The group of 33 Carrington College students spent Sunday morning cleaning up glass on Castle St and responded to the plea from preschool children with a letter of their own, which they signed off as ''your friendly neighbourhood super heroes''.
Their efforts come after about 100 copies of a letter from Otago University Childcare Association (OUCA) children, complete with children's drawings, were last month delivered to flats along and around Castle St.
The letter, in a child's handwriting, noted ''a lot of broken glass on the footpath'', and the danger of falling on it and being injured.
''Could you please put your glass bottles in the recycle bin thank you,'' it read.
Carrington College resident and health science student Joe Joe Campbell (18) said the letter struck a chord with him and he wanted to do something about it.
''I just brought it up with my service committee here at Carrington and everyone else was pretty keen, so we went for it,'' Mr Campbell said.
He was surprised by how many people turned up at 10am, especially given it was the morning after the Hyde St party.
He was pleased by the reaction after the letter made it on to social media, but had hoped the students would stay anonymous.
''I was almost hoping that they wouldn't find out it was Carringtonians because I think it would be more exciting for the kids to think that there were super heroes out there looking out for them.''
The efforts were partly about showing a different side of the student population.
''The people that turned up to clean up, we kept on bringing up just how sad it was that people are willing to make such a mess and that they just don't take into account what else is going on,'' he said.
OUCA director Karen Hurst said staff arrived to find the letter on the front door of its Castle St centre yesterday morning.
''It's fantastic what they have done. It's absolutely amazing,'' she said.
Parents and staff noticed the street was a lot cleaner than usual.
She was also keen to point out there had been a ''huge improvement'' in how tidy the street had been this year thanks to the efforts of Campus Watch and the University of Otago.
