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Picking up the pieces: Locals volunteer to clean the aftermath of Downtown Toledo protest

Clean up efforts taking place in downtown Toledo well before the sun was up Sunday morning to show support for local businesses.

TOLEDO, Ohio — It's been 24 hours since what started as a peaceful protest for George Floyd and ended in vandalism of businesses along the streets of downtown. 

On Sunday, volunteers showed up to clean the streets. They say it may not make up for the damage that's done, but it's the right thing to do.

At the corner of Madison and North Huron, there's not one, but ten windows shattered or completely gone and that's just part of the damage.

"I just thought Toledo could be better than that. We'll make Toledo better, we'll regain our city a little bit and come and help clean up in the aftermath and get things back to a little sense of normalcy," said volunteer Tom Gordon.

Gordon and his group of three friends showed up Sunday morning to help. 

He says when they arrived, there were already people cleaning and he was surprised at the turnout.

Another surprise for the volunteers, the damage was not as bad as they imagined.

"I'm pleasantly surprised at the little amount. I'm glad it didn't really get much further than Madison street," said Mark Parker, another volunteer.

Tom Gordon agreed.

"The severity of the damage at each location is less than what I had anticipated. There's was no fires and stuff like that. I'm thankful for that," said Gordon.

They say they were motivated to help because it felt like the right thing to do.

"After seeing everything that happened yesterday, it's very easy to lose your faith in humanity that way. And then coming back out this morning and seeing everybody come out and help out it helps restore that faith in humanity," said Parker.

The number of people who came out this morning to help volunteer in the efforts to clean up, just goes to show that you will do better in Toledo. 

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