Green Team Gazette: A Historic Timeline

In December of 2008, a concept was born.

After visiting Alain L. Locke School in Harlem with CG Kidz (from the parent company Cynergreen), Eagle Cove School's Science Guy and I were a swift part (along with CG Kidz) in helping Alain Locke become a Green Magnet School.  With that came a Green Kit from Cynergreen/CG Kidz  We had decided a newsletter would be a good addition to that kit.  A newsletter of helpful teaching hints, books, eco-ideas and more.

Green Team Gazette was born, in monthly printed newsletter form.

For 2 and a half years, I crafted that monthly newsletter.

About a year and change in, I was challenged by my brother:

 "If you want to be a writer, then write. Write something you know about."  

I was already doing that.  I was writing a monthly eco-newsletter.  I was reading all the eco-info I could get my hands on.  I wanted to share it with other schools.  It came to a point, I wanted to share it with the world.  It was at that point that I not only became an environmental educator, but also an environmental-blogger.

Green Team Gazette was reborn--this time via Google's BlogSpot and as a webpage.

Over time, the "EdTech" side has infiltrated (which one could argue is truly environmental!)... and my blog has become multifaceted.

At this point:  we are circling back.  My newsletters for that 2.5 years have been housed on the Gibson Island Country School's Website (until our name change/website change in 2010 when we became "Eagle Cove School").  They have all been housed at the Eagle Cove site ever since.

But Eagle Cove School (the school I have known and loved the last 7 years) is closing here in June, and the website will shut down as well.

So, here we are.

I have uploaded my GTG's up to SlideShare.net, and for the next year I will share those same-month issues here.  Even though some of the info is nearing 5 years old, it's all good and current for the beginning environmentalist. May it serve and find you well!!

Find those eco-archives here tomorrow!  Enjoy the GTG history and progression.  Thank you for trekking along with me!!



Images:  Avatar = GTG's iconic symbol
"Green" = created on KidPix by a former student
Recycle sign = from Microsoft word clip art

Taking Action--Pre-Teen & Teenage Style

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about how one of my 3rd graders, at the age of 9 years old, decided to take a step toward taking environmental action by writing Mike Rowe of the Discovery Channel's  Dirty Jobs (http://greenteamgazette.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-not-clean-being-green-could-be-job.html).  It got me thinking about other youngsters who have done just that...taken small steps to move toward making a huge environmental difference.  

Here are 3 of my favorites:

Riley Hoffer of CGKidz 

http://www.cgkidz.com/

Given my connection with CGKidz, of course Riley is one of my favorite young environmental activists.  Having started CGKidz in 2008 when she was 11 years old, Riley has trekked to many different schools nationwide (including ours:  Eagle Cove School) to spread her message of the 3R's.  In doing so, she has donated many, many CGKidz stainless steel water bottles, presented to classrooms and students, and helped schools by giving them "Environmental Clubs in a Box," Riley has shared her eco-message with over 4,000 kids, with a passion that rivals no adult I know!

I love this quote from Riley's website. 

"As kids, we really need to do our part.  At home, at church, at school and in our communities, it's up to us to be responsible.  Did you know that as a generation we have the power to virtually eliminate entire landfills if we stop the wreckless, wasteful dumping?  Please join me." ~ Riley Hoffer 

Andrew Castle of Hats for Hunger

http://www.hatsforhunger.com/

Andrew's timeline mirrors that of Riley's, to a degree.  At the age of 9 years old, he started Hats for Hunger in 2008.  Whereas Riley's inspiration came from living near a landfill and being amazed, overwhelmed, and disgusted by the size of waste... Andrew was inspired to take action by a Heifer International catalog.  He decided to work to earn money to purchase animals for global villages by knitting hats himself.  He raised $1,500 for Heifer International his first year (2008).  The $700 he earned in 2009 went to the Vermont Foodbank.  This past year, in 2010, he surpassed even his own goals and raised $5000 for Heifer International.  100% of his profits are donated to organizations to fight hunger.  To learn more about Heifer International, go to http://www.heifer.org/.

