WHEELING — Grassroots efforts to help clean up the city’s neighborhoods are making a noticeable difference, according to city officials, who credit a growing sense of neighborhood pride as a key factor that is motivating residents to roll up their sleeves and become part of the solution.

“There’s been an incredible volunteerism effort throughout the city of Wheeling,” Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum said.

Recently in two of Ketchum’s Ward 3 neighborhoods of South Wheeling and Center Wheeling, volunteers came together to help pick up trash for a couple of hours on the weekend in a concentrated clean-up blitz.

“We gathered around 20 people and filled around 23 garbage bags full of litter, and I’ll tell you, there’s probably triple that in those two areas,” Kethcum said. “But it was really exciting to see folks come out on their Saturday and Sunday to do that work with us. We only were able to do that in two hours, and that’s how much litter we were able to pick up.”

There are two more days of neighborhood cleanups scheduled in Ward 3 coming up, Ketchum noted. Volunteers will gather Saturday and Sunday in East Wheeling and Mozart for cleanups scheduled to take place from noon to 1 p.m. on both days. If anyone in these neighborhoods is interested in helping out, Ketchum encouraged them to do so and to contact her for more information at Rketchum@wheelingwv.gov or via phone at 304-650-8727. According to the Ward 3 Facebook page, volunteers will meet at noon Saturday in the Altmeyer Funeral Home parking lot in East Wheeling, and noon Sunday at Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church on North Frazier Avenue in Mozart.

“I’m super excited for this to continue throughout the fall and hopefully in the spring,” said Ketchum, who thanked members of the city’s Sanitation Department and Superintendent Chris Helminski for providing all of the necessary equipment and supplies to help orchestrate these cleanups. “We have a lot of really wonderful folks in the city who are doing hard work.”

Cleanup efforts have been making a difference in other areas of town, as well. Councilman Jerry Sklavounakis said he and Councilman Dave Palmer recently participated in a community cleanup targeted in another neighborhood on the east end of the city.

“Councilman Palmer and myself — and actually my 12-year-old son — this past Wednesday were down at the Stone Bridge by Bridge Street Middle School, where we spent a few hours cleaning up and beautifying our community,” Sklavounakis said, noting that this cleanup was organized by the group Volunteer Wheeling. “They’ve been doing a lot of really good stuff in the last few weeks. If anyone would like to be part of this — Volunteer Wheeling — you can find them on Facebook. It’s a very good organization, and I would encourage you to be involved. It’s one of those things that make you feel better about yourself, when you volunteer to beautify your community.”

In Ward 2, Councilman Ben Seidler noted that great strides are being made on Wheeling Island and in other neighborhoods in his ward.

“I’m really excited about what’s going on in Ward 2,” Seidler said. “We have really started to move the flywheel. We have residents who are really starting to get excited. We’re starting to build momentum in getting this place cleaned up, which is fantastic. People are starting to see positive change.”

Seidler thanked members of the city administration, the city manager’s office and particularly the code enforcement officers who have helped him move forward with an effort to get junk vehicles removed that are illegally parked or illegally stored on properties. Notices are being sent out to property or vehicle owners in an effort to have them moved, and if no action is taken, the city is simply towing them away.

A good sign is that in most cases, property owners are taking action themselves, Seidler said.

“We’re on the second round of notifications to folks to get junk cars moved,” Seidler said. “With a lot of those notifications for vehicle violations, folks stepped up to the plate and moved a lot of them. We only ended up towing seven or eight out of the first 29 or so. But the city has really stepped up to the plate over the past few months, and I really appreciate everything that they’ve done, especially our code enforcement folks who have worked with our neighborhoods and have been graceful about it, but also reiterating the importance of cleaning it up.”