By Joanna Miller, Staff Writer

This year, St. Michael’s School students will “walk the walk” in their fundraising marathon, said Pam Neper, marathon committee representative and parent.

The national Marathon for Nonpublic Education has traditionally been a hike through Lakefront Park for local students, but in the church’s centennial year, the students’ path has changed.

This year, students will reach out to the community in a marathon of service events to take place on Friday, Oct. 3.

“Instead of doing our traditional walk this year, we decided to take on community service,” Neper said. “We’re really trying to embrace the theme, ‘Celebrate service.’ We kind of decided to kick off the school year and the marathon with that theme.”

Neper said the event “gives people something tangible that the kids will be doing.”

The volunteers will work for donations for the school.

“Money this year is going toward upgrades to the playground and upgrades to our technology,” Neper said.

The goal is to raise $40,000. Last year’s goal of $35,000 was surpassed to the tune of $50,000.

Neper said they raised the bar, and they encourage students to participate with prizes as well as rewards, such as Spirit Day T-shirts students can wear for out-of-uniform days and gift certificates if they reach a specific level of funds raised.

Kindergartners through third-graders will do the original walk for fundraising, but this year they’ll roll up their sleeves and carry garbage bags to collect litter on the roadway and in the park.

Fourth-graders will divide up, with some students visiting residents at Keystone Communities and others working on cleaning the Church of St. Michael and its grounds.

The fifth-graders will team with the local VFW Auxiliary members on a project to craft twin-sized fleece blankets to be used for veterans hospitals.

“There’s a real need for these,” Neper said, as many lap blankets are donated but few full-sized items are received. The group plans to make 30 total blankets.

The sixth-graders will divide up, with half of the students helping the Prior Lake VFW set up for a community event and half playing Bingo with residents at McKenna Crossing.

Seventh- and eighth-graders will leave the Prior Lake area and pack food items with the nonprofit organization Feed My Starving Children.

 Joanna Miller can be reached at (952) 345-6375 or jmiller@swpub.com.