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Youths clean up an overgrown yard in the Mossy Oaks neighborhood.

Church youth groups worked alongside Beaufort City crews Saturday to help clean up properties and neighborhoods as part of a larger effort to help make a difference, organizers with Tsunami Ministries said.

Among the first stops: Homes in the historic Northwest Quadrant that needed some tender loving care to trim back shrubs and paint a picket fence. Later, the teens helped a crew from Beaufort Public Works clean up an overgrown yard in Mossy Oaks, and provided hands-on help at CAPA, Bayview Nursing Home and the Family Promise program for homeless families.

“We represent students and adults from North Carolina and South Carolina,” said former Beaufort resident Joy Murphy, vice president of Tsunami Ministries. “We are a non-profit ministry that provides spiritual events, leadership training and mission weekends.”

Teens help paint a fence in Beaufort’s Northwest Quadrant.The youth and accompanying adults came from Winston-Salem, NC, Fort Mill, Rock Hill and Beaufort-area churches, Murphy said. “We want to help families and older people who need a little assistance, whether that’s cleaning up their yard or painting a fence,” she said.

Over the past two years, Beaufort City leaders and their partner Waste Pro have helped neighborhood associations and residents with massive clean-ups, removing more than 400 tons of debris, abandoned furniture and other mostly flammable materials.

“It’s a concentrated and concerted effort to make our city more attractive, but it also helps reduce fire hazards by clearing out overgrown lots and by removing flammable materials such as abandoned furniture and tires,” Beaufort City Manager Scott Dadson said.

Organizing meeting at Pigeon Point Park Saturday morning with Beaufort Public Works Director Isaiah Smalls.“It was the perfect weekend for the church youth to come to Beaufort,” he said. “They helped us clean up and I hope they got to spend a little time with the Water Festival.”

Libby Anderson, Beaufort’s planning director, and Isaiah Smalls, public works director, helped coordinate the youth mission trip. Public Works crews assisted the teens and also provided heavier equipment needed for some of the work. Dawn Boren, Beaufort’s codes enforcement officer, arranged for the donation of paint and brushes from local paint stores.