They contend that the mostly menial tasks, including street sweeping or leaf raking in parks, performed by workfare workers in the city program known officially as the Work Experience Program, or W.E.P., do not prepare them for real jobs.

That is where the leaf raking, the snow shoveling and occasional trips to the supermarket for elderly neighbors come in.

Mr. Ljunglin said noise continued to be the most common complaint, and that it dimmed some of the luster of the good work, like leaf raking and snow removal, the students have performed during daylight hours.

It has since raised more than $100 million to fund well-received restorations of the Sheep Meadow, the Bethesda Fountain, the Harlem Meer and other landmarks of the park and taken over more prosaic functions from leaf raking to graffiti removal.

The town also agreed to help maintain the house, performing tasks like leaf raking and snow plowing and making minor repairs.

When I was a child, we had leaf raking, which was quiet.

When I was a child and had a chore like leaf raking that I didn't want to do, his simple answer was to say, "Let's do it together.

Keep up with leaf raking and composting.

Though the film moves, according to production notes, "from the lurid sidewalks of L.A.'s Hollywood Boulevard to the squalor of New York's meat-packing district," it's also a story that ends with leaf raking on a suburban lawn.

She said each one had been sent a letter explaining the work program, which consists so far of leaf raking, painting and similar jobs at three county-owned parks.