AUBURN — If you notice a lot of Edward Little High School students out and about Friday, they’re not skipping school.

Friday is the fourth annual Community Day for the high school, when students leave their classrooms and spend the day giving back. 

More than 700 students in grades 9 through 11 will participate, Assistant Principal Sarah DeLuca said. The volunteer work will be performed all over the Lewiston-Auburn community, including at Auburn Public Works, Schooner Estates in Lewiston and Petco in Auburn.

Students will visit Clover Manor and organize games with the residents, volunteer at the YMCA, Auburn Public Library and the Tree Street Youth Center in Lewiston. 

Students will help at the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn and the Greater Androscoggin Humane Society in Lewiston, and will groom fields and trails at the Auburn Suburban Little League and the Mt. Apatite Trail.

At Petco students will help spread the word for the Maine Greyhound Service about how the dogs are mistreated. At Safe Voices, students will assemble care packages for women and their children who had to flee their homes because of domestic violence. 

Students will also work at Walton, Fairview and Park Avenue elementary schools. At Park Avenue, Principal Vickie Gaylord has plans for the 14 to 16 high school students.

Half will work outside, digging and preparing the earth for the school garden. “We’re getting a small orchard” of raspberry bushes and fruit trees, Gaylord said.

The other students will work with younger students, letting the little ones read to them, and reading back to them.

“To have an older student come down and listen to them read, it’s exciting for them,” Gaylord said. “And our teachers make a big deal of them, how proud we are of them to be good role models for younger students. “

Friday is Community Service Day at Edward Little High School. Students in grades 9 through 11 will leave their classrooms to perform community service. (Sun Journal file photo)

Copy the Story Link