Students from across Vernon are learning to take CARE of the environment.
The Climate Action Ripple Effect (CARE) program is being completed by student project teams from three high schools, being mentored by Forever Home Sanctuary co-founder Angie Ioakimidou.
Three groups from Charles Bloom Secondary in Lumby are creating mini-greenhouses using recycled plastic milk jugs, crafting planter boxes from recycled hockey sticks, and turning old gumboots into planters that highlight the importance of plants that attract pollinators.
From Seaton Secondary, one team is working with a group of seniors to create gardens using recycled plastic pop bottles. They’re planting them with locally harvested milkweed, a native plant used by Indigenous communities for food and healing.
Fulton students are creating three projects with Ioakimidou’s help, one focusing on sustainable food production by building food gardens on school property that will be used in the cafeteria to support student nutrition. Another team is spearheading the establishment of pollinator gardens at two local elementary schools, while the third group is building planter boxes from discarded milk crates.
“CARE is all about community collaboration,” said facilitator Jo de Vries, founder and CEO of the Fresh Outlook Foundation. “Angie is a stellar example of someone who loves helping kids learn and uses her passion and her sanctuary to foster community climate action.”
Each CARE team is required to conduct research that supports the need for their projects. The hockey stick project team, for example, is learning about the environmental impacts of how the sticks are made, the landfill impacts of discarded sticks, and the environmental benefits of the plants they’ve chosen to grow in the planters.
These and dozens of other CARE projects will be displayed and judged at the CARE Student Summit on Tuesday, May 28 at the Vernon Curling Club from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
More information about CARE can be found at freshoutlookfoundation.org.
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