CHESAPEAKE — In his bright green tee-shirt, 15-year-old Dylan Bentley gleamed in the sun Saturday morning as he made his way along Rockwood Avenue in Chesapeake, a litter grabber and trash bag in hand.

What’s a 15-year-old boy doing up that early on a Saturday? Taking part in a community cleanup day. Bentley didn’t mind the timing.

“I have to get up earlier than this for track meets,” he explained.

Or the work.

“I’ve done cleanups before,” he added.

The event, sponsored three times a year by Operation TLC, brought 53 volunteers out early to tidy up roughly 12 miles of roadway in the Chesapeake/ Proctorville area.

“We want to restore pride in our community and it’s the little things that count,” Smith said. “There’s a real sense of satisfaction when we’re finished. You feel really good about giving back.”

Steve and Bonnie Hutchison of Miller took a stretch of roadway near the Proctorville village limits as their patch to polish.

“We’ve done this several years,” Bonnie Hutchison said. “We like to see Lawrence County cleaned up.”

Many of those volunteers will also take part in the county-wide cleanup day May 1 and again in the fall when Operation TLC will sponsor its final cleanup of the year.