PHOTOS: Folsom schools beautified during citywide Service Day
Photos and story by Michelle Broskie and Reijer den Dulk, FCUSD Communication Internship Program
On Saturday, Sept. 17, over 2,500 Folsom residents volunteered for the annual Folsom Community Service Day. This year, for the first time ever, FCUSD schools were beneficiaries of the event. 350 community members spread 50 pallets of mulch and bark totaling 34 tons, which was donated by Lowe's, around the campuses of Folsom Lake High School, Folsom Middle School, Folsom High School, Natoma Station Elementary School, Theodore Judah Elementary School, and Empire Oaks Elementary School.
Folsom Middle School had the largest workforce, thanks to help from Bayside Church which contributed additional volunteers.
"Our church meets here on the weekends, and so we thought this would be great to give back to the school," said Kory Lewis, the operations and program director with Bayside Church. Many volunteers arrived earlier than expected, and the group was able to make great progress before the day got too hot.
This project was a great opportunity for the community to interact with local schools. "A stronger connection with the community makes for a stronger school," said Folsom Middle School Principal John Bliss,"and the kids have reaped the benefits of that." Both staff and students were grateful that so many people were willing to work on a Saturday morning to help beautify the local schools.
In many cases, the project benefitted the volunteers as well. Venture Crew 1855 was in need of a community service project when Folsom Community Service Day project leaders reached out to them with the opportunity to volunteer at Folsom High School. In addition, many of the members of Venture Crew 1855 were former or current students at Folsom High.
"We've got a lot of great volunteers and, really, one of the best things about it looks like most of volunteers for the high school are students," said Stuart Stackhouse, Venturing Crew 1855 Advisor.
Other schools also received help from students. Robert Charbonneau, a senior at Folsom Lake High School, volunteered at his elementary school, Theodore Judah. "I used to go here and just wanted to make it look nicer," said Charbonneau, "when I went here it didn't look this good, so it's always nice to make it look better."