OAKLAND — Hundreds of Oaklanders honored Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday by cleaning up the shoreline dedicated to him.

The 10th annual Day of Service event attracted well over 400 people, East Bay Regional Park District Recreation Supervisor Jeremy Saito said. The volunteers picked up trash, removed invasive plants and helped East Bay Regional Park District staff do restoration work at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Grove and Damon Marsh.

Volunteers said they picked up countless bags of trash, much of which was cigar wrappers, cigarette butts and beverage bottles.

“It’s a huge benefit to the park to get all this habitat restoration work done and shoreline cleared,” Saito said. “Our rangers don’t have the time or manpower to get out here and get this type of work done.”

Stacy Baas, who attended the cleanup with her daughter and their friends in the PerSisters of Oakland, said the event was a learning experience for them.

“It’s ready eye-opening to see the impacts of things we buy and the things we throw away,” Baas said. “When I tell my daughter ‘maybe we shouldn’t take that extra straw,’ now she can see what happens to it.”

Heidi Schmidt, who volunteered at the event with her sons George and Albert and their Boy Scouts of America Troop 78 of Alameda, was amazed at the odd items they found, like toys and single — for some reason, mostly left — shoes.

“It’s exciting because you never know what you’re going to find,” Schmidt said.

The park district had an informal contest to see who could find the oddest item. Contenders included a car grille and firework shells.

Mike Loder, who has volunteered at the event for years, said the shoreline appeared to have been cleaner than in past years. He said the event has also grown.

Other Day of Service events were held throughout the city over the three-day weekend. The city organized cleanups on Saturday at sites in North Oakland, West Oakland, Chinatown, Fruitvale and East Oakland.

Community groups organized service projects in Sobrante Park on Monday. City Councilman Dan Kalb sponsored a blood drive Monday at the American Red Cross Blood Donation Center.

Two large groups that participated in the shoreline cleanup together were the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc., Epsilon Phi Zeta Chapter and the Girl Scout Troop 30017. The sorority is a traditionally African-American organization, and on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, its chapters across the country participate in service projects.

“We live in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., and this is one way we could do it on a cooperative level with other people,” said sorority member Jonelle Campbell.