Topeka ? After a local newspaper ran a story about run-down houses around a newly renovated civil rights landmark, the city office charged with sprucing up the area has been deluged with calls from volunteers eager to help.

A story published Tuesday in The Topeka Capital-Journal noted the city’s efforts to fix up the neighborhood around the Monroe School, one of four elementary schools desegregated as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954.

The newly renovated school will be dedicated May 17 as a national historic site. But nearby, homes have fallen into disrepair, trash litters yards, boards cover windows and paint peels away.

Randy Speaker, director of the Topeka’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Department, said that needed to change.

“We’re trying to transform that into an area that all of Topeka will be proud to show off as they come to visit the Monroe School,” Speaker told The Capital-Journal.

Last month, the city sent numerous code violation notices to homes in the area. Homes were cited for peeling paint, trash, or abandoned vehicles in the yard. Some longtime residents said they knew they had problems but didn’t have the money or resources to fix the violations.

Eighty-year-old Fannie Johnson was born in one of the cited houses and still lives there with her cats. She had said that without money for repairs, she feared being evicted from her home.

She said she knew the paint looked bad and said she had found fallen roof shingles in her back yard.

“I’d like to continue living here,” she told the newspaper. “I’m still nervous, wondering if they’re going to let me stay.”

But after the story was published, several Westar Energy employees called to ask specifically about working on her home, said David Bevens, a spokesman for the Public Works Department.

“I am convinced that Topeka is filled with people who want to help other people,” Bevens said.

At one point there were so many calls to the Housing and Neighborhood Development Department that three people were answering questions from potential volunteers. Among the callers were parents who wanted to show their children the importance of volunteering.

Each weekend in April, the city plans to tackle 62 houses with hundreds of volunteers.