| Football team gives back to the community |
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| Wednesday, 26 August 2009 | ||
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Managing editor Football players from Coon Rapids High School took time out from practice Saturday morning to give back to the community. The 2009 Cardinal Football Community Service Day Aug. 22 involved cleaning up city of Coon Rapids parks and trails, plus other public property.
As part of the fund-raising efforts for the football program, students write open letters to people in the community seeking donations, according to Carlson. “But we also want the kids to give back to the community not just take from it,” Carlson said. Some 130 members of the 2009 Cardinal squad met at the Coon Rapids Public Works Garage at 9 a.m. Saturday morning along with 37 parent volunteers, where they got their marching orders from Carlson. The turnout was similar in size to last year, but more than in 2007, Carlson said. “This is not mandatory, but the players are expected to do it unless they have another commitment that day,” he said. The players were split up into senior, junior, sophomore and freshmen groups before fanning out across the city for some 3 1/2 hours of cleanup work. There were 11 teams in all - three from the freshmen class, two sophomores, four juniors and two seniors. Juniors and seniors, most of whom had their own wheels, had the task of working the city’s parks and trails plus the Coon Rapids Soccer Complex, behind the Coon Rapids City Center and Sand Creek Elementary School - close to 50 locations. The freshmen groups were assigned the Coon Rapids Dam Regional Park, splitting up into three teams to cover the park, including Dunn Island, then picking up trash on the old Coon Rapids Shopping Center site, now vacant land at Coon Rapids Boulevard and Avocet Street. Sophomores were divided into two groups. One team cleaned up the Anoka-Ramsey Community College property and the bike-pedestrian trail on the south side of Coon Rapids Boulevard from Mississippi Boulevard to Mercy Hospital, while the rest of the 10th-graders were assigned the Cook Ice Arena parking lot and surrounding city property, plus the former Target site and Big Lots (former Rainbow Foods) in the front and back, as well as the vacant White Castle site on the south side of Coon Rapids Boulevard. Armed with plastic garbage bags, the students picked up garbage, debris and branches, then left the filled garbage bags at one location at a particular site for members of the city’s parks department to pick up. According to Carlson, hazardous materials that were found, such as needles and syringes, were to be left for adults to handle and placed in hazardous bags provided. They had to be disposed of separately and brought back to the public works building, Carlson said. Carlson coordinated the community service day project with Gregg Engle, city of Coon Rapids parks supervisor, he said. Peter Bodley is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it |
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