MOSES LAKE — The high school students at Moses Lake Christian Academy took time off this week from classroom studies for some hands-on, real-world learning volunteering in the community. 

“We’re (doing) anything that they need help with, whether it’s painting or raking or stacking metal,” said MLCA junior James Journey, as he painted a fence at GPS Story Barn Ministries in Moses Lake. “Anything they need us to do, pretty much.” 

The week before spring break is traditionally Extended Learning Week for MLCA high school students, and this year they were pitching in at the Moses Lake Food Bank, the Columbia Basin Cancer Foundation, U-Rock Ranch and other locations around the area where a little free labor could come in handy. 

“Yesterday we went to the Cancer Foundation and we wiped down some windows and picked up some weeds,” said freshman Logan Stevens. “And we went to U-Rock Ranch and got all the dead plants from pots and poured bark over areas where (they) wanted bark to make it look better.” 

GPS Story Barn, located in the McConihe Flats neighborhood northwest of town, operates day camps and survival camps in the summer, said Starlene McDaniel, who operates the place with her husband Gene. They were preparing Tuesday to host a sunrise service on Easter Sunday, she said. 

“My husband’s health has not been good, so that’s (a) reason that word has got out that we need help getting things done,” she said. 

Another contingent of MLCA students was assisting at the Moses Lake Food Bank, bagging up onions and bell peppers and helping with distribution when the doors opened at 11 a.m. The help was welcome, said staffer Robert Hipolito, because his supply of hands is variable. 

“We have people who work here; we have volunteers and then we have people doing (court-ordered) community service,” Hipolito said. “And sometimes I don’t have anybody doing community service and it’s only a couple of us who are trying to get all the carts filled up.” 

The students were divided into groups of 8-10, freshmen through seniors, and they rotated day by day through the week. This has been going on for about 20 years, said teacher Hannah Pease, who was supervising the students at the food bank. 

“I think it has made some of them a little more grateful for what they have,” Pease said. “It’s been helping them be mindful of food, too, like putting things carefully down and paying attention to if things are good quality for other people, because that’s really important.” 

Senior SanTahna Ferguson said volunteer work was a learning experience. 

“I feel like what we’re doing is taking the load off people who work so hard to make stuff like this happen, and to see the behind-the-scenes of it,” Ferguson said. “It kind of opens your eyes, especially as kids who go to a private school who don’t have to worry about if they’ll get dinner tonight. It’s opened our eyes as students who have a little more than other people and it’s brought us (to where) we’re more understanding of the situations that other people are in.” 

    Moses Lake Christian Academy junior Zane Swinger, left, and senior Vanya Bohganov paint a fence at GPS Story Barn Ministries in Moses Lake Tuesday.