Cleaning up with community convergence

photos provided by Laura Case and Hannah Sagely

Union Christian Academy held its “Community Convergence” fundraiser Saturday (Mar. 14), with more than 220 students, parents and faculty of the school working in several places around the region.

Groups with the school worked to help clean areas of Creekmore Park and the Ruth Armstrong Bird Sanctuary in Fort Smith, Historic Main Street in downtown Van Buren and Veteran’s Memorial Park in Greenwood. Yeager’s Hardware and Ecco-Partners donated supplies and equipment in the clean-up effort.

“On top of all the hard work and saving those cities thousands of dollars in labor,r students raised money for the school by going out and getting sponsorships for their work hours,” Farrah Shoppach, a spokeswoman for the project, noted in an e-mail to The City Wire.

Shoppach said the 2008 fundraiser generated about $50,000 for the school, in addition to the economic value provided to the cities in free labor.
 
Union Christian Academy is a co-educational, interdenominational Christian school committed to educational excellence for students from pre-school through the 12th grade.

 

 

Madison Beasley and Rachel James at Creekmore Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Union faculty at Creekmore Park

 

 

 

 

 

Union faculty and students at Creekmore Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Katie Miller and her mother Amanda Miller at Creekmore Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Peach with UCA students in downtown Van Buren

 

 

 

 

 

Helen Lively in downtown Van Buren

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jared Balis in downtown Van Buren

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Linda Wilkerson in downtown Van Buren

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(from top, left to right) Kathryn Willis, Hannah Sagely, Joy Hawkins, Jenni Romero, Katherine Reano. (bottom, left to right) Megan Smith, Jordyn Williams and Danae Rumph. The UCA students were at Veteran’s Memorial Park in Greenwood.

 

 

 

 

Trish Keys, Debbie Brooks and Alex Dart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa Brooks and Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker