As he sifted through an alleyway that had become a dumping ground for garbage, University of Pittsburgh student Nathan Blatt found a sleeping ground for the homeless, covered by trees, weeds and layers upon layers of broken alcohol bottles, plastic cups and soggy cardboard.

It was a structured home setting, with an upholstered armchair sitting next an unstained coffee table and dismembered television set, but the conditions were worse than what the weather may have brought.

Plastic, paper and other trash practically rolled down the slight alleyway grade into the residence "living room," and Blatt said, this is what Centre Avenue in Oakland would look like if the fraternity Tau Epsilon Phi had not stepped in.

"It's like people just don't care," Blatt, a junior nursing major, said. "This used to be an upscale place to live. Now everything has just been run down to nothing."

Blatt and his fellow fraternity members took part in Keep It Clean Oakland's Adopt-A-Block program Oct. 6, when local groups and concerned citizens take responsibility for a few blocks of Oakland. Tau Epsilon Phi members started at their frat home at 4504 Centre Avenue and worked their way down to N. Neville Street, sweeping up cigarette butts and pulling plastic cups out of the bushes that were leftover from a party the night before.

From Oct. 12 through 14, at least 87 city neighborhoods will participate in a two-day city-wide community clean-up, part of the former Mayor Bob O'Connor's Redd Up Pittsburgh Coalition to face-lift the city streets, said Boris Weinstein, founder of Citizens Against Litter, the event's organizing group.

In addition, six communities in Allegheny County, 13 groups in Beaver County towns and 10 nonprofit groups will be picking up litter this weekend.

"I don't think there's ever been an effort this large," Weinstein said. There are 89 neighborhoods in the city, according to Weinstein, and only two have not signed up. Weinstein said, with as many as 40 schools involved, there could be as many as 8,000 participants, including 4,000 students cleaning the streets this weekend.

KICO will be participating on Saturday.

"We pretty much have Oakland covered as far as the streets go," said Kelly Wawrzeniak, Oakland Planning and Development Corporation community organizer. KICO has a jumpstart on the grassroots effort that became city-wide, as they clean their respective streets all year long. Citizens Against Litter as well as community groups in Greenfield and the Central North Side also clean their streets all year long.

KICO, established in 2003, has busily cleaned four years of litter from Oakland Streets. Although area residents may overlook the fact that candy wrappers are not trailing from the bottom of their shoes as they walk along streets such as Atwood, KICO volunteers silently take the credit.

"It's a good way to motivate guys like us, who, on the other hand, probably wouldn't be up on a Saturday morning to clean the streets," said Evan Miller, junior chemical engineering major at the University of Pittsburgh and vice president of the fraternity. Miller has been cleaning streets through KICO for three years, and the fraternity has pledged this type of community service for four years.

The group collected three full bags of garbage at the end of their five-block sweep, and Blatt said the litter-free sidewalks will last about one day. They decided not to face the intimidating task of cleaning the unnamed alleyway - a task meant for more than an eight-man crew and three garbage bags.

"When they actually go out there and pick up all kinds of random things off the street, and they see the streets cleaner, that really motivates them to continue that work. They feel more a part of their community," Wawrzeniak said.

Volunteers are provided with all needed supplies, including defense weapons of hand sanitizer, latex gloves, garbage bags and a broom and dustpan.

Four years ago at the project's conception, a mere 14 groups swept up muddied glass and crumbled fliers from the sidewalks. Today almost 40 area student groups, including a few environmental and community service-based organizations, claimed streets through KICO's Adopt-A-Block program and vowed to strip the area of unsightly debris on the first Saturday of every month. Groups participating in the recent Adopt-A-Block included Sigma Delta Tau at N. Craig Street, Lambda Sigma at Atwood Street, Delta Delta Delta at S. Bouquet and Pier Streets, Anointed Steps of Faith at McKee Place, Phi Delta Theta at N. Dithridge Street, Delta Phil Epsilon at Bates Street and more.

Other KICO projects include gardening in dilapidated places such as Lawn Street and a recycled used furniture sale at the start of the fall semester. Informational recycling kits are distributed in January, and a tenant's rights guide is distributed to residents to prevent against cases of absentee and negligent landlords.

The offices of OPDC are located at 235 Atwood Street. Behind the offices, a picnic table sits on the side of a backyard mimicking a park, an escape from the busy streets that are merely a peek over the surrounding fence. All efforts to "engage students in the community" begin here.

"We don't want them to think this is a temporary place. We want them to think 'this is your home, and you should take care of it,'" Wawrzeniak said.

Weinstein has the same idea.

"There's the everyday litter and trash that I believe citizens have the responsibility to pick up. This city does not have the funds to pick up litter all over the city on a regular basis. It just doesn't, and no one would expect it to. It's our job as citizens," Weinstein said.

KICO takes part in the Redd Up Campaign event on Saturday, Oct. 13. Volunteers will meet at OPDC's office at 10 a.m. to receive supplies and street assignments. For more information on KICO, visit www.oaklandplanning.org.