Rina Chavez and her sister Sonia wondered where the music was Saturday morning as they splashed paint on the railing surrounding Dennis Chavez Park.

CMI staff photo: Benna Sayyed

Sisters Rina Chavez, left, and Sonia Lopez repaint railing at Dennis Chavez Park Saturday as part of Restore Clovis, a community cleanup program through their church, Living Stones Community Church.

Chavez' painting crew of about a dozen was just one arm of Restore Clovis, a community cleanup and restoration event involving local churches, organizations and military personnel.

The event is in its first year. About 130 youth and 70 adults wearing bright yellow T-shirts that read "Restore Clovis" set out about 10 a.m. Saturday to clean and restore various areas of the city.

Cleaning crews were made up of Girl Scouts, Cannon Air Force Base personnel and members of Teen Court, Living Stones Community Church, Central Baptist Church and The Vine Community Church.

At the Matt 25 Hope Center, Restore Clovis crews cleaned out boilers in the basement, reconstructed the volleyball court, community garden and picked up trash and weeds in an area between Reid, West, 14th and Ninth streets. Cleaning crews also collected broken cinder blocks from a demolition site.

Chavez, a Clovis High School sophomore and member of Living Stones Community Church, said she decided to participate in the cleanup to serve her city and to better her relationship with her church family and with God.

Living Stones Community Church member Kevin Stark, 28, helped pick up broken cinder blocks from a vacant lot near the intersection of Ninth and Davis streets with members of the Igelsia Bautista Belen Church.

Stark believes his work at Restore Clovis will help create a positive image for all churches and organizations involved. He also noticed Igelsia Bautista Belen Church members needed assistance with tidying up the area.

"There is a lot of rubble that needs to be picked up," Stark said. "It would have taken a couple people from their church longer to pick this up. It's no sweat off my back to help them do this."

CMI staff photo: Benna Sayyed

Members of Living Stones Community Church pick up pieces of broken cinder blocks from the remains of a building Saturday near the intersection of Reid and Ninth streets.  The cleanup effort was part of Restore Clovis, a first-year community cleanup program created at Living Stones.

The cleaning effort concluded with a community block party that included a bounce house, a Christian music concert, a clothing distribution center and pulled brisket sandwiches at the Matt Hope 25 Center.

Restore Clovis was created by Living Stones Youth Minister Wally Yeager and Mission Academy leaders Mike Shinn and Steve Pennington.

It is the beginning of several one-day restoration mission trips in the Southwest that Living Stones has partnered with Mission Academy to do. The Restore Clovis group also plans to do a cleanup mission trip to Albuquerque and El Paso. Restore Clovis leaders hope to eventually make mission trips throughout the country and branch out.

Rachel Visser, 26, administrative assistant to Yeager, said she was impressed with the turnout of the event.

"I think it's especially important for the youth to get involved in stuff like this because it kind of allows them to get to know their city, to be involved in their city."

"It's great for the adults to be involved also and take ownership where they live."