It takes a team effort to make a difference in any community.

On Thursday, the Raiders STEP Up (Support Treatment Enforcement and Prevention) program and the Tamaqua borough joined forces to help make a difference around town.

Many students involved in the STEP Up program hit the streets and helped dispose of much litter and trash.

“We hope our community sees that there are students who are actively trying to improve the community,” said Tamaqua senior Olivia Lattanzi, who is credited with the idea to clean up around the famous iron steps. “Tamaqua is known for iron steps and there’s a lot of history behind that. I thought it would be a fun idea to “STEP Up” on the steps.”

During the cleanup, students came across some disappointing, potentially harmful items. However, they used it as a learning experience.

“Unfortunately, some of the groups did find needles,” said Caitlin Miller, leader of the STEP Up program, and speech language pathologist at the high school.

“We didn’t pick up or touch them. But we were prepared for that, we expected to unfortunately find things of that nature. There are some good conversations about why are certain sets of steps high-traffic areas, and why would some people use needles on those steps. It led to good education moments with our students and helped with reducing the stigma and some understanding about someone who might be in active addiction, what they might be going through, and what it looks like when it’s happening. It’s not just people doing it in their homes, there’s a major challenge there. From the humanity perspective, we need to open up our minds to what’s going on in the bigger picture of it.” The Raiders put in a great effort around Tamaqua’s iron steps, but they didn’t stop there. Students were found all over town making a dent in the beautification process of the community.

“They did a great job around the steps and going up-and-down the neighborhoods,” said Tamaqua Borough Manager Kevin Steigerwalt.

“They picked up a ton of stuff. They had one heck of a pile at Broad and Swatara street. There must have been 20 or 25 bags, and that’s just one location. I noticed several other locations along 209 that they had piles. It’s disappointing that there’s that much litter, but it’s also encouraging that they’re willing to take time out of their day and come help and do some spring cleaning.”

Steigerwalt and the borough provided the tools and trash bags at no cost to the STEP Up program.

“Growing up here, it shows that there is a lot more garbage than we realized there was,” said student Makayla Kester.

“Cleaning up and making the town look good makes us feel better and makes our town look better.”

The STEP Up program was founded in 2016 and has grown substantially since its origin. It went from about 10-20 members in its first year, to currently having 250 members in 2019.

“Here at the high school there are other groups that do cleanups,” explained Miller. “It’s not the only one happening by our students, and they’ve been going on for a long time. STEP Up wanted to be apart of it.”

Steigerwalt and the borough to multiple cleanups with various organizations throughout Tamaqua during the year.

The sky is the limit when community organizations come together to achieve mutual goals.

“It was just a good experience for our students to give back to the community and recognize that they have a part in the beautification effort here and just volunteering their time,” said Miller.

“They could have said it was somebody else’s job, but they wanted to do it, and they had fun doing it.”