Youths turn out for Community Day

Bigfork Middle School eighth-grader Jordan Nelson realized she was helping her peers as she packed food into bags for the Flathead Food Bank’s backpack program.

“It’s hard to imagine people your age — or even your friends — being hungry,” Nelson said.

Nelson’s volunteering was part of Bigfork Middle School’s first Community Day Friday, where more than 160 students mobilized across the valley for volunteer projects.

Groups of students went to Bigfork, Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish doing a variety of volunteer work such as park and downtown beautification, picking up trash, gardening, visiting nursing homes and baking cookies for firefighters and law officers.

Six Bigfork teachers on one of Bigfork School District’s High Performance Teams were the masterminds of Community Day.

Middle school math teacher Amy Bessen was one of the teachers.

“High Performance Teams are groups of teachers who set goals we want to accomplish that are part of the district’s goals,” Bessen said. “My HPT felt passionate about improving our community.”

Bessen said the teachers organized the Community Day as one of many activities to fulfill the district goal “to guide and support students’ healthy habits so they become self-reliant, self-reflective and active members of the community.”

In Woodland Park, Bessen grabbed a black garbage bag and started picking up trash alongside her students. Other students were re-mulching planters located by the skate park and pool.

Seventh-graders David Wickwire stuck a pitchfork into a large pile of wood chips, dumping them into a wheelbarrow that Zachary Evenson wheeled to a planter. Other students began to evenly spread the mulch to cover weeds, which had started to grow between exposed weed barrier fabric.

“We’re making it look nice,” Wickwire said.

Kalispell Parks and Recreation Superintendent Fred Bicha said community groups such as Bigfork Middle School “fill in the gaps” on work that staffers can’t get to as they prepare the park for heavy use over the summer.

“It’s awesome to see the youth doing these kinds of things,” Bicha said.

Throughout the day, students recorded their volunteer efforts to create videos. The day culminated with an assembly where each group presented its videos.

Eighth-grade English teacher Shannon Appleby, who oversaw the Flathead Food Bank group, said it took some effort to find places that needed help on Friday, which is why they sought out to more than one community.

If Community Day continues next year, Appleby requested that any nonprofits needing volunteers to contact the school at 837-7412.

“We want to get our kids out in the community,” Appleby said.