Matthew Evans of Discover Green - Young Environmental Leaders, Inc.

http://www.discovergreenyel.org/

I've been privileged enough to see Matthew speak at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage in April 2010.  Again, we have another young (now 17 years old), self-assured person who follows his own vision.   Discover Green was another creation in 2008 (October, to be exact).  It began as a collaborative idea from 5 friends who decided to focus a birthday party around a service-centered project.  He and his pal Joanna Casey hosted their first "Teen Green Party with a Purpose." On the Discover Green website, he credits "The first Eco-Inspiration Coaches for the organization were Alec Bainter, Hallie and Joanna Casey, Stephen and Sarah Young and Grayce and Daeland Angle."  The goal of Matthew's Discover Green is to help raise awareness in teens with global and environmental issues, and empowering youngster to take action.  Frequent projects include planting trees, removing trash from local waterways, marking drains, planting gardens, hosting recycling drives, and much more.

The Take Away

No action is too small, nor is any activist.  These examples show both the youngest and oldest of us all just how significant our actions can be.  Who knows...this may serve as a great inspiration to some of your favorite young (or old!) people!!

"Action" image from http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/2009/08/what%E2%80%99s-keeping-you-from-taking-action/ 

Riley Hoffer's pic from http://www.cgkidz.com/

Andrew Castle's pic from http://portland.heiferblog.org/2010/07/young-entrepreneurs-support-heifer.html 


Matthew Evan's pic from http://www.inconvenientyouth.org/blog/

Green-ness & Greatness... And Nothing Less!

25 months ago, in December of 2008, my Eagle Cove School "partner in green" and I were semi-lost (http://www.eaglecoveschool.org/).  Not hugely--we knew we were in the right neighborhood, but we must have turned left instead of right.  We ended up circling a whole block before finding ourselves almost right back where we started, surprised (and shaking our heads) that we somehow managed to miss the entrance of our destination--which was perhaps right there all along, right under our nose!  

Sometimes that's how life is--true gems are right there, under your nose, the whole time!

Our destination--Alain L. Locke School (PS208) in Harlem, New York (http://alainllocke.org/).  We were meeting up with 12 year old Riley Hoffer and Danelle Hoffer of CGKidz and CynerGreen, who were doing an eco-assembly with this 3rd through 5th grade school to help them set up their first Environmental Club.  It was at Alain L. Locke that we first met a powerhouse of a principal, Ms. Susan Greene, and saw an energy in these students was was hard to compare to anything other than electric!  Add in Riley and her "3R's" message--from a kid, to a group of kids--and it was such an amazing experience!  

This Smilebox slideshow below of our trip as well as this press release about Alain L. Locke School at http://teachers.net/wong/SEP10/ tell the story of what an amazing gem this school is.

Fast-forward 25 months to this past week at Eagle Cove School.  

Based on our continued friendship with Alain L Locke and our Maryland Green School initiatives, a crew of 7 dynamic and amazing Alain L. Locke teachers, administrators, curriculum specialists came to Eagle Cove School this week to visit, share, laugh, and observe. Was it just reunion week?  No...our Alain L. Locke friends came with a mission--to work toward becoming one of New York City's first environmental magnet elementary schools, and they wanted to bend our ears. And not just ours...our students too!  Handfuls of our youngsters were giving them a run down on what it means to be a green school, and what it looks like to "live" green!

It is in the sharing of a dynamic group of people that you learn so much!!  We had approximately a dozen or more of us in a classroom together on a Friday afternoon after a full day of observations and conversations.  Anyone who teaches school knows what that means for a Friday afternoon!!  That time slot is a sacred moment of release and escape for many!  Yet for us, this past Friday, it was so much more!  It is my true opinion that everyone in that room walked away so much richer than before!  What a truly amazing bunch of people, and what an fabulous opportunity to share green resources and curricular ideas back and forth. We at Eagle Cove School are anxiously looking forward to our next opportunity, perhaps in the spring, to head north to visit our extended family of friends at  PS208!

I have no doubt that the teachers of Alain L. Locke will achieve their goal, to the "N-th" degree!  Anyone who belts out the following school mantra daily will most certainly do with nothing less! 

I was born from Greatness
Therefore that makes me Great.
Today I will spread Love
Not hate
Not lies
Not violence
Just Love.

Today I will do more,
I will learn more,
I will be more
Than anyone ever thought I could.
Today I will strive for GREATNESS and nothing else.
Created by Susan M. Green © 2007

To see the Smilebox video above, click the Smilebox above, or go to

http://alainllocke.org/2008/12/marylands-gibson-island-day-school-environmental-club-partnership-with-harlems-alain-l-locke-ps208-their-video-visit-to-ny-city/

 

Photographs of Alain L. Locke School taken by Vicki Dabrowka in December 2008; Eagle Cove School Calendar photo taken by Carl Treff to make our 2011 ECS-Shutterfly Calendar.  If you are interested in purchasing an ECS calendar, please contact Mary Bell in the Eagle Cove School office: SchoolSecretary@eaglecoveschool.org

"Retail Philanthropy:" Gifts That Keep Giving

In this holiday season, even if you are a die hard eco-warrior with many-a-good-intention to cut back the giving of "stuff," sometimes you just can't help it.  There are people in your life who you love, and (especially if they are li'l ones), the holidays are synonymous with wish lists and wants.

One way to combat the consumption and commercialism of Christmas is to give gifts that give back.  Here are some of my favorite ones:

 

http://www.eaglecovefundraising.com/  (At check out, enter code: EAGLECOVE1011)......... Eagle Cove School and CynerGreen have partnered to create a school fundraising site. There, all items are Earth-friendly, and 20% of each purchase goes to support Eagle Cove School, a Maryland Green School in Pasadena, Maryland. As a great aside, if you'd like to create a similar eco fundraising site for your school/organization, go to http://www.cynergreen.com/  

 

http://www.btfe.com/marketplace  A lot of schools know about "Box Tops For Education."  You've seen those li'l pink box tops all over your pantry items.  Well, now there is a whole "eBox Top" marketplace.  By starting your online shopping spree at the site above, you can link into a number of well-known stores (big box, boutique, and beyond)...then your school can earn electronic "eBox Tops"--which equals more money down the line for your organization.  To find out more about the stores involved, go to http://www.boxtops4education.com/earn/marketplace/BrowseStores.aspx .  If your school isn't signed up and you aren't sure who to support, "Eagle Cove School," is ALWAYS a great options!

 

http://www.alittlegreenhouse.com/  At "A Little Green House," you can take advantage of both eco-friendly finds and creations by Maryland artisans while doing your gift-shopping.  In addition to that, local companies and non-profit organizations (of your choice) can benefit from your purchase by receiving 25% of your sales.  Currently, you can choose between 11 Chesapeake Bay & Annapolis area nonprofits to support including the Annapolis Opera, the Cheasapeake Bay Environmental Center,  Maryland State Firemen's Association, or St. Andrews UM Day School.

 

http://www.carefulplanettoys.com/   If toys are what you are in pursuit of, "Careful Planet Toy's" is an online toy store that might be for you.  All items are made of recycled, biodegradable, and sustainably-safe materials. Their vendors operate in an "ecologically conscious" way...from manufacturing to packaging.  They carry items from companies such as Bioviva Games, Eco Angles, Green Toys, ImagiPLAY, Late for the Sky, Maple Landmark, miYim, Sabamba Bikes, Schylling, and Sprig Toys.

http://www.uptownliz.com/Directory.aspx  Uptown Liz is a company that was created after the founder's sister died of breast cancer at the young age of 28.  The mission of the company:  to "promote products from companies whose proceeds directly give back to charitable organizations.  You can shop on this one-of-a-kind Web site by charitable cause or product category." There, you'll find "art, clothing, jewelry, house wares, beauty and eco-friendly products (just to name a few) that benefit charities all over the world."  You will find a lot of cool items there

 

http://www.tatteredcover.com/tc-gives-back  At Tattered Cover, as a "Tattered Cover Gives Back" member, 1% of your pre-tax sale goes to one of 2-dozen+ Denver-area non-profit partners.  Partners include the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library,  The Children's Museum of Denver Literacy Programs,  Colorado Public Radio, KCFR/KVOD,  The Colorado Symphony Orchestra,  Denver Urban Gardens,  Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver, among many more

So as you are shopping, especially if you are like me and would rather do it from the comfort of your own computer rather than going out in the world to wrestle the traffic and the havoc, these are some great places to start!  Shop with a purpose to make the season doubly meaningful.

Gift image from http://greenermagazine.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_archive.html

The Kennedy Center Meets the Sustainability Movement, Part Deux

Aside from basic tourist-y visits to the gift shop & to check out the views of the Potomac (given I've lived in and around DC for a handful of years), I've been to the Kennedy Center "for real" 3 times. Oh sure, I've been to the theater other places, but there's something about the Kennedy Center. It's on a level that stands alone.

Once (eons ago), I was at the Kennedy Center to see "Phantom of the Opera." Breathtaking!

Once (in a particularly brave era, many moons ago), I was there to perform on-stage, at Christmas, with a choral group I had joined an a lark from a newspaper ad. A trip to France & several cathedral choral venues later, this choir was invited to take part with many other singing groups to be the background singers for Rosemary Clooney's Christmas Concert at the Kennedy Center. (Yes, that would be George's late aunt.) A once-in-a-lifetime, surreal experience.

Then there was last night.

The Kennedy Center has a nightly, free performance in the foyer outside the Concert Hall in their atrium called the Millennium Stage. It is a wonderful way that the Kennedy Center makes the arts accessible to all. Last night, I battled the Tuesday night rush hour traffic to make it there by 6 pm on special invitation from Danelle & Riley Hoffer, who have been special to me since Riley's visit to Eagle Cove School, October '08 for our FallFest where she donated 100 CGKidz stainless steel water bottles and spoke to our ECS community about the importance of "reducing, reusing, and recycling." Did I mention that she was 11-years old at the time, she had just recently started www.CGKidz.com (out of the desire to do something and help kids take action), and we were her very first of many elementary school visits! Since then, she's gone on to share her message to a number of schools nation-wide.

All of which brings us to the Kennedy Center this past Tuesday night (April 28th), where Riley was 1 of 5 national award recipients (aged 13-24) from the United States Green Building Council. Five amazing young adults took turns on stage [Riley Hoffer--age 13, Matthew Evans--age 16, Jordan Howard--age 18, Gordon Schweitzer--age 23, and Melissa Seanard--age 23], alongside 6 amazing poets [Simone Crew. Alyssa Langworthy, Carvens Lissaint, Zuki Mondunkwu, Brandon Santiago, and Lauren Whitehead] to accept their awards in sustainability.

Of the 3 times I've attended the Kennedy Center, each time was moving in it's own way. However, I've got to say that I don't think I've ever been more touched and inspired as I was this week at this event. Here I saw the future. These 11 amazing impassioned young people are the voices of our future. Like a proud mama, I was in awe in a number of ways by Riley's speech (and so touched when she gave me a personal thank you while on stage), and moved by these other 10 fresh and new-to-me individuals who John F. Kennedy Center of Performing Arts,have sooo much vision at such a young age. Here at the a quote by JFK rings out:

"One person can make a difference, and everyone should try." ~ John F. Kennedy

To see and be moved (as I was) by these amazing individuals from the "Must See" Kennedy Center Millennium Stage USGBC/Youth Speaks "Brave New Voices Bringing the Noise for the Earth" event from Tuesday, April 28, 2010, click the title above, or go to http://www.kennedy-center.org/explorer/videos/?id=M4265 to view a video of the performance. Congratulations to all 11 of the USGBC/Youth Speaks young leaders. I'm excited to see where you go, and what you do!

Pictures à la my camera from last night's event.

The Kennedy Center Meets the Sustainability Movement, Part Uno

Here is the press release from the U.S. Green Building Council (& Youth Speaks Brave New Voices Green Team) as shared with me by Danelle Hoffer of CynerGreen.  This release announces the award ceremony at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage in Washington, DC tonight.  Riley Hoffer of CGKidz was one of the 5 USGBC nation-wide award recipients.  I had the privilege of being there, and it truly was poetry in motion.  I am still absorbing the experience here tonight, so more will follow later.  It was truly amazing, powerful, and memorable!

USGBC to Honor Five Young Leaders Actively Contributing to Sustainability Movement at Washington, DC’s Kennedy Center
Event will feature performance by Youth Speaks

Who:      U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Youth Speaks Brave New Voices Green Team


What:      USGBC Young Leader Awards, a celebration of individuals between the ages of 13 and 25 who have demonstrated a commitment to sustainability and effected change in their schools, communities, and beyond.


USGBC Young Leaders and Youth Speaks Brave New Voices Green Team poets will take to the stage with “Bringing the Noise for the Earth,” a powerful performance featuring slam poetry and inspirational stories of change from young leaders across the country.

Where:    The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage
               2700 F Street, NW
               Washington, DC 20566

When:     Tuesday, April 27, 2010, 6 P.M.

Why:    The evening will celebrate the five young leaders who are making an impact on their schools and communities with a poetry, inspirational voices and stories of a vision for a greener tomorrow.

2010 USGBC Young Leader Award winners:

•    Gordon Schweitzer, 23, Dayton, Ohio: Gordon helped pass a sustainability mission statement as President of his university’s Student Government Association and continues to promote green building as a young professional engineer in Ohio.

•    Matthew Evans, 16, Pfugerville, Texas: After attending Greenbuild 2007, Matthew felt challenged to go back to his community and do something.  He effectively promoted a xeriscape community garden in his arid hometown as a part of a water conversation effort he has been spearheading.

•    Melissa Seanard, 23, Baton Rouge, Louisiana: As a student at Louisiana State University, Melissa led a campaign to implement recycling at Tiger Stadium, an impressive feat at a large football school that disposes of 1.5 million PET plastic bottles every season.

•    Jordan Howard, 16, Los Angeles, California:  Jordan saw the importance of a personal commitment to addressing climate change and has been actively educating others in hopes of motivating them to change their behaviors and take action.

•    Riley Hoffer, 13, Cabot, Arkansas: Riley, founder of CG Kidz has led an amazing campaign to increase the number of kids who drink out of reusable bottles. 

About Youth Speaks: Youth Speaks is a non-profit organization committed to shifting the perception of youth by combating illiteracy, alienation and silence and by creating a global movement of young people brave enough to take their voices to the stage. Since 2006, Youth Speaks has teamed up with the Robert Redford Sundance Preserve and USGBC to select a Brave New Voices (BNV) Green Team to speak on issues such as climate change and environmental injustice.

U.S. Green Building Council

The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.
With a community comprising 80 local affiliates, more than 18,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 155,000 LEED Professional Credential holders, USGBC is the driving force of an industry that is projected to contribute $554 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product from 2009-2013. USGBC leads an unlikely diverse constituency of builders and environmentalists, corporations and nonprofit organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens, and teachers and students.

Buildings in the United States are responsible for 39% of CO2 emissions, 40% of energy consumption, 13% water consumption and 15% of GDP per year, making green building a source of significant economic and environmental opportunity. Greater building efficiency can meet 85% of future U.S. demand for energy, and a national commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million American jobs.

Contact: Ashley Katz
Communications Manager, USGBC
202.742.3738
akatz@usgbc.org
Follow us on Twitter at @USGBC

Picture from http://ecofuture.net/enzo/files/2009/08/USGBC_logo.jpg%20

Earth Day is On Its Way: Green Kidz

Straight from the CGKidz/CynerGreen Press Release:

Award Winning Teenager and Eco Activist “plants” messages at local schools to celebrate Earth Day, increase awareness


April 16, 2010 Little Rock, AR - Eco education for kids has never been more important. With nearly 20% of our nation’s landfills comprised of empty plastic water bottles, Arkansas teenager Riley Hoffer is even more inspired to continue her environmental awareness campaigns.


In 2008, at the age of 11, Riley founded the non-profit CG Kidz. Since then, she’s visited with over 30 groups, donated over 3000 of her specially designed reusable water bottles, and shared a message about sustainability and the importance of taking care of the earth. That message specifically targets kids ages K-8 and teaches them about the responsibility of environmental stewardship. Riley has developed 7 Easy Green Tips for kids that she shares on her website www.cgkidz.com and during her presentations. This year on the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, Riley is planting messages and communicating her mission through Earth Week eco-assemblies at local Arkansas schools.


The week of April 19 through April 23, 2010 Riley will visit the following eco conscious schools:

• April 19, 2010 The Anthony School, Little Rock (In partnership with Radio Disney) 1:30pm
• April 21, 2010 Fulbright Elementary, Little Rock 9:00am and 1:00pm
• April 22, 2010 Academic Center of Excellence, Party with a Purpose Cabot Morning Tree Planting
• April 23, 2010 Cabot Gifted and Talented Eco Celebration, Cabot 12:30pm

The week comes to an end for Riley with a trip to Washington DC where she’ll be on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center. On April 27, Riley is receiving a prestigious award from the United States Green Building Council for her work in creating environmental awareness. She’s the youngest of five USGBC Youth Leaders to be honored at a special event.


About CG Kidz
CG Kidz’ mission is to bring environmental education, and awareness to kids in K-8th grades; empowering them to take action in their communities for a cleaner, greener future. CG Kidz is the non-profit arm of CynerGreen. CynerGreen is a pioneer in creating environmentally conscious programs for cities, schools, hotels/resorts and business to provide hydration solutions, resulting in plastic Bottle Free™ environments.


CG Kidz mobilizes students in elementary schools, educating them about environmental issues, which in turn, inspires them to take action. A pioneer in linking the power of children’s voices to environmental awareness, it was CG Kidz and CynerGreen who introduced Bottle Free Schools™, launching the idea of eliminating plastic water bottles from schools everywhere, and bringing the concept of reusable water bottles and refill or “hydration stations” to previously unaware districts. CynerGreen and CG Kidz have received recent accolades and awards including Eco Heroes by Arkansas Publishing. Riley was recently named Pottery Barn Teen of the Month and one of “20 to Watch” by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. They have been featured on CBS, Fox News Talk Business, and in Family Circle, Savvy Kids, The Arkansas Green Guide and Little Rock Family.
 For more information, to become involved in our Green Schools program, or to schedule a school visit, contact Danelle Hoffer at Danelle@cynergreen.com or 501.605.0197. CG Kidz is a pending 501(C)3 non-profit organization in the state of Arkansas.

Green Vitals Press From CGKidz/GICS Trip to NYC

For the actual internet article, click on the title above ("Green Vitals Press") to read more about our trip accompanying Riley Hoffer up to Alain Locke School in NYC

