It seems fitting that Wildheart Ministries has won the Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Community Partner Award, since the goal of the initiative has been to restore and transform Allison Hill, a neighborhood located within Harrisburg, by removing trash and leading community beautification projects, including creating community gardens and playgrounds. According to http://www.keeppabeautiful.org, the Community Partner Award honors "an outstanding partnership with local government, community organization or business (that enhances and is) essential to local community programming."

Wildheart Ministries was nominated for the award by Keep Harrisburg - Dauphin Beautiful, a program of Tri County Community Action, which has partnered with Wildheart Ministries for the past six years. Tri County Community Action sponsors the annual Great Harrisburg Litter Cleanup. During last year's effort, 56,260 pounds of trash and 600 tires were removed from public spaces throughout the city.

"The Great Harrisburg Litter Cleanup is their flagship event. That, in essence, is what we do (all the time), so we have become really good partners with them," said Tannon Herman, executive director of Wildheart Ministries. "Beautification is our niche. Plus, they are two blocks from us; we are a small, tight community here."

Wildheart Ministries was founded by Tannon and his wife, Cristina, after the family moved to the Harrisburg neighborhood in 2013 from Oklahoma. At that time, the neighborhood was known for its crime; large, abandoned lots filled with debris; and the illegal dumping of trash.

"We moved to Allison Hill, an inner-city community, and we formed (Wildheart Ministries) in 2016 after having conversations with our neighbors ... about (concerns) in the community, including blight and trash and other issues," Tannon said. "I have no background (in this type of ministry). I wanted to be a good neighbor. The way to describe my job is a 'professional neighbor.'"

The first program of the new ministry in 2017 was to focus on trash cleanup around the couple's home. "In three weeks, we cleaned up four blocks and removed 120,000 pounds of trash," said Tannon.

Now, as part of the Love the Hill initiative, the group holds regularly scheduled cleanups, with the next event scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 18. "The average number of volunteers is 75 people - residents from inside the community, people outside the community, (people from) different companies and churches," Tannon noted. "It's like a melting pot every time we have an event."

Tannon said work will continue to make Allison Hill a cleaner and better place to live. "We have been doing this for six years and removed over 2 million pounds of trash in 90 blocks. There are areas in this neighborhood that our teams have not visited. There is still work to be done," he said.

For more information about Wildheart Ministries, including volunteer opportunities, visit http://www.facebook.com/WildheartHarrisburg or http://www.wildheartministries.net.