FLINT, MI -- Community groups and volunteers make up the bulk of the work force battling blight in Flint, Blight Elimination Coordinator Raul Garcia said.

Organizations from within the communities and beyond offer the Blight Elimination and Neighborhood Stabilization office help on a weekly basis, he said. Some groups work through a college or university, some through their church and others are with a neighborhood association.

“If they call, I’ve got work,” Garcia said.

As the blight elimination coordinator, Garcia’s job has been to enforce city ordinances around dumping and property maintenance. Originally, he thought the job would run for two years. Six years later, he is still working on the ground in communities throughout the city.

“I think this (is) more (like) a 10 years/ongoing project," he said. "But I see more involvement from neighborhood groups and residents.”

Around 70 volunteer groups help the city department mow lawns, board up abandoned homes and clean neglected areas of the city, he said. AmeriCorps has been providing three teams for eight weeks a piece, he said. This allows him to work on close to 1,000 properties.

“I just wish there was a lot more that we could do unfortunately," Garcia said. "Before I used to say it was me myself and I and all three of us could get it done, but now I get a little bit of help, especially in the last two, three years.”

It’s important to recognize the progress that comes from the work rather than the overwhelming amount of work left to do, Garcia said. The volunteers keep him going, he added.

“You have to look at it that way because if not, you tend to develop a bad attitude and I don’t want to have a bad attitude,” he said.

A mission group of four adults and 11 teenagers from the Chicago area mowed lawns outside of three houses, and they boarded up a home that had sustained fire damage near the end of Barth Street Friday, June 21.

The group from Community Church of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff was hosted by the Firestone Center in Flint for the week. They also volunteered at a food pantry and at St. Jude’s Episcopal Church.

Chaperone Kristan Weisberg has been on for trips with her church group. She said of all of those trips, Flint has been the groups favorite stop.

“There’s a lot of good going on," Weisberg said. “There’s fantastic energy in the community. It’s people helping people.”

The water crisis is what comes to mind when thinking about Flint from an outside area, said 17-year-old Ellie Duchow. Coming from the Chicago area, she said the group did not know what to expect, but found the Flint community to be very supportive.

“You hear about this place on the news, but you never really come," Duchow said. “And that’s the problem, people should come.”