Green Jobs Day at Bradford Elementary School

Working with the Kids Connect team and a youth leadership and philanthropy organization called InspiringKids, the whole school participated in a “Green Jobs” afternoon as a way to support the Bradford community. In exchange for their Green Job efforts, the Bradford Merchants Association and InspiringKids each pledged $250 to sponsor the student’s work. Thanks to the leadership efforts of the 5th graders, and a school wide vote, the money raised is being donated to The Vermont Food Bank.

The student work jobs included completing a waste audit with help from CVSWMD educator Gwen Lyons Barker. The fifth grade students collected a day’s worth of the school’s trash and sorted into things that could be recycled, reused, composted and real trash.  Complete results of the audit will be forthcoming. From that information, we hope to reduce our waste by almost a quarter with additional education and more careful sorting.

The second graders acted like leaf cutter ants and gathered piles of leaves for our school compost bins. The third and fifth graders, working together, decorating reusable bags that will be given out for free to school and community members in the near future. Our fourth and kindergarten students took seeds from our flower gardens and packaged them into self designed packets which will be available to community members at the food shelf and winter farmer’s market.

Finally the first and sixth graders, working as a team, created packets of dried herbs and herbed butter that will be given to the Bradford Food Shelf for distribution. Thanks to many parent volunteers, the activities ran smoothly and everyone had a fun afternoon for a good cause. In early November,  the fifth grade students presented a check for $500 to the director of the Vermont Food Bank to help supply meals to individuals and families in need.

InspiringKids is a non-profit organization currently working with schools in the Upper Valley. Their mission is to educate and empower children to make a difference in their communities via leadership and philanthropic activities that give students opportunities to apply 21st century skills emphasized in classrooms today. For more information please visit www.inspiringkids.org.