ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Walking for Rochester is a local non-profit that works to clean up litter in the city of Rochester.

Matt Apple founded Walking for Rochester three years ago.

“I became a father, and my son who is seven years old, and a year after he was born, I had a moment and I looked inward at myself, and it gave me a new perspective of community and family, and how important that is,” he said. “And I wanted to find ways to bring people together over something that affects us all, which is litter. In today’s day in America, it’s hard to find something we all agree on, but we can all agree that litter is no good.”

The one-hour volunteer community clean-ups run from April through September. Apple says they’re sponsored by local businesses. No need to register; you can just show up to help.

Walking for Rochester even provides the tools, has gift cards and prizes, and often provides pizza or lunch.

As they grow, Apple is looking for businesses to work with.

“The value for businesses is taking ownership in their community, and we want them to feel like they can get back, and this is a way for them to get exposure to the people of Rochester,” he said.

Their last two are this Saturday at 2 p.m. at South and Gregory, and Sunday at 11 a.m. at Park Ave. and Berkeley.

Since they started, they have collected over a ton of litter, while almost doubling the amount they collected last year, with 200 hundred people volunteering this year.

“If you want to make a change, we need your help too,” Apple said. “Rochester really is beautiful and we’re trying to undercover that one piece at a time.”

Walking for Rochester has a fundraising event and silent auction on October 19th. You can register here. They’re hoping to raise enough money to hire their first part-time employee.