Kids Help District 748 Staffer Take Care of Ball Field

(KNSI) – A group of kids living near the Sartell-St. Stephen School District Service Center took time during their summer break to help staff take care of an old ball field.

ISD 748 Director of Buildings and Grounds Jesse Paggen told KNSI News that he was using a tractor to till the dead grass out of the field to try and rejuvenate it a little bit when neighborhood kids started coming out of the woodwork. Paggen stopped the tractor to talk with the kids and explained what he was doing. “And then one said, ‘Hey!, I’m going to go get a rake, I’ll help you.’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’ So, then he had called one of his other friends, and another friend called another friend. Pretty soon they had five kids out there with rakes. And they literally helped me rake all of the grass and everything out of the field. And then they put it in a bunch of piles for me.”

Paggen told KNSI News why the kids said they wanted to help. “They said it’s their field. And they said that they play on it every day. We didn’t even realize that they utilize it that much. And they took pride in it and they wanted to clean it up and make it look really nice.”

As a reward, he stopped by a local Kwik Trip and got them a 12-pack of pop and some candy. Paggen said he thanked each kid and said they did a great job.

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