TRINITY STUDENTS LEND HELPING HANDS TO NEIGHBORS

Adam Collier was right at home raking leaves Monday morning.

Heather Sexton didn't care for the job, but it was better "than being in a classroom on a sunshiny day."

Collier and Sexton, second-graders at Trinity Lutheran School in Cape Girardeau, were joined by 22 of their classmates in a volunteerism program Monday.

Also in the group of leaf-rakers were a half-dozen mothers and second-grade teacher Jeanne Short.

"This is something we do every year," said Short. "It's a program designed to help the elderly, and it teaches the children the value of work."

"It's a fun thing," said Ethan Deuster, a student. "It gives us an opportunity to help other people."

Raking appeared to be old hat to young Collier. "I rake some leaves at home," he said.

The children did a great job, agreed Charles and Mary Schrader. "They seemed to enjoy their work, and they completely cleaned the yard of leaves."

The Schrader yard was one of five for the morning-long leaf clean-up, which started at about 8:30 and ended about 11 a.m., in time for dinner back at school.

Also in the group of young workers was Jenny Schrader, a granddaughter of the Schraders.

The students provided their own rakes.

The project is one of many being conducted by the school under a "Kids Can" program sponsored by the Aid Association of Lutherans (AAL).

"The concept is that kids can volunteer," said Robert Hartmann, principal at the school.

The children are responding positively to the program, said Hartman. During a recent weekend, some students volunteered their time to wrap presents for a women's group bazaar at the school.

The leaf-raking project comes at a good time: The city of Cape Girardeau is offering curb service for fall leaf pickup.

City workers will be vacuuming leaves from the curb until Dec. 20. The North Park area is on schedule for next week.

In recent years, more than 800 tons of leaves have been picked up annually around the city. The leaves are composted at sites around town.

Residents can check the leaf-pickup schedule for their zones by calling the public works department at 334-9151. Leaves should be raked to the curb in advance of the pickup date.

Tim Gramling, assistant director of public works, reminded homeowners that leaves should not be raked into the street because they can clog stormsewers. "And people should not put them into bags," he said. "We don't pick up bags."

City street crews will rake the leaves from the curb into the street, where they will be collected by the city's three leaf vacuums and a Sweepmaster, which collects leaves from the street and deposits them into a dump truck.

The four machines will be used for a week at a time in each of the six zones.

The leaf vacuums are "basically a big vacuum cleaner," Gramling said. "You have a big hose on one end for suction and a big fan on the other end," he said. "This sucks the leaves up and blows them into the bed of the truck."

Cape Girardeau residents can still drop off leaves at the city's composting site if they don't want to wait for the vacuums. The composting site is on Third Street just off LaCruz at the old Central Meat packing plant across from Kasten Masonry.

City residents can drop off leaves at no cost from noon to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.