With the historic home tour this weekend, Franklin Heritage has plenty of work to do in order to get some of the homes ready to show off.
Fortunately, the junior class at Center Grove High School was able to offer plenty of helping hands.
Thirty-three students were at 250 N. Water Street in downtown Franklin on Tuesday as part of Center Grove’s Day of Caring, assisting with all manner of cleanup work — sweeping out the attic, scrubbing bathtubs, raking leaves and whatever else needs to be done by the weekend.
“The big benefit for us is having all these kids here gets a whole lot done in a single day,” Dave Windisch of Franklin Heritage said. “A lot of people have been curious as to what’s going on here, and now it’s going to be clean enough to actually show people what’s going on.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
In all, Center Grove sent 633 students from the junior class to 40 locations in Johnson and Marion counties for volunteer work. This is the 21st year the junior class has participated in an annual day of caring.
“I bring the labor, and the community partners, they provide the direction,” said Center Grove High School teacher Adam Gaff, who has been the school’s Day of Caring coordinator for 11 years.
Volunteers were doing work at a variety of places, including several local churches, parks and recreation departments and charitable organizations — everywhere from the Center Grove Little League fields to The Gathering Place to the Johnson County Recycling District.
Gaff hopes the day serves as an eye-opener for the students.
“I think it’s so important that kids understand that there are places for them to serve in the community, that it’s important to be engaged civically,” he said. “Service learning is valuable learning; for a lot of kids, this is the first time that they’ve done some of the activities they’re doing in the various locations. For some students, this is their first volunteer experience.”
Such was the case for Center Grove junior Sam Brunsman, one of 10 people tasked with sweeping out the large attic space at the historic Franklin home.
“This is the first experience for me, and I find it pretty cool that we’re helping out with this stuff,” he said.
“Hopefully I can do more of this stuff in the future,” classmate Nick Chamberlin added.
Center Grove has long partnered with United Way of Johnson County on its Day of Caring projects, but Gaff points out that the school is willing to help out any local organization that needs it.
“We’re always looking for new partners,” Gaff said, “so if you’re a nonprofit in Johnson County that is looking for a few good volunteers in September, we’re always happy to have them.”
