by Dennis Dalman
On April 18, Maddie O’Rourke is going to roll up her sleeves to go to work, and she’s hoping about 100 other people are willing to join her in her task.
The Sartell High School ninth-grader is planning a massive clean-up in the city’s many parks from 9 a.m.-noon on that day.
O’Rourke’s community-service project was inspired by her religion class at Celebration Lutheran Church. She planned the trash pick-up day with her religion-class mentor, Cindy Fitzthum.
“I wanted to do something that would help out our community and get other youth involved,” O’Rourke said. “We will invite all community members to participate and anticipate close to 100 volunteers.”
The daughter of Jamie and Sean O’Roarke, Maddie excels at volleyball and lacrosse. Her favorite school subject is English. She has a sister, Alyana, 11, who plans to help her with her park clean-up project.
Those who want to help out that day should contact Maddie to let her know as soon as possible. She can be reached by email at [email protected] or by calling her at 320-291-6172. Those who want to contribute to help defray expenses of the clean-up should write a check to “Celebration Lutheran Church” (with “April 18 trash pick-up” written on the memo line) and send it to 1500 Pinecone Road N., Sartell, MN 56377.