Earth Friendly Jog-A-Thon and Recycling Drive

Each year, our small school of 300 children (K-12) holds an annual Jog-a-Thon.  Like many schools, this is typically our largest fundraiser.  This year, the date of our Jog-a-Thon was close to Earth Day, so we decided to integrate Earth Day into our event.  On a seperate note, I had been suggesting that a larger recycling program take place at school and offered to get it off the ground.  All the while, I had been "Googling" like crazy to get ideas on ways to implement a plan.  I was very excited when I found out that Treepeople (in the San Fernando Valley) and the Los Angeles Dept of Public Works had come up with a way to engage schools in diverting trash from our landfills.  The website I had found was called Generation Earth (www.generationearth.com) and it is an environmental education program providing development training and personalized support to secondary school teachers and students in Los Angeles County. They encourage and assist those who want to make a difference in their local environment through campus and community eco-projects.  Their own project is called "Battle of the Schools"...a Los Angeles County-wide competition for middle schools and high schools to see which school can divert the most trash per student (recycle).  Mathew Palmer, Program Coordinator at Treepeople, was a wealth of information for getting our recycling drive off the ground (and keeping it out of the ground:)!

I got the go ahead for our recycling drive and it took place for two weeks prior to Earth Day.  We aptly named our Jog-a-Thon "Green Run 2008".  While a few stellar, high school boys took time out of PE class to sort through yucky recycling, our 3rd, 4th and 5th graders created thank you banners for our partners and sponsors, to be displayed during our Green Run (Trader Joe's, Generation Earth, LA Marathon, etc).   It was a schoolwide (K-12) effort and our "Green Run" day was the perfect culmination for the "Battle of the Schools" recycling drive.  Some of the teachers even coordinated earth-care lessons and art projects to coincide with the competition and Green Run fundraiser.   Not only did our recycling efforts divert trash in the landfills and bring in extra money, we actually won the competition!

If you live in Los Angeles, check out Generation Earth's Battle of the Schools (www.generationearth.com) and enter your school next year!  It was a great way to teach kids about the importance of recycling, while promoting environmental stewardship at school and within your community.