LUCASVILLE — Valley High School students and adults recently gave up a Saturday morning to help with a new community service project, Valley’s Helping Hands. These volunteers, in their matching purple shirts and yellow safety vests, spent more than four hours each in the cold and wet conditions working 10 different projects in and around Lucasville, according to Gary M. Crandall, treasurer of Kiwanis Club of Lucasville.

Some helped at the homes of local elderly residents mowing yards, weeding and trimming trees and shrubbery and performing any other small home improvements requested by the homeowners. Other volunteers walked more than five miles of area roads picking up trash and other roadside debris. Another group worked on the weeds and debris along U.S. 23, cleaning up some abandoned or unkept lots along the main road through Lucasville.

The remaining volunteers went out to the Mount Hope Bible Camp in Otway where they cleared a small vehicle bridge of mud and leaves, removed the cut-up remains of a fallen tree and cleared a field of overgrown brush. It was later reported by a representative at the camp that the volunteers were seen singing songs and having a great time together while helping out at the camp, Crandall said.

These volunteers collected more than 150 bags of trash and weeds and created an 8-foot pile of brush and tree trimmings that were disposed of by the Valley Township Trustees. That did not include all of the debris that was cleared and disposed of at the Bible Camp. In total, it was estimated that more than four tons of garbage and debris were cleared and disposed of by these volunteers during this one morning service project.

Valley’s Helping Hands is a non-profit community service organization created by the Valley High School National Honor Society, led by science teacher Sandy Carpenter. Twice a year, Carpenter and her students plan and coordinate the Helping Hands projects. They raise the necessary funds to provide the tools and materials to work these projects, and they sign up all the volunteers and assign them to the various projects. They were assisted by several other groups who contributed to the identification of the projects to be worked on. Members of the Kiwanis Club of Lucasville drove the primary and back roads of the Lucasville area to identify possible areas to be worked. Several Lucasville area churches — Center Street Church, Emmanuel United Methodist Church and Rockhaven Church — also helped identify individuals or locations in need of assistance. In addition, the group took advantage of the Recycling/Litter Trailer provided by the Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste Management District (www.lsswmd.org). This is a trailer full of power and hand tools and waste handling materials that were provided free of charge to the Helping Hands organization to aid in their community improvement project.

Donations for future projects can be made to Valley’s Helping Hands care of Valley High School in Lucasville. Crandall said any suggestions for future Helping Hands projects can also be submitted, in writing, to the school or any Kiwanis Club of Lucasville member.