by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
Anyone in Sartell or St. Stephen with community-service ideas should speak up soon because about 1,000 high-school students are gearing up, ready to roll up their sleeves and work hard to improve their cities.
An electronics-related recycling fundraiser will take place Thursday, April 19 and 26 at the school (for more information, see very end of this story.)
“Sabre Nation Community Service Day” is set for 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 2. During that three-hour period, students in grades 9-12 and their teachers will do a number of projects in both St. Stephen and Sartell. In St. Stephen, many of the volunteers will paint the bleachers in the ballpark and help spruce up St. Stephen City Hall. In Sartell, many will work to get the city’s many flower gardens weeded and ready for spring planting, as well as clean-up along the river.
The students are seeking more projects since they will likely have enough time and labor power to do more.
Anyone with project ideas should call Service Day coordinators Ryan Hacker or Ranette Holmseth. They can be reached via phone at Sartell High School – 656-0758. They can also be emailed – Hacker at ryan.hacker@sartell.k12.mn us. And Holmseth at ranette.holmseth@sartell.k12.mn.us.
Ideas must be received by Friday, April 20.
Last spring, during the first Sabre Nation Community Service Day, students packed food packages for the Sauk Rapids-based “Kids Against Hunger.” This year, they decided to concentrate on projects that need to be done in both Sartell and St. Stephen.
“It’s a way for students to give back to the communities that have been so generous to them,” said Hacker, the high school’s dean of students. “At the end of the (Community Service) day, the students have a chance to talk about the impact of what they did.”
In conjunction with Community Service Day, the high school will host a fundraising event April 19 and April 26. A recycling company based in Albany will be at the high school to accept any used electronic items for recycling, such as any computerized hardware or other electronic appliances. A reasonable flat fee will be charged based on the item’s weight. That money will then be turned over to the school so it can buy such work-project items as paint or garbage bags for projects that will be done right at the school during Community Service Day.
The recycling will take place from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Thursday, April 19; and all day during school hours Thursday, April 26.
Those with questions can contact Hacker or Holmseth, as mentioned earlier in this story.
Author: Dennis Dalman
Dalman was born and raised in South St. Cloud, graduated from St. Cloud Tech High School, then graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in English (emphasis on American and British literature) and mass communications (emphasis on print journalism). He studied in London, England for a year (1980-81) where he concentrated on British literature, political science, the history of Great Britain and wrote a book-length study of the British writer V.S. Naipaul. Dalman has been a reporter and weekly columnist for more than 30 years and worked for 16 of those years for the Alexandria Echo Press.