Old Saybrook - Amid the usual Saturday morning activities of jogging, bicycling, fishing and driving along the South Cove Causeway, a new group in town was doing some cleaning.

Carrying black contractor bags, volunteers of the recently formed Kiwanis Club of Old Saybrook and Old Lyme walked up and down the causeway, climbed into bushes and stepped near the water in pursuit of trash.

They uprooted weeds from the concrete walkway and filled bags with plastic containers, cups, beer cans, cigarette butts, fishing lures, nut shells, coffee cup lids and fast-food packages.

The Kiwanis Club of Old Saybrook and Old Lyme adopted the causeway as its ongoing community service project after speaking with Old Saybrook First Selectman Carl Fortuna about needs in the area. The growing club, which formed in June, so far has about 20 members, said club member and adviser Lynn Farrell.

"It's just taking off with such great joy," said Farrell.

Farrell, an Old Lyme resident and president of the Kiwanis Club of New London, said she wanted to spread the Kiwanis Club to other areas. The club has a mission to help out "one community and one child at a time," she said, and contributes to international projects such as eradicating tetanus.

"I just decided, why not do something here in my backyard?" said Farrell, who is also the lieutenant governor-elect of a Kiwanis division that encompasses several clubs in the state. "There's so much need here, too."

In addition to the ongoing effort to clean up the causeway, members of the Old Saybrook and Old Lyme club also will volunteer at local food pantries.

Saturday's event drew more than 25 volunteers, including Kiwanis members, the ecology club at Old Saybrook High School and members of a local church.

Club member Vin Baker, a former NBA player and an associate minister at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Old Saybrook, volunteered with about a dozen children, ages 8 to 14, from the church's youth program.

"I thought it would be great to have them go around the town and be part of the community," said Baker, whose father, James Baker, is the minister of the church.

Old Saybrook High School seniors Katie Costa, Lindsay Dower, Tom Strand, Mahlah Givehand and Betsey Gometz were among the 10 or so student volunteers from the ecology club who were filling bags with trash on the walkway Saturday morning. They said they liked working together to clean up the area.

"It makes you feel good, helping the earth," said Givehand.

Strand said he enjoys picking up trash from an area and then looking back and seeing the result of his work.

"We had a fun time cleaning up the environment," he said.

Old Saybrook High School science teacher Karen Carlone said the cleanup event teaches the students about conservation and the importance of taking care of the place where you live. She said she is proud of her students, who also have contributed to several other cleanup days.

"I'm sure they will all go home and feel accomplished," she said.

k.drelich@theday.com

Twitter: @KimberlyDrelich