The company, located in Greenwich, awarded $2,500 to the Green Ribbon School Project and Hudson Crossing Park. The joint award, given on America Recycles Day (November 15), will be used to build on successful projects that were started on the school district campus during the inaugural year of the Green Ribbon School (GRS) Project.
Deborah McGloine, one of the founding mothers of the project, said the project began with two other mothers—Betty Gifford and Cindy Wian—who had different ideas on ways to improve or add “green” initiatives to school campuses.
“Betty wanted to start an outdoor classroom, I hyperventilate when I see the waste in the cafeteria—I’m into reducing waste and that sort of thing—and Cindy is the vice president of the Hudson Crossing park for outdoor education,” McGloine said. “We all really believe children need to be outdoors more. We’re passionate about children, passionate about education and passionate about the environment, so we started meeting a little over a year ago.”
The local moms have accomplished a lot over a little period of time since that first meeting—they have already held health fairs, encouraged districtwide participation in National Bike or Walk to Work Day, initiated a “Rainbow Food Week” in the cafeteria to promote fruits and vegetables, and began a “High 5K” challenge to all students in the district.
“It doesn’t have to be a sanctioned one,” McGloine said. “Bike it, swim it, walk it, kayak it. So, every time someone does it, they register it and we put a handprint up on the wall. If you go in the elementary school right now you’d see over 200 hands.”
McGloine said the Green Ribbon School Project has four cornerstones that emphasize its main goals: environmentally friendly campuses, with goals such as enhancing recycling programs, reducing waste, use composting, and making sure green products are being used; health and wellness, with has been shown in challenges like the High 5K and the Rainbow Food Week; nature and adventure, and health and fitness.
“We’re trying to get the kids outside,” McGloine said. “We’re building an outdoor classroom, we have a butterfly garden, a bird viewing trail, a tulip test garden—We planted the tulips for the fourth grade class and then they registered it online so they are able to see their garden on a map. There are gardens in Russia and all along the Northern Hemisphere that have been registered with other students, and as they emerge and bloom they’ll register that information and see how the tulips emerged in other areas. Our purpose is to enhance the curriculum that’s already there and help the teachers.”
Funds from the newly-received grant will go toward enhancing the butterfly garden as well as helping to complete the construction of an outdoor classroom that will be used by all the schools in the district. The outdoor classroom already has an allotted space and 17 cedar benches were built by GRS volunteers over the summer.
“It will be a space where English classes can be taken out to do some writing, or if it’s a beautiful day you can take the students out on a nature walk and sit on the benches and talk about what you observed,” McGloine said. “It’s a beautiful outdoor space and it just needs to be taken to the next level.”
As for the future, McGloine said the GRS will continue to try to implement some big ideas, including the creation of a composting area to reduce waste, along with planting a vegetable garden.
“I really feel like we’re making our presence known and achieving our goals,” McGloine said. “We’ve gone for things that are attainable and successful and got everyone excited, and that’s really the momentum we want to keep going with.”
