Members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation host committee joined more than 1,000 volunteers Saturday morning to beautify urban Honolulu before world leaders arrive next week.

"This is a really important moment for everyone in Hawaii," said Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz, in between painting over graffiti. "We’re so proud of our state, and we can’t wait to show off what we have to our neighbors in the Asia-Pacific region."

For about two years, the APEC host committee has been preparing the state for when leaders from 21 APEC economies, their entourages and thousands of journalists visit Honolulu from Nov. 7 to 13.

Host committee members painted graffiti-tagged walls and also bagged trash in a couple of lots across from Century Center on Kalakaua Avenue.

The site was one of 45 eyesores identified in an APEC beautification project around the Hawai’i Convention Center and along the Nimitz Highway corridor. The project was part of city and state efforts to make Oahu beautiful, Schatz said.

Lance Takehara, who led the beautification project, said after identifying the eyesores, volunteers contacted the property owners to ask whether they could clean up the blight. Most agreed.

"I think there are certain things you can do relatively easily, and there are certain things that you can’t. So the things that we can do, we really wanted to do that," said Takehara, of Bowers + Kubota Consulting.

Nearby, a handful of teenagers with the Institute For Family Enrichment, an agency that helps at-risk youth, volunteered to spend their Saturday morning helping on another APEC beautification project: an 800-square-foot mural on a construction-site wall along Kalakaua Avenue.

Volunteer Antonia Coyle, 16, a junior at Waialua High and Intermediate School, added touches of paint to yellow hibiscus flowers and green mountain ranges.

She said a woman stopped by to say the artwork made the neighborhood look nicer.

"It feels great," Coyle said. "We wanted to help the community."

Meanwhile, some 1,100 volunteers painted over graffiti and picked up trash in Waikiki and adjacent neighborhoods. The cleanup was organized by the nonprofit group Totally Against Graffiti, along with the APEC host committee and the Honolulu Police Department’s Project CLEAN, an initiative to clear neighborhoods of trash and graffiti.

Together, the groups cleaned from Kapahulu Avenue to Piikoi Street and from the ocean to Dole Street, said Ron Lockwood, treasurer of Totally Against Graffiti. The turnout set a record for the organization.

"Call it serendipity or just an alignment of the stars, it just worked out," Lockwood said.

After painting a building near the Hawai’i Convention Center, Mike McCartney, Hawaii Tourism Authority president and chief executive officer, said he was thankful to see people working together for a collective, long-term benefit.

"It’s heartwarming to see people give their time to make Hawaii look a little better," he said.

Hawaii News Now video: Annual cleanup event gets boost from APEC preps