North Jefferson News, Gardendale, AL

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March 8, 2010

Students from Florida to help clean up in Brookside

By Adam Smith The North Jefferson News

BROOKSIDE — For the second-straight year, Brookside will be hosting a group of student workers next week.

A group of nine students from the University of Central Florida in Orlando will arrive on Sunday and stay through the week, cleaning up Five Mile Creek, cutting privet and working to beautify the town.

Five Mile Creek Partnership Coordinator Francesca Gross said the group called her last year and asked about volunteering in the Birmingham area.

“I thought, ‘What am I going to do with 20 students?’, so I called [Brookside Mayor] Roger [McCondichie] and asked if he could put some students to work,” Gross said. “They’re just a fantastic group of kids who have adopted Brookside as their own. It meant a lot for them to come and work as hard as they did.”

The volunteer effort is a partnership between Volunteer UCF and the school’s Recreation and Wellness Centers Adventure Program.

Senior Jen Velie said she was looking forward to returning to Brookside and working in the open air.

“We’ll be cleaning up the creek and doing some micro cleaning things,” she said. “We’re all into the outdoors, so we’re very comfortable with that.”

Velie said the group chose Brookside because they had read about the 2003 floods that nearly destroyed the town. She said the group could do more good in a small town than in Orlando.

“It’s really rewarding to see the difference it makes,” she said. “The people there are super nice and it’s cool to go somewhere that could use some help.”

It won’t be all work and no play for the group, however. Velie said they plan to spend Wednesday horseback riding, canoeing and hiking.

— Adam Smith

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