KEMMERER — Armed with shovels, rakes, clippers, saws, brooms and trash bags, a small army of volunteers on Saturday, April 13, set out on a mission to reclaim the Hamsfork Museum’s front lawn after a couple of years of needed attention.

It was a beautiful spring day for working outside. For two hours, foreign exchange students from around the globe gathered to volunteer their time to help clean up, spruce up and tidy up the museum yard.

Youth from Jordan, Pakistan, Philippines and Turkey, along with their host families, spent two hours raking the lawn, weed eating, trimming the trees and digging up shrubs.

Once you start spring-cleaning, we all know how one job turns into two or three. These kids moved benches, cinderblocks, and the shed to another location behind the museum. Removing a winter’s worth of twigs, dead grass, cans and assorted garbage filled three dumpsters and a trailer.

Out went the junk and in will go new flowers and fresh paint.

Comments from the kids were positive as they rolled up their sleeves and went to work.

Ben Russel Ampahani, a youth from the Philippines, said, “It is so satisfying to cut down these shrubs and clean up this area. I feel like I have made a difference.”

“Today is a day to pick up a shovel and make a small, yet lasting contribution to the city and museum that we love,” said Deb Archibald, who helped organize the cleanup.  “We want to see more green and less brown.”

A special thanks to Lisa and Bill Parkinson who are the regional area representatives for AYUSA, a High School Exchange program of the U.S. Department of State that allows high school students from other countries to come to America and spend a year attending high school.