When officials of the Cranston Historical Society were preparing the Sprague Mansion for their annual Holiday Open House, resident Manager Mary Mierka sent out an SOS.

The grounds that surround the mansion at 1351 Cranston Street were blanketed with leaves. Add in the fact that the Cranston Historical Society is a non-profit organization and operates on a tight budget, and it’s no surprise that no money was available to hire a landscaping contractor.

Mierka reached out to community contacts, including Christine Costa, the STARS coordinator for the Exeter Job Corps Academy, and officials of the Community College of Rhode Island’s Office of Student Government-Volunteer Services.

Both groups, Mierka said, “were wonderful and agreed to send us lots of help so that our grounds would look nice at the Open House.”

With sunny skies and unseasonably warm temperatures on Saturday, Dec. 3, 21 volunteers, including Costa, worked tirelessly for nearly five hours and by day’s end had lined up 150 bags full of leaves. They had started their work that Friday.

“Our students raked leaves and cleaned up broken tree branches and other debris that was covering the lawn,” Costa said of the 14 volunteers from the Exeter Job Corps Academy, which is part of a national program that began in 2005 and now has 200 students ages 16 through 24 living in dormitory rooms at the Exeter campus.

The Exeter Job Corps Academy offers training in six different areas: construction, manufacturing, culinary arts, health occupation, business and information technology.

“All our students have to perform 40 hours of community service. So when Mary called me, I said, ‘Sure; we’ll be there,’” Costa said.

Each of the student workers received a bagged lunch and was treated to cookies and refreshments, as well as a tour of the three floors of the Sprague Mansion, courtesy of Gregg and Mary Mierka on behalf of the Cranston Historical Society.

“Both groups were terrific,” Mary Mierka said. “We really appreciate all the help we received from the Exeter Job Corps people and volunteers from the CCRI Student Government.”

The members of the Exeter Job Corps Academy who participated in the cleanup were: Holly Borri-Turdo, Jerome Brown, Raymond Burnett, Brandi Castaneda, Daryll Clay, Christopher DelGiudice, Maritza Diaz, Tareka Elliot, Keisha Fordham, Matthew Heiss, Mikayla Payne, Izjada Pratt, Genesis Ramos-Morales and Tara Walker.

Kevin Johnston and Costa, the STARS coordinator, accompanied them.

The CCRI students who participated were: Antoun Bahit, Cody Fino, Jimmy Phann, Anthony Delisi, Eli Hebert, Jesse Colomba and Jazmin Interiano.

The Sprague Mansion is available for weddings, anniversary parties, showers and a host of social events. For rental information, call Mary and Gregg Mierka at 944-9226.