To the Editor:

A letter of thanks to the Fairmont Area Schools and the students, faculty, support staff and administration who participated in the “Cardinal Connections – Community Service Day” on Friday, May 20.

If you happened to see a group of students in brightly colored T-shirts with an adult adviser with them, you were witness to a service project that benefitted our community in many way. Whether those students were working in public parks or at someone’s home, their efforts were greatly appreciated and deserving of community recognition.

The coordination which was involved included more than just matching groups of students with projects available. It also included much planning: by the classroom teachers in adjusting lesson plans, by transportation providers, and especially by parents, who also had to adjust their schedules.

The project coordinator sent out early notices asking the general public for projects that students could complete in a couple of hours and got a great response.

At our home, the projects completed by students included tasks such as weeding flower beds, cleaning gutters, painting inside walls, trimming grass and weeds, and minor landscape jobs such as trimming easement hedges and leveling rock around trees.

If anyone didn’t take advantage of the project this year, be sure to do so next year. You’ll see our school youth at their finest, interacting, participating and prioritizing what had to be done first, and which students would complete the task, getting it done and cleaning up. It was such a pleasure to work with the senior students who came to our home.

If you have an interest in providing projects for next year, be sure to contact the high school early.

Harlan and Larainne Gorath

Fairmont