Most kids go to Mowry Park to play baseball or on the playground equipment, but seven Cub Scouts spent last Saturday cleaning it up.

Scouts from Pleasant Hills Pack 562 took on the task as part of the borough's annual Clean-Up Day.

About 25 people showed up, armed with work gloves and giant trash bags. The Pleasant Hills Lions Club organized the event.

"We've helped out with the clean-up for several years," Roy Fowler, Pleasant Hills Lion's Club member, said. "But last year, we stepped in and started organizing it and had several groups step forward to help out."

The Lions coordinate the project by assigning the workers to areas of the borough, concentrating on the main corridors first.

Usually, workers are first sent to the cloverleaf near the Bill Green Shopping Center, Route 51, Bruceton Road and the parks. Fowler said high-traffic areas are targeted first.

"Our motto is to serve," Fowler said. "And this is our way to give back to the people we serve."

Cub Master Victor Graves said the scouts were excited about the clean-up.

"They were looking forward to helping out, but not looking forward to getting up this early on a Saturday," Bill Myers, scout committee chair and Lions Club member, said.

This year was the first the pack participated in the clean up, and they were happy to take on the park. Graves said the scouts usually clean the park after the borough's Community Day festivities.

"I like getting out and helping out the community," Conor O'Leary, 10, said. "I'd rather get up early on a Saturday morning than have a bunch of trash laying around."

Old baseballs, paper and old cans filled most of the bags. But the scouts found quite a few items that weren't typical litter, such as a rusty bread knife and a buzz saw blade.

"Once people are finished with their things, they need to put it in the garbage or take it home," Jacob Myers, 9, said.

But participating in the community's clean-up day made 5-year-old Ryan Graves feel like he was helping more than just the community.

"We're helping save the world," Ryan said.

"We don't want our planet to be covered with trash," Ryan's brother, Shawn, 8, said. "We want it to be clean and healthy. Everybody should do more stuff to help out, even just clean up a little litter."

The clean-up is one of the events the Lion's Club puts on throughout the year. It holds several spaghetti dinners and other fundraisers, such as the farmer's market at the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church, kicking off on May 15, from 3:30 until 7 p.m.