FARMINGTON – Students from Cascade Brook School performed various tasks all over town during a school-service day Wednesday.

They raked, weeded, cleaned, painted signs and fences, helped at the food closet, created banners for the United Way’s July 4 parade entry and took on other tasks.

In small groups, the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders worked at Hippach Field, St. Joseph Church, nursing homes, Bonney Woods, the LEAP house on Anson Street and Narrow Gauge Cinema, said organizer Trish Flint, school librarian.

Jon Moore, owner of the cinema, does a lot for the community and the students, said teacher Steve Heath. Students in Heath’s fifth-grade class were sweeping the parking lot, picking up trash and raking in preparation for the landscapers at the cinema.

The students appreciate the availability of the cinema, especially in light of prices at city theaters, Heath said.

Students worked with Conservation Commission members as part of the town’s celebration of Arbor Day to weed and tend garden areas at the traffic island park in West Farmington, the Hippach Field and in front of the Community Center.

Students also worked in the gardens at Cascade Brook School while Rick Hardy’s class toiled in Bonney Woods.

The flower bed in front of the Parish Hall at St. Joseph’s Church was weeded by students from Lynn Cook’s class. Carefully pulling stalks of grass from the phlox, teachers and students, along with Lisa Laflin of the United Way, got on their knees to weed the bed.

Although a group of students was working at the United Way office, Laflin, director of the United Way of the Tri-Valley Area, decided to work along with the students outside after she was called and asked for community service ideas that the students could perform.

At the United Way office on Broadway, students were redesigning the thermometer sign used to show campaign contributions. A design created by Brandon Bard changes the traditional thermometer while still announcing donation tallies. Classmates Craig Brinkman, Tristan McFarlane, Brian Harris and Maranda Lane painted the sign in preparation for the new artwork.

Inside, Silas Brown and Shelby Cummings, along with Jazmyn Begin, Sydney Caldwell, Megan Gaboury and Kelsey Parlin, worked on banners for the United Way’s entry in the July 4 parade.

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