"Honestly if you care, this is the way to show it."

Over thirty VCU students with that same attitude came out for the First Paint the Town Green Initiative. The group's goal is simple, to clean up the neighborhoods that VCU students live in one by one.

Organizers said coming to Oregon Hill was a top priority.

"We know their has been some tension with the amount of trash that has been generated from student residents and things like that. We just thought it was a good place to start really close to home," said student Leah Fremouw.

"We care that it's clean and liveable. That peolpe want to actually get along with each other even if there are differences in age," said Misha Adams.

Students who participated in Saturday's clean up also passed out fliers that offered advice on how students and older residents can work together to build a better relationship.

The group, who was full of energy despite the cold weather, said they are already receiving positive feedback.

"A gentleman, he was taking Christmas lights down, he thanked us and said he appreciated the effort we were putting forth, so that was nice to hear," said Fremouw.  

And senior Roberto Celis, who has been heavily involved in getting VCU to go green says this is just the beginning.

"You can really see the momentum building. We are already planning for Earth Day this year. It's just going to be a really great year."

Copyright 2009 by Young Broadcasting Inc.