A handful of Butler County residents deserve a round of applause for their work this past weekend — while a whole lot of others deserve a scolding.

Cindy Parker of Lyndora and a group of residents took part in a cleanup Saturday of Father Marinaro Park, a volunteer event that was planned a few weeks in advance.

The cleanup stemmed from complaints by residents that the park had fallen into disrepair.

In late July, residents held a meeting to determine how to fix up the park, from picking up garbage to improving conditions at its skate park, which often is littered with trash, broken bottles and profane graffiti.

Jeff Smith, the city councilman who oversees the parks, said he wants to allocate more money to maintaining parks, but much of the city’s parks budget goes toward its swimming pools and summer playground program.

Before the cleanup occurred, we praised residents’ initiatives to clean up the park.

We have a lot of respect for Parker and her core group of volunteers, who swept up trash and debris on Saturday.

However, she said she was not pleased — and we join her in her disappointment — with the event’s sparse turnout.

“People deserve to have a clean, safe, fun environment,” she said. “I think this park has been written off by people, which is unfair.”

We agree that the community deserves to have a clean park to enjoy.

But residents will only get out of it what they’re willing to put in. It’s a shame that more people living near the park or those who use it weren’t inspired to show up and lend a hand.

Even worse, vandals spray-painted graffiti over the skate park concession stand two days after Parker’s sons, Chris and Andrew, took five hours to repaint it. The community should be thankful that the two are planning to redo the entire job.

Parker added that last weekend’s small turnout and the continued vandalism at the site makes her “more motivated” to keep up the initiative and get others involved.

We admire her tenacity. But it shouldn’t be left to one woman and her two sons to keep a public park clean.

Those involved in the revitalization of the park eventually have more ambitious plans for the site, including maintenance to the existing ramps at the skate park and the installation of security cameras around Father Marinaro Park.

We wish those involved in the effort success in their endeavors. More importantly, we hope that some of their neighbors are inspired by their hard work at the site and decide to chip in.