There are a hundred things a busy mother of teenagers could find herself doing on any weekend, but clearing away bushes in a marsh probably would not be one of them.
Yet there Belinda Fitzner was on Saturday at the Lake in the Hills Fen, volunteering her time as a group leader for the junior high ministries at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington.
Every year the junior high and high school ministries combine forces to conduct Operation STRIVE, which stands for Students Turning Responsibility Into Valuable Experience. The work-oriented fundraiser gets the church’s young members into their communities to lend a hand.
The students spend weeks prior to the event collecting pledges for the day’s worth of work.
On Saturday, 52 junior high students were clearing away branches, lopping down invasive bushes and assisting with a major tree-leveling project at the fen, on the village’s northeast side. By mid-morning the group had helped remove 20 small cottonwood trees that had slowly invaded the fen over the past 20 years.
Environmentalists caring for the fen are trying to restore the nature preserve to its original pristine state, which has required years of work to remove trees and bushes not native to the land. The work done by Operation STRIVE aided other volunteer restoration efforts, which are usually conducted by a handful of workers each Saturday morning.
“This is my eighth year doing this,” said Fitzner, who lives in Cary. “This is a lot of hard work. There’s a lot of lifting and moving. It’s fun though.”
Fitzner said the students approach their jobs with enthusiasm. The main task for the group leaders is to keep their troops moving, particularly later in the day when the strenuous work takes its toll.
“Sometimes in the afternoon, particularly after lunch, we make up games and activities like making a race out of stacking branch piles just to keep the kids going,” Fitzner said.
The STRIVE program touches many communities throughout Chicago’s northwest suburbs. Hundreds of the ministry members are sent to projects that range from painting parking lines on pavement to mowing lawns for the elderly.
The annual fundraiser provides money for the group’s budget, paying for trips to summer ministry camps, special outings and activities.
The students’ reward for their hard work is a party at the church. The rewards for the communities can be just as uplifting. In the case of the Lake in the Hills Fen, the program resulted in substantial progress toward restoration.
“We get more done in one of these work days than we would get done in the whole summer,” said Dave Schwaegler, a regular volunteer helper at the fen. “This is intensive labor, and these kids work hard. We make sure they get a lot of breaks, and we give them a tour of the fen so they know why they are doing this.”
Al and Barbara Wilson, co-stewards and continuous caretakers of the fen, said they appreciate the help from the students and volunteers who turn out from other organizations for the special work day.
“The young kids work just as well as the older ones,” said Wilson, as he stopped to refuel a chain saw. “They come here full of energy and my task is to wear them out.”
Wilson was well on his way to fulfilling his objective. After stacking several tall piles of tree branches, many of the young workers needed a break.
“This is a lot of hard work,” said Kristen Giacalone, 13, of Dundee. “I’ve only been here an hour and I’m tired already.”
