There was a lot of weed pulling, digging and painting going on near the university yesterday morning.

About 50 University of Arizona students armed with shovels, hoes, rakes and garbage bags were at Renee Albert's house, ready to clean up. They also had brushes, rollers and buckets, to give her house a fresh coat of paint.

Cleaning up the neighborhood was part of the Big Event project organized and sponsored by Associated Students of the University of Arizona.

They arrived at 10 a.m. and once they were done cleaning and painting they were set to leave by 12:30 p.m.

Henry Luedy, biology freshman, said, "It's a good thing people can get up this early to help people," after one of his trips from transporting bricks.

Albert, an eight-year resident at 1429 E. Eighth St., had students doing a variety of chores. Some carried bricks and rocks to the backyard while others were busy scraping the old paint from her house.

"I'm a widow and on Social Security. It's really coming in handy to have this done," Albert said while admiring student's work.

"It's too overwhelming to see all this help - it's amazing. I can't believe it," she said.

Students worked quickly to remove the weeds and wild grass that surrounded her house. In less than 15 minutes the foliage along the eastern wall of her home had been cleared away.

Therence DeCorse, micro-cellular biology senior, was one of 10 who helped clear the 1-foot high section of weeds.

"I think it's great. You get to meet other people and you do get to help out," DeCorse said about the project to clean up the Rincon Heights neighborhood.

Brooke Coleman, political science senior and Big Event chair, was the primary leader and organizer of the event. She sent letters out to the Rincon Heights Neighborhood Association, clubs and organizations on campus.

Coleman said she sent 1,100 work request forms to the Rincon Heights neighborhood but only received 11 responses from residents.

"The neighborhood response was not as good as the campus response," Coleman said.

Approximately 350 students showed up yesterday morning to clean and repair the neighborhood. They were from clubs and organizations on campus that Coleman targeted for the event.

Coleman worked with a $3,500 budget to provide paint, rollers, paint brushes, trash bags and others tools for the clean up. About 10 sites were worked on.

Jessica Schmertz, special education freshman and member of Kappa Delta Chi, said some fraternities and sororities participated in the Big Event to volunteer while others were there for service hours. Each sorority and fraternity requires so many hours of community service from each member.

"I'm just doing it to help. I thinks it's neat to see a finished product. It's nice to know we helped the community," Schmertz said as she brushed paint on a wall of Mary Ann Bohner's house, 340 N. Warren Ave.

"I think it's good to take a look at the way it worked out, that it looks better," said Whitney Grese, ecology and evolutionary biology junior, while looking over the touch-ups and corrections being made at Bohner's home.

She added, "Because if the community looks good, people are going to think better of the UA."