Tomorrow, while you may be home raking leaves off your lawn, about a dozen sixth- and seventh-grade students from Alexander Mitchell Integrated Arts School -- pre-K through eighth grade bilingual Milwaukee Public School at 1728 S. 23rd St. -- will volunteer their time to rake leaves outside vacant South Side homes.
The effort was organized by Mitchell first-grade teacher Patti Koscielak and the neighborhood's alderman, Bob Donovan. Koscielak and other teachers have gathered rakes for the kids to use.
"They (students) have a lot of community spirit," said Koscielak, "and they also know that homes that are unattended attract crime and they want to do their part to deter that type of behavior.
"(They are excited) to be helping people in the neighborhood feel good
about where they live."
Donovan and the students will meet up at 10 a.m. on the corner of 23rd and Mitchell Streets and then will start raking in the area between 21st and 27th Streets, from Lapham Boulevard to Burnham Street.
"These youngsters have made the connection that helping spruce up the community -- even if it's raking leaves for an hour or two -- is a positive way of giving something back to their neighborhoods and to the city," said Donovan.
"These are kids doing something positive for free, and on their own time."
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
