Earth Day Groceries, 1999 Reports

This is Part 9, with reports from schools 801 -900.
Updated May 4,1999.

Use the Guestbook or email to send in your reports. (Remember to include your school name, location, and number of bags decorated) The most recent reports are listed at the top of this page.

Peggy McDonald
Virden Elementary School
Virden, IL, USA
Bags decorated: 525

Mrs. Peggy Cole
Sunset Hills School
Pekin, Il U.S.A
Bags decorated: 149
Comments: Our second grade class decorated and colored 22 bags to celebrate Earth Day. We worked very hard on them. We drew pictures of people, animals, and expecially about saving the world. We wanted to remind people to keep our earth clean. The rest of the classrooms in our school decorated 127 bags, bringing the total to 149 bags. The bags were then returned to the grocery store!!

We want to add 90 bags to the national earth day bag count. We are from Montvale N.J. at Meomorial School. Mrs. Roland Frank's Social Studies class.
Mark LaMonica,
Eric Vicedomini

Angela Bubb
East Derry Elementary
Mifflin Co. School District,Lewistown, PA
Bags decorated: 359
Comments: My students studied the reason as to why we celebrate Earth Day. Most of these students I have had for two years, so they can recall the discussions we had last year on Earth Day. We did a Shortest Shower Award, where the students timed the amount of water they used in a week to take a bath or shower, and ways we can reduce the amount we use. The grocery bags were a great project for my class since I teach Learning Support in grades K-5. It was easy, there was little writing involved, yet they could participate. We got the whole school involved and made sample bags to show how our project worked. The Sentinel newspaper in our area did a front page article about our project and another local newspaper took pictures of us presenting the bags to Weis Market. We promise to continue this great Earth Day project and make our community aware of the problems we are creating for our future. Thank you for making my "special" students feel proud of their contribution to! society!

Cindy Rimmer
Fraser Valley Elementary
Fraser, Colorado US
Bags decorated: 182
Comments: Thanks to the donation of grocery bags from the local Safeway store, our school was able to decorate 182 beautiful bags. Students in grades 1-5 participated in this worthwhile environmental program. Some classes incorporated what they were learning into other curriculum areas. For example, the ecological message fit perfectly with the second grade's unit on the rain forest. The fourth grade was able to write "recycled poetry," on paper that they made themselves out of old newspaper. Everyone had a great time! Thanks so much for the ideas.

The students at William O. Schaefer School decorated 128 bags. The students in the following classes participated in the project: Mrs. Schaefer's class, Mrs. Stern's Class, Miss Savarese's class, Mrs. Griffith's class, Mr. Kolman-Mandle's class, Mrs. Foster's class, and Mrs. Rudolph's class. The bags were displayed at C-Town in Orangeburg, New York. We thought it was a fun project because we decorated bags with Earth Day slogans. The customers at C-Town were able to bring home a piece of artwork.
In addtion to the Earth Day Bag Project, we also made costumes from our extra brown paper bags. On Friday, April 23, we performed an Earth Day Presentation for the kids in our school and our parents. We also had a bake sale. We raised $87 dollars and next week, we will buy and plant a tree at school.
We would like to thank Mrs. Pollack for writing the play. Extra thanks to Mrs. Mooney, Mrs. Schaefer, Mrs. Schwartz , Ms. Hoffee and Mrs. Mindes, our student teacher. An extra special thanks to Al and Sam at C-Town.
Thank you Mr. Ahlness , for creating this project. Adolfo, Elizabeth, Cindy, Paul, Justin, Eddie, Tyler, Franco, Michael, Byron, Ray, Marissa, Clara, Margaret, Brittni, Alannah, Heather, Christina, Ryan, Simone and Andrew.
(The