Like many retired people, Bob Mugrdechian, 89, spends part of his day at a nearby park.
But then he takes out his tools -- a blower and garbage pick -- and goes to work.
Mugrdechian, a widower, is one of many new volunteers devoting time to helping Clovis keep up its appearances.
Budget cuts forced Clovis to cut its parks maintenance staff by more than half in the past two years, leaving fewer workers to cover the city's increasing acreage of parks and trails.
Today, the city hopes dozens of Clovis residents will be like Mugrdechian. Residents are asked to volunteer and help in one of six projects around the city for the city's first Serve Clovis Day.
Bob Mugrdechian, 89, spends several mornings a week as a volunteer working at Dry Creek Park, where he uses his own leaf blower to push bark chips back onto the playground.
Earlier this year, Mugrdechian went to a grand opening for Dry Creek Park at Clovis and Alluvial avenues and then decided to volunteer.
Volunteers also work in other city departments such as police and fire and at the city's senior center.
Today's event will involve about three hours of work for volunteers, said Kathy Hamlin, who volunteers as the city's volunteer coordinator.
Since she took the job in July, the city has signed up about 50 new recruits to work on projects around the city.
Serve Clovis volunteers will clean up around the outside of Clovis Senior Center, Letterman and Clovis Rotary Skate parks and the area around the John Wright rest station on the city trail, assemble practice splints for emergency training classes, sanitize city buses for the upcoming cold and flu season and organize Community Emergency Response Team supplies.
She said the city would like to make Serve Clovis Day a quarterly event.
That way, she said, "we can keep the city the way we always have had it."
As for Mugrdechian, he will continue to spend several mornings a week working at Dry Creek Park, where he uses his leaf blower to push rubber bark chips back onto the playground and his garbage pick to snag trash.
"I like to see the park clean and I have a purpose to get up in the morning," he said.
Eric Aller, the city's parks manager, said Mugrdechian is a valuable member of the parks volunteer corps.
"It goes beyond what's visible, it touches your heart," Aller said.
"It shows you what we are capable of if we just give a little bit."
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