Girl celebrates birthday picking up trash

Courtney Paige-Lawrence and her friend Lauren Romero picked up trash along Mount Olive Street in Siloam Springs on Nov. 13 during Courtney’s birthday party.
Courtney Paige-Lawrence and her friend Lauren Romero picked up trash along Mount Olive Street in Siloam Springs on Nov. 13 during Courtney’s birthday party.

— For most people, birthday parties are all about cake, balloons and presents, but 15-year-old Courtney Paige Lawrence is far from average.

Lawrence, a Decatur resident and a ninth grader at Siloam Springs High School, selflessly chose to give back to her community for her 15th birthday.

For her party, Lawrence organized a group of friends to help clean a 1.5 mile section of Cheri Whitlock Drive and Mount Olive Street in Siloam Springs. Instead of gifts, guests were asked to bring baby and toddler clothing to be donated to the Benton County Children’s Shelter in Vaughn.

The party was entitled, “Help Courtney Paige Put the Earth back the way God made it,” and Courtney and her mom, Tammy Lawrence, made tri-fold invitations packed with information for her to pass out at school.

Organizing the event was a learning experience for Courtney. When shestarted, she wasn’t sure where to begin, Tammy said.

“I told her ‘If you step into any project you have to make sure you’re doing it the right way,’” Tammy said.

The first step was to find out if there were any city ordinances concerning what Courtney was planning, so mother and daughter found city hall in Siloam Springs and let city officials know what they were up to. The city cleared Courtney’s party, and officials were mainly concerned for the girls' safety while walking down two busy roads, so they arranged for police officers to drive by periodically.

Courtney also learned how to get sponsors for her community service event. Vinyl Visions donated T-shirts with the inscription: “Help Courtney Paige put the Earth back the way God made it.” Tammy’s company, Clean Freaks, also sponsored the event.

When the day finally came for the party, the weather was dreary with a bitterly cold wind. The group of girls gathered in a church parking lot towait for the party to begin, with teeth chattering and fingers balled inside their sleeves. The group slowly grew as parents dropped off more girls, and Courtney’s aunt Debbie Peninger went looking for warm drinks and sweaters. One of Courtney’s teachers stopped by to donate diaper wipes.

Then, just as the girls prepared to set off, the sun burst from the clouds to provide a break from the chill. By noon the weather had improved considerably and the girls were laughing and joking as they made their way down Mount Olive Street towards the park.

The experience brought to reality a dream that Courtney has had for several years.

“She’s very passionate,” Tammy said.

“Courtney has always been very recycle, turn off the water, pick up the trash out of the grocery store parking lot,” she explained.

“She says it hurts her heart, so it must hurt God’s heart,” Tammy said.

When asked as to why she’d rather give than to receive on her birthday,Lawrence replied shyly, “I really don’t know; I just know it needs to be done.”

For the most part, this is the first community service project in which Courtney has been involved, Tammy said.

While many teenagers might join an organization if they wanted to getinvolved in community service, Courtney chose to be a leader in her own project.

Courtney said she is thankful to her mom for helping her with the project, and to her sponsors Vinyl Visions and Clean Freaks.

And while most teenagers would have a hard time getting out of bed on a cold and dreary Saturday morning, let alone spend their birthdays picking up trash, Courtney Paige is no average teenager. Her project proves that one person can make a difference.

Lisa Brown contributed to this article.

News, Pages 2 on 11/24/2010