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BLUE EARTH - Communities across Faribault County went through a massive clean up Thursday when about 300 Blue Earth Area Middle School students arrived to help.

The annual cleanup day spans all the communities in the school district, and even a few outside it.

Activities included painting, raking, planting flowers, cleaning, clearing trash and many other tasks.

Alyssia Christensen, a sixth-grader, was with a group of students who helped clean fence lines along Highway 169 and Green Giant Park.

She was busy planting flowers and raking late Thursday afternoon - after starting clean up around 9 a.m.

"Cleaning up makes the world a better place," Christensen said. "When it's not so polluted it's better."

Eric Purvis, an eighth-grader, was cleaning the same sites. This is his third and final year of helping with community service day.

"It's been a lot of fun for the last three years," he said. "It makes the environment much cleaner and makes things look nice for visitors."

A group of 14 students helped out at the Senior Center. Some helped seniors figure out their cell phones, digital cameras and computers. Others helped sew mittens for children in the Winnebago and Blue Earth elementary schools.

Janine Wischnewski coordinates the sewing, called Mix-Match Mitten Program. Students Sierra Schimel, seventh grade, and Karlie Abel, sixth grade, were helping Thursday.

The program has been in existence for three years, and has made almost 1,000 mittens for children. Wischnewski thought it was neat the girls were helping, since they had received Mix-Match Mittens once themselves.

"I like what I'm doing because I'm going to be helping little kids," Abel said.

Middy Thomas, Senior Center director, said the help was wonderful.

"They found out that the seniors aren't so bad," Thomas said. "The seniors love it. Some of them don't get to see their grandkids at this age. It is good for these two generations to get together."