Instead of playing video games or watching television, a group of Niles children have been devoting much of their summer to cleaning up their neighborhood.

The Children’s Community Outreach Program is a group of approximately two-dozen children from the Cherry Street neighborhood who meet three times a week to clean up the parks and streets in their area.

Since July 13, the CCOP — as the children like to call it — has helped beautify 31 parks (some are the same parks), 10 empty lots and four streets, according to the handful of adults who helped start the program.

Autumn Clark, one of the adult organizers, said they have had as many as 30 different children ranging in age from six to 17 participate at one time and a core group of about a dozen kids who show up for nearly every cleanup session.

Clark, who works for a food services company serving Niles schools, said the program has helped children form relationships with each other while teaching them the value of giving back to the community.

“It has been a blessing to watch all of these kids really make a difference,” she said. “We don’t just clean parks either. We talk to the kids about things like bullying and what they want to be when they grow up.

“It is a really great group of kids.”

The children and adult chaperones meet at 10:30 a.m. three days a week (weather permitting) at the park at the corner of South Fifth Street and Cherry Street in Niles. After cleaning up that park, the group cleans up another park if time permits. Then, they all walk to the Niles District Library to participate in the free summer lunch program.

The group has also toured the Niles Fire Department and is scheduled to visit the Fort St. Joseph Museum and Chapin Mansion later this month.

“We like to mix it up,” Clark said.

The group travels everywhere by foot, using plastic grocery bags to collect the trash. The parents said they have used more than 400 bags throughout the summer and that Martin’s Super Market donated bags to the group.

Sixteen-year-old SaRena Hummel said she has been to nearly every cleanup session. She said she has seen positive changes not just in the appearance of the neighborhood, but in the attitudes of the children there.

“I think it is so great to see the community come back together and to be clean again,” she said. “One person can make a change and we have 25 people coming together to make that change for Niles.”

Clark said the group began when a group of neighborhood parents decided it would be a good idea to clean up the park at South Fifth and Cherry Streets. From there, organizers said the effort quickly expanded to other parks, streets and abandoned lots.

Twelve-year-old Brianna Kern said she thinks it is a great program because it helps clean the environment and make Niles a more beautiful place.

“I learned that cleaning the parks is good thing to do and it helps make it so other people don’t have to clean up other people’s trash,” she said.

The group is taking donations of water, snacks, hand soap, gloves and plastic bags. A celebration is planned for 11 a.m. Aug. 27 at the park on Cherry Street.

For more information, email Clark at awesumdelivery@gmail.com or find the Children’s Community Outreach Program on Facebook.