Greene County High School students spent the afternoon of Nov. 4 raking leaves in Jefferson, Grand Junction and Scranton.
Students, teachers and chaperons raked 121 yards with 463 people, ate 39 dozen donuts, used 45 tarps, drank 24 cases of water, and had a fun time on a sunny afternoon with temps in the low 50s, reported teacher and project coordinator Teresa Green.
The Interact Club raked nine more yards the next day for a total of 130 yards.
This was the 23rd leaf-raking service project. “This gives us an opportunity to show our appreciation for everything our communities do for our schools,” Green said.
The project was started in 1997 with the Rotary-sponsored Interact Club raking 15-20 yards. In 1999, the project became so big the high school staff decided to continue the tradition as a school project.
The list of yards was divided up according to location, and teachers and their advisory groups raked two to six yards depending on the size of the yards and how many people were in their group. As each group finished, they helped other groups who were in the same area.
Green thanked Fareway and HyVee for each donating 12 cases of water; Rotary for providing tarps and drivers; and Home State Bank, Peoples Bank, and Wells Fargo for donating 39 dozen donuts from Dunkers by Matt.
She thanked Dave Teeples and the city of Jefferson for getting everything cleaned out of Daubendiek park before and after the leaf-raking project.
At least one pickup or garbage truck was with each group which made everything run very smoothly. Green thanked the cities of Grand Junction and Jefferson, Greene County Medical Center, Heritage Insurance, Home State Bank, the Jefferson police department, Jefferson Telecom, and New Way for providing pickup trucks and drivers.
She also thanked Rotarians and local volunteers who drove another 20 pickups to help transport leaves to the garbage trucks or to Daubendiek park; and the school for providing eight buses to transport students and for helping pick up leaves with the school pickup and trailer.
She thanked Dave Destival, Vern Foje, and Dave Walker who went out on their own to prep some of the yards.
“It takes a lot of people to make a project like this come together, and we want everyone to know how much we appreciate their help,” Interact advisor Teresa Green said. “It was great having our school work with various groups to give back to our communities. We are thankful for all of the help from each of these groups. We could not complete this project without everyone’s support.”
