Fisher Catholic students help clean river

LANCASTER – A group of Fisher Catholic High School students took some time out of their Friday afternoon to do something to make Lancaster a little cleaner.

"I run by these places four times a week, and you can't miss seeing the grocery carts in the creek," said Martin Barker, a Rotarian and owner of Martin Barker Design.

It was something the student members of Fisher Catholic's Interact Club also had noticed.

The Interact Club, formed in 2010, is the Rotary outreach club for high school students, and Barker is the Rotary adviser for the group. Theology teacher David Bennett is the teacher adviser for the group.

"I do a lot of running on the bike path as well, and you can't miss these carts in the river," Bennett said.

On Friday, members took time to go into the streams and pull the carts out.

"We intend to return them to the stores they were taken from," Barker said.

In the river near Hocking Park, there were four carts that had been thrown into the river from the pedestrian and bike bridge. The club had three members — Emily Vigue, Taylor Thompson, and Clare Shaw — helping pull the carts out with Bennett and Barker.

Interact gives students ages 12 to 18 the chance to make a real difference in their communities. Every Interact club carries out at least two service projects a year.

"It's the student's way to do something more for humanity other than just for themselves, like Rotary does with its adult members," Barker said.

Thompson said that one of the reasons she joined was the service component of the club.

"It really is nice to help people and give something back," Thompson said.

The FCHS club has about 25 members and meets twice a month.

Every year, the Fisher Catholic club takes members to New York during spring break and works with Habitat for Humanity.

Shaw said she got involved in the club after seeing a video about the trip the organization had taken the previous year to New York to help with Habitat for Humanity. This year, nine students went to New York over the Easter break.

"It really seemed like a good group to be involved with," said Shaw, now treasurer of the club.

As for the cart project, the club's president, Vigue, said it was approaching Earth Day.

"Fundraisers are good projects, but I always like a hands-on type of project, and this seem to be one where we could help our community, our environment, and really make a difference," Vigue said.

cburnett@lancasterealgegazette.com

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Twitter: @CarlBurnettJr