A day of service, a day of fun

• Photo: Leaves

Amelia Christensen puts leaves in a bag while cleaning up Biscayne Park.

Talk about it

As the bags piled up in dumpsters outside city hall, it became quite clear Rosemount Girl Scouts took to heart their participation in the Centennial Day of Service.

Despite gloomy weather, more than 400 Girl Scouts and their families gathered in Rosemount parks to rake leaves and grass, clean storm drains and distribute educational door hangers in neighborhoods. Organizer Mary Owens said the girls collected 1,200 bags of leaves and marked 80 storm drains.

“I was very happy with how the day went. The weather cooperated better than what we thought and the girls had fun doing it,” said Owens.

Girl Scout Sofia Hammel said it’s important to keep stormwater clean so leaves and other matter don’t get into the waterways and carrying excess levels of phosphorus. She added that phosphorus can be hazardous to aquatic life.

Hammel and her troop mate Anna Flynn cleaned storm drains and labeled them. Flynn said it was really fun putting on the storm drain signs because they got to use a thick, tar-like glue. Although she noted that some of the drains really smelled. Both girls are members of Junior Troop 53853.

“Some were completely full of stuff,” said Flynn.

The overall goal for Girl Scouts in the Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys was to improve water quality by removing 20,000 pounds of phosphorus, prevent 10 million pounds of algae growth and save $6 million in clean-up costs.

After the Rosemount city-wide clean up, the girls gathered at Community of Hope Church where the Raptor Center put on a show. The girls also enjoyed ice cream sandwiches.

While this was a one-time event, Owens said she hopes the girls will take what they learned about water forward in their lives. As part of the project, each of the Girl Scouts took a Water Quality Pledge.

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