EVANS CITY — The junior version of the Lion’s Club has wasted no time digging into service projects.

The 17 young members of the Evans City Leo Club have spent the year since their first meeting in December 2013 making the borough a better place, said Robin Swank, the club’s adult adviser.

She said the club’s members, who range in age from 12 to 18, have taken on several projects in the club’s first year.

A food and clothing drive for the Evans City Food Cupboard at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church is ongoing, Swank said.

She said shoppers at Viola’s Market can drop nonperishable food items in a bin at the store, and the Leo Club members take the bin when it becomes full to the church. So far, the club has collected 550 items.

“It takes at least three people to lift that bin to take it to the food cupboard,” Swank said.

The clothing drive began as a club effort named “Project No Sweat” that collected sweatshirts and pants, but its success soon dictated that all clothing and personal hygiene items be added to the list of accepted items.

Swank said club members soon will meet to sort the clothing for distribution at St. Peter’s.

“We don’t do things at a distance for cosmetic reasons,” Swank said. “It’s a real hands-on thing.”

The club members also painted the gateway signs on Route 68 at each end of the borough, Swank said. The logos of all of the churches and service organizations in the borough are included on the signs, which are near the Evans City Elementary/Middle School and Skander Tire.

While their paint brushes were wet, the youths also painted 40 to 50 fire hydrants in the borough.

“For some, we had to cut down the grass to see if there really was a fire hydrant there,” Swank said. “All of them are beautiful, shiny red now.”

The club members also painted all of the town’s parking meter posts, which looked dingy when the new parking meter heads were recently installed.

Members of the Leo Club participated in cleanup sessions planned by borough leaders in the spring and before the annual Oktoberfest celebration in September.

“We picked up a lot of trash,” Swank said. “We’re not afraid to get our hands dirty.”

And the group has helped at EDCO Park in cleanup efforts and during the annual chicken barbecue.

“We average at least one service project per month,” Swank said.

In June, club member Dylan Schroeder noticed a few tires that had been discarded down the hill across from the entrance to the Evans City Cemetery on Franklin Road. He thought cleaning up the tires would be a project for the club.

Swank said once the club members began removing the visible tires, more tires were found on the hillside.

“They pulled out 41 tires that people had dumped,” Swank said.

She said some were full of mud, and others had to be pried from the soil with a pry bar. The club members spent two mornings on the tires, which a landscaper took to the property of a woman who wanted to use them to build a retaining wall.

More recently, club members created artistic cards containing personal seasons greetings to be included in the fruit baskets the Lions Club delivers to the Presidents Square senior apartments for Christmas.

“Then they helped the Lions Club deliver the baskets,” Swank said.

The next Leo Club project will be painting a 6-foot siren red for the borough fire department. The siren will be placed on the fire hall roof, Swank said.

“The kids enjoy themselves immensely,” she said. “I call them the best and the brightest, and for good reason.”

She said the club is not all work and no play, which was demonstrated on a recent bowling party.

“We did nothing but bowl and laugh and have a good time,” Swank said. “We didn’t do any projects; we just had fun.”

She said one benefit of the club is that all members, regardless of age, gender, school status, or other factors, have the same vote.

“All the kids are on an equal footing,” Swank said.

Members are welcome from all school districts, Swank said, but most are from the Evans City area.