Sign up now to beautify PPS schools

Community Care Day is an annual volunteer cleanup – mostly landscaping, but including general cleaning – organized by PPS before school begins. (The first day of school this year is Tuesday, Sept. 8.)

Most of the more than 50 schools participating in Community Care Day are holding their events from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Aug. 28, but check the event schedule – where you can also register to participate – to verify dates and times at specific schools. You do not need to bring anything, but organizers ask that you bring gloves, weeding tools, shovels or similar tools if you have them. Water and snacks will be provided.

“Students benefit tremendously from the strong support of our communities,” says Andre Jackson, manager of community engagement and school partnerships for PPS. “Community Care Day exemplifies that support, with individuals of all ages and backgrounds coming together to ensure students return to schools that are clean, tidy and ready for a new year.”

Volunteer activities including spreading mulch and bark chips, trimming bushes, edging grass and cleaning up litter.

Tight school budgets make this volunteer work particularly important. Six groundskeepers are responsible for cutting grass and trimming shrubs at PPS schools during summer – two during winter – which is down from 14 employees year-round a decade ago.

Last year, more than 3,000 Community Care Day volunteers improved 76 schools and sites. They collected almost 400,000 pounds of yard debris and about 14,000 pounds of trash, completing work valued at $482,000.

Community Care Day 2009 is sponsored by Nike, Starbucks Coffee, Pacific Coast Fruit Company, Whole Foods, Jammin 107.5, Coastwide Laboratories, Comcast, Z100 and the Luis Palau Association’s Season of Service 2009.

At Portland Public Schools, this is our goal: By the end of elementary, middle, and high school, every student by name will meet or exceed academic standards and will be fully prepared to make productive life decisions. For more information on Portland Public Schools, call 503-916-3304, e-mail us at pubinfo@pps.net, or visit www.pps.k12.or.us. Portland Public Schools is an equal opportunity educator and employer.