The homes in the first block of South 6th Avenue in West Reading, Berks County, are side by side, and the people who live in them even closer.

"We all watch out for one another, watch your kids," said Debbie Rear.

"We water each other's plants.  We watch each other's house, go and feed their animals," said Rear's neighbor, Carole Engle.

The tight knit neighbors could only watch Wednesday as a group of volunteers descended on their block, brushes and rollers in hand.

"We thought there was a catch," said Rear.

"I thought there was a catch," laughed Rear's husband, Jeffrey Rear.

They were wrong.

The Paint the Town project started when the West Reading Elm Street Program was chosen as one of 10 locations statewide to receive $1,500 worth of paint by Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

"That was 40 gallons of free paint from Pittsburgh Paints," said Dean Rohrbach, manager of the West Reading Elm Street program.

By day's end, more than 60 volunteers painted 11 properties.

Therese Sucher took a day off from her job as the COO of the Reading Hospital and Medical Center to help out.

"I pass the laundromat probably at least twice a day," said Sucher, referring to the West Reading Laundromat at the end of the block.  "So it's going to be a lot of fun to look at it now because I painted the trim around the door."

More than paint, there's a fresh message.

"We're going back and forth between slipping into blight and fighting crime," Rohrbach said of the block.  "So it's very important that we send a strong signal people care." 

The care shown in one block quickly caught on.

"I have never volunteered," said Debbie Rear in front of her freshly painted home.  "I'm definitely going to volunteer because just the thought of how I feel…it's neat.  It's neat and I will definitely, definitely do something else."