who live in them, but we need to make sure that we restore that curb appeal.  So ‘Beautify Fresno’ is not a one-weekend deal, it’s not a one-week deal, it’s going to be something that we focus on all the way through.”

Two cleanup events kicked off “Beautify Fresno” on Monday – one in Downtown Fresno at Mariposa Plaza and the other at the Lowell Community Garden on East Belmont and North Park avenues. Mayor Dyer says the community should take pride in Fresno.

“Really, it’s a mindset and the mindset has to be that we’re not willing to live in neighborhoods or in areas or see on our freeway trash and we just got to get to that point where we’re not only cleaning it up but not littering in the first place.”

More than 200 volunteers came out between the two locations and the Executive Director of Lowell Community Development, Esther Carver, says volunteering gives back in other ways amid COVID-19.

“A lot of our community events have all been canceled or moved and so it’s just really fun to be able to see each other’s eyeballs – actual eyeballs in person and just to all be reminded that we all do care about this place where we live.”

Monday is also National Day of Service, designed to encourage volunteerism to improve communities. It is observed on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day to honor the legacy of the late Reverend King.