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Milwaukee will be participating in Global Reddit Service Day for the first time on Saturday, thanks to an Indiana native who recently transplanted to the city.

Max Hand has coordinated 20 Reddit volunteers and about 50 community members, to come together on Saturday and give Lincoln Avenue Elementary School, 1817 W. Lincoln Ave., a fresh coat of paint.

Reddit is an online forum where users can submit content, used mostly for social networking and discussing entertainment, but the website has also brought people living in the same metropolitan areas together for a service project on its worldwide service day.

Milwaukee’s presence on Reddit has been growing recently, said Hand, which may explain why the city missed the first two years of the annual event.

Hand said he heard about the challenges MPS schools face when he first moved here and thought if volunteers cleaned them up, schools could have more money for educational programs.

At Lincoln Avenue Elementary, 97% of students are economically disadvantaged and learning in a building more than 100 years old, Hand said.

He added, “Having a school that looks brand new will be a morale booster for students.”

Hand said he hopes for more than one MPS school to receive a spruce each year.

“Let’s make it a quarterly event,” he suggested.



If interested in volunteering, email Hand at maxhand@indiana.edu.