Arlington Seniors clean up at Theodore Wirth Park for Spring Service Day

Read more about our April Spring Service Day; January Martin Luther King Jr. Day Service Project; October Make a Difference Day or each 2006 October Volunteer Project, or return to Serving the Community.

Spring Service Day (April 21, 2007): Early on Saturday, April 21st, 409 Admission Possible and Destination 2010 students as well as 54 Admission Possible AmeriCorps and staff members converged on eight public parks across Minneapolis to participate in the 13th Annual Watershed Clean Up as our Spring Service Day project. The day, which was a city-wide collaborative effort between the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) and the City of Minneapolis, included a park clean up with participating community members, an educational activity for Admission Possible students, and a picnic lunch. In total, our crew made up about 25% of the total number of volunteers for the day, and helped clean up a third of the total number of parks!

Each park group cleaned up a significant amount of trash and recyclables, including some odd items such as tires, toilets, extension cords, old lawn chairs, and car parts!  Following the clean up, staff from the Elpis Program, MPRB, the Science Museum

Harding High School seniors Michael Lee (left) and Maily Vang handle a turtle as part of their educational activity at Northeast Park.

of Minnesota, and ArtStart led the students in various types of educational activities at each park.  Staff helped students make 75 birdhouses and birdfeeders, gave watershed and stream demonstrations, showed the effects of poor water quality on the shell of a live turtle, moderated a wetland jeopardy game, led an activity that revealed the amount of time it takes for various pieces of litter to decompose, and taught students how to make books and picture frames out of environmentally friendly materials. Each student, staff member, and community member received a Minneapolis Earth Day Watershed Clean Up water bottle as a souvenir of the day.

Since Admission Possible programming is free to students, we require that they give back to their communities through this or similar types of service each year. Students often enjoy these days so much that they ask if we can arrange for more volunteering opportunities! We would like to thank Arik Rudolph of MPRB for working with us to coordinate the day, Target Corporation for funding transportation, and Panera Bread for their generous lunch donation of 750 sandwiches and 750 bags of chips. We would also like to thank Jimmy John’s, Perkins and Applebee’s for donating gift certificates for prizes, as well as MPRB, the Elpis Program, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and ArtStart for their educational contributions.

Martin

Admission Possible AmeriCorps members (left to right) Steve Fenster, Josh Lambrecht, Anna Farrell and Carolyn Herman sort donations at the Goodwill outlet.

Luther King Jr. Day Service Project: Goodwill (January 15, 2007): Admission Possible Leadership Team members and AmeriCorps members participated in a day of service at the Goodwill Industries outlet in St. Paul by helping to sort donations, clean display tables, and distribute incoming donations.  Prior to the service, we also participated in the state-wide Martin Luther King Jr. Day march and program at Concordia University in St. Paul.

Make a Difference Day (October 24, 25, & 26, 2006): Students at all Admission Possible schools spent an afternoon beautifying the area around their schools by raking leaves and picking up trash.  After the cleanup, each group discussed the importance of giving back to the community and participated in a potluck meal.

Decorating Birthday Bags (October 4 & 5, 2006): At Arlington, Harding, Johnson, Patrick Henry and Roosevelt, students decorated “Birthday Bags” for the Alley Shoppe, a site in Arlington Hills Lutheran Church that “provides free clothing and household items to eligible families in Ramsey County.” The birthday bags later are filled with supplies to celebrate a child’s birthday. The students decorated more that 300 Birthday Bags over two days of service.

North End Elementary (October 4 & 5, 2006): Juniors from Arlington read

Make a Difference Day at Central High School

with and played games with North End kindergarteners, helped 6th graders with math, and assisted special education students with math and spelling

J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School (October 4 & 5, 2006): Central juniors helped organize the library, and also helped in various classrooms

PLUS Time Program through Concordia University (October 4 & 5, 2006): Juniors from Central High School and Higher Ground Academy went to PLUS Time, an after-school program for children K-5 at Liberty Plaza which is run by Concordia students.  They interacted with the younger students and made learning tools and games for elementary students.

Galtier Elementary Heritage Night (October 4 & 5, 2006): Central students were in charge of piñata making at Galtier Elementary Heritage Night and helped younger students who came to make piñatas. They also helped with clean-up.

Feed a Family (October 4 & 5, 2006): Students at Robbinsdale Cooper High School  – weighed and bagged potatoes for distribution to local food shelves at Feed a Family, a local emergency food shelf supplier.

Ames Elementary (October 4 & 5, 2006): Juniors at Harding visited Ames Elementary's afterschool program and helped K-5 students with their homework in various classrooms.

EXPO

Emah Kamara of Harding High School at a tutoring session with two third graders from Ames Elementary in St. Paul.

for Excellence Magnet Elementary School (October 4 & 5, 2006): Highland Park students assisted in the 4-year old classroom at EXPO for Excellence Magnet Elementary in St. Paul.

Highland Park Elementary (October 4 & 5, 2006): Highland Park students worked with elementary students on a craft project at Highland Park Elementary's Discovery Club, an after-school program.

Bethune Elementary/ Phyllis Wheatley Community Center (October 4 & 5, 2006): North High School students divided into groups and read to the younger students at Bethune Elementary.

Catholic Charities (October 4 & 5, 2006): Students from Patrick Henry raked and did yard work at an elderly man’s house, a project that was coordinated through Catholic Charities.

Early Childhood Resource and Training Center (October 4 & 5, 2006): Roosevelt juniors cleaned and organized the basement of the Early Childhood Resource and Training Center in Minneapolis.

Nokomis Healthy Seniors (October 4 & 5, 2006): Roosevelt juniors helped move the Nokomis Healthy Seniors office to a new location.

Salvation Army Thrift Store (October 4 & 5, 2006): Students from Ubah Medical Academy cleaned and organized the Minneapolis Salvation Army store.