WALTHER LUTHERAN STUDENTS USE HOMECOMING TO HELP BEAUTIFY MELROSE PARK

Four hundred Walther Lutheran High School students had fun this week. They also made an impact on their community. These young people, who come from 57 different Chicago area zip codes, spent part of their Homecoming Spirit Week serving the village of Melrose Park by participating in a clean up operation on Tuesday, October 9. This student body, including a dedicated group of Melrose Park residents who attend Walther, made this week of Homecoming more meaningful through their service to the surrounding area.

“It’s not all about fun and silliness,” said the Lutheran college preparatory school’s Executive Director, Don Gillingham. “It’s about looking ahead in time as Christian people and asking how we can be a positive influence on the world around us, how we can serve our neighbors.” Gillingham is hopeful that this service to Walther’s “hometown” can be an annual event. He described the clean up as a “symbol of our desire to have a clear impact on our community” and hopes to expand into other service areas where students can directly serve the needs of individual residents.

Walther students were positive in their reaction to the Spirit Week project. “It was fun and a way to be helpful all at the same time,” said junior Tempestt Williams of Broadview. Sophomore Aaron Key of Maywood exclaimed, “It was a great way to give back to the community!” “It felt great…helping people I don’t even know,” agreed junior Shaniva Brown of Bellwood. “People in the neighborhood were thanking us, said Chicago junior Natalie Holman. “It made me feel like we were doing it for a good reason.”

For some of the young people, it was a unique experience. “I’ve never done anything like it before. My class made it fun by singing,” said senior Missy Babchak from Glen Ellyn. “We picked up trash along 16th Street,” said junior Toni Mitchell, who admitted she doesn’t even like picking up her own trash at her home near Midway Airport in Chicago.

In small groups, the kids covered various neighborhoods. “I picked up trash along Chicago Avenue. It felt nice to be helpful in the larger community,” shared freshman Adam Lamey of Roselle. Sophomore Todd Scott-Dettl of Burr Ridge added, “We cleaned up the fields and playground behind Jane Addams School. It wasn’t the most fun I’ve had, but it was okay.”

Senior Mitch Berg is a local resident, so his view of the activity was a personal one. He explained, “I live here in Melrose Park, and back there by Silver Creek it gets pretty messed up. There are shopping carts and bags of garbage. It was cool to make it a little less dirty with the other kids from my school.”

Press Release contact: Lori Solyom, Public Information Coordinator