Isn’t it great when kids want to volunteer? As parents we all want to teach our children how to give back to the community. So when the kids volunteer to clean the Cathedral of Saint Paul in St. Paul Minnesota how could we not think it was a terrific idea.

Getting the Idea

The Cathedral of Saint Paul in Minnesota’s capital city can’t be missed. Not only will you definitely see this magnificent structure while driving around, you should unquestionably stop in for a view. It is 103 years old and contains some amazing statues along with incredible architecture.

So, as if this building isn’t amazing enough all in itself, when you go downstairs you will find a model of the cathedral built entirely out of Lego’s. Now this may not impress you, but being that we are huge Lego fans in this family, we were all quite impressed by it.

It is comprised of approximately 70,000 Lego bricks, none of them were altered except a single mini figure. The builder, Roy Cook, even made the stained glass windows and angel statue! As we were admiring this incredible feat of Lego engineering, we couldn’t help noticing how dusty and dirty it was.

There were Plexiglas panels around it, but nothing covering the top. From the looks of it we guessed it hadn’t been cleaned in a while. This is when the kids thought, “hey, it would be cool if we volunteer to clean the St. Paul Cathedral made of Lego’s.” At first it was just kind of something you say or so I thought.

Kids Volunteer to Clean the Cathedral of Saint Paul How We Arranged It

After discussing how dusty it was, how badly it need to be cleaned, and how great it would be if we did it, my oldest son set out to find someone, anyone, to ask about doing the job.

He found a maintenance guy upstairs, walked up to him and asked if it would be alright if he and his siblings volunteered to clean the model. The man smiled and said we would have to ask Jerry, the head of maintenance. He provided us with his contact information.

The next day my husband called Jerry Adam, the kids were so excited that we hoped he would say it was alright. Chris told him “our kids volunteer to clean the Cathedral of Saint Paul….of Lego’s. Is this something we can arrange?” Jerry was going to have to speak with his superior first, but eventually the date was set. The kids were thrilled.

Cleaning the Cathedral of Saint Paul

I’m sure that most people realize that Lego’s come apart. You probably also know that kids break things, all the time, without even meaning to. So I’m sure you can imagine that my husband and I were a little nervous about this endeavor. At the same time, however, we were so proud of them for taking on this task. Not because they would get something for themselves, but because they wanted to make it better for others to enjoy.

A post shared by Sarah Bloomfield (@statebystateadventure) on Jul 23, 2018 at 3:20pm PDT

We knew we would need some supplies to get this job done. Some of the tools we used included:

Rags(which we brought from home)

Buckets of warm soapy water

of warm soapy water A soft paintbrush

An old toothbrush

Lots of elbow grease





The model was even dirtier than it seemed when we first saw it. After removing the Plexiglas we got a closer look. The model was built in 2009. They also couldn’t remember it ever having been cleaned (Jerry told us he had worked there for three years). So we all go to work.

Yes, the kids did volunteer, but we didn’t want it to take all week, so us parents helped out too. It took a little more scrubbing than the kids had thought it would, but they did a great job. For about two hours we dusted, wiped, and brushed the dirt away.

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A Surprise Ending

Once we finished everyone was quite impressed by the change. It sparkled in comparison. As we moved the table back we realized that there was a cord to plug in. When it was plugged in and switched on nothing happened. Our oldest son traced the problem and found that inside the model was a light.

Jerry did some adjusting to the cord and changed the light bulb. After some tinkering he got it to work. The effect was beautiful. A light coming through the Lego stained glass was worth all the work. So the Cathedral of Saint Paul was clean and the light was working, our volunteer work was complete.

The Special Tour After the Cleaning

Jerry is the head of maintenance for the Cathedral of Saint Paul and a great guy. After the cleaning was done, the light was on, the Plexiglas panels replaced, and we got a few pictures, he took us on a special tour.

First he gave the kids a peak at some of the pieces of the Nativity scene that the cathedral puts out in December. Next he took us down to see the basement or underground section of the building that most people don’t get to see. After that we went to the back rooms via what felt like secret passages. Here we got to check out the 100 year old boilers that heat the place. It was very cool.

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Kids That Volunteer Are Awesome

It’s important to teach kids about doing things for others. It’s not always about what we gain for ourselves, but how we can positively affect the lives of others. By doing volunteer work we can learn that the enjoyment is in doing something for others. That in itself is the reward.

Being generous with our time and our money does not mean we give these things away without thought. The important thing to teach our children is that when we see something that needs to be done, that is within our ability, just do it. If you have time volunteer to help, if you have money donate it to help.

The kids volunteer to clean the Cathedral of Saint Paul (of Lego’s) and it’s awesome. They knew it was something they could do, it was within their ability. Also, they had the time to do it. Now everyone that visits will get to see this model clean and with the light on. They did something they enjoyed, but it will benefit many others.

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