Some college students spend the little spare time they have relaxing, but 50 Dickinson State University students will be helping clean up southwest North Dakota.
The volunteer effort, called Positive Payback Southwest, will be held Saturday.
Amber Lien, a sophomore in composite social science at DSU and a member of the Theodore Roosevelt Honors Leadership Program, came up with the idea in May. She and other volunteers have been working on the project ever since.
"It was originally my idea, but it was a huge team effort," Lien said. "If it wasn't for everyone on the planning committee and everything, this would never have gotten off the ground."
She said the idea was sparked because of her roots in southwest North Dakota.
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"I'm from New England and I really love North Dakota and I really wanted to give back to our communities in the area that have given us so much," she said.
Lien and an army of volunteers are willing to do whatever area cities need.
"Anything that they might be able to afford to do, but they don't have the volunteers or manpower to do it," Lien said.
Letters were sent to 18 cities in the state, asking if they would like to participate. Dickinson, Taylor, Hettinger, Richardton and New England responded.
Fifty students, along with Dr. Jon Brudvig, director of the TR Program, will split up and travel to the towns, devoting about six hours to each.
"What's unique about Positive Payback Southwest is it tries to reach out to the region, not just Dickinson," Brudvig said. "I think it's great."
The services the group will provide include painting, cleaning and heavy lifting.
The cities paid for supplies, such as paint, to carry out the projects and local sponsors paid for the rest of the project, including T-shirts and gas.
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Lien never dreamed the project would grow as large as it has.
"We've had an overwhelming response," Lien said. "We've had to turn a couple away lately because we're done with registration."
Brudvig said he is impressed with the effort.
"This was a bold risk to come up with this idea of serving five communities and getting students behind it," Brudvig said. "I think it sends a strong message to our community."
The lessons on servant leadership Lien learned through the TR Program guided her while developing the volunteer effort, she said.
"If not for the TR program, I would never have done this," Lien said.
Many program students are participating, but other DSU students are volunteering as well.
"A lot of students might have come from one of these communities," Lien said. "We hope to make it a staple of the TR Program."