Sixth Grader Brings Eco-Friendliness Message to a Harlem’s Alain L. Locke School

NEW YORK - Spreading the message of eco-friendliness across elementary schools throughout the United States, 12-year-old Riley Hoffer has come to New York this month to visit the Alain L. Locke Elementary School in Harlem.
     Young Riley is the spokesperson for CGKidz, the community outreach arm of stainless-steel water bottle maker CynerGreen, Little Rock, Ark.. The Hoffer family-owned company has devoted itself to spreading the word about conservation and environmentally friendly living.
     The event opened with a school assembly for the upper grades in which the student listened to a presentation about how they could be more environmentally friendly.
     Riley opened the event discussing the three Rs—Reuse, Reduce and Recycle. “I want to talk to you about attitude, the attitude to think green,” she said, adding, “Most of the things that you use today, like light bulbs, newspapers and cardboard boxes can be recycled.
     You can do things at home to help out your parents, like separate cans, bottles and newspapers for recycling, and you can join your environmental club at school. Just find a way to get involved because every little bit helps.”
     Riley also showed the students how to decorate for Christmas using things that they had around the house, such as colored paper to make origami candy canes and ornaments using CDs.
     She showed the students a Rudolph Junior CD ornament and explained the procedure as follows: “He is made out of just a regular CD that I had, some pipe cleaners, jingle bells, googoly eyes, and colorful pompoms that I put all together. If you add a magnet, he can go on the refrigerator.”
     Following her demonstration, the students were introduced to teachers from the Gibson Island Country School, Pasadena, Md., which will be providing mentoring and curriculum materials for the Locke school to get it started with its new environmental club. The Gibson school is Maryland’s first certified eco-friendly school.
     Vicki Dabrowka, a teacher from the Gibson school, spoke to the Locke students saying, “I thought that maybe we should bring a message from our kids because we have been doing a lot to help the environment over the last couple of years.
     We do all the plastic, paper, and cardboard recycling, and we are also recycling glue sticks. We even recycle food and that is called composting which can be a messy job, but we get to keep a lot of those things out of the trash. And so the kids from the third, fourth, and fifth grade wrote some letters and helpful hints that we are going to leave with the school.”
     Danelle Hoffer, co-founder of CynerGreen and Riley’s mother, presented the Locke school with an “environmental club in a box,” which contained: green pens, pencils, notepads, an environmental guidebook, and a binder full of letters from students from the Gibson school.
     After the assembly, the Hoffers went up to one of the classrooms and worked with the students on making more origami candy canes. During this time, speaking with Mrs. Hoffer, she said the guidebook is “a collection of different projects that they could do. We combined them with projects from what Gibson Island does. There are probably 100 different types of projects, tips, and ideas of how kids can get involved in the community.”
     Also as a gift to the students, CGKidz gave a stainless-steal water bottle to every student in the assembly. “Our gift to these kids is not just that club, but that bottle. There is such a message behind that bottle, that we really want them to think about and use in their everyday lives. We are also hoping that it will rub off on their parents.” said Mrs. Hoffer.
     All of the bottles were donated to the school by CGKidz. All of the profits that come out of the CGKidz division of CynerGreen, go back into making the bottles that are donated to the schools, according to Mrs. Hoffer.
     This school event was brought about in collaboration with PENCIL, New York City-based organization that supports customized relationships between business leaders and principals to inspire innovation and transform public schools, Karasma Media,, a Harlem-based boutique specializing in social media, and Sperling Greene Partners, a Tenafly, NJ-based marketing and public relations company.
     CGKidz next stop on its school tour will be Riley’s own school, Cabot Middle School North, Cabot, Ark. Subsequently, CGKidz is in talks to present their message in schools in Oregon and Wyoming.

from http://www.greenvitals.net/communitypoliticsnet/2008/12/15/sixth-grader-brings-eco-friendliness-message-to-a-harlems-al.html

Live from New York....

Wish you could have been there...seriously!   It was a great experience.  Here we are, on the road in NYC and hanging out with the kids and classes of Alain L. Locke school!  To learn more, don't pass up clicking on "Live from New York" Smilebox.

image from http://play.smilebox.com/SpreadMoreHappy/4e5463324d7a49354d5877784d4441344e7a6b344d773d3d0d0a

Riley Hoffer at Alain L. Locke Elementary

This is a video-must see!  New York's local CBS affiliate's news story of Riley's and our visit to Alain L. Locke School....Click the "title" above or go to http://wcbstv.com/video/?id=120818@wcbs.dayport.com!!

Fall Fest '08

12 year old Riley Hoffer of Arkansas' CGKidz
Speaking at Gibson Island Country School (now Eagle Cove School)
Fall Fest '08....October 18, 2008


For a video montage of the day, click title "Fall Fest" above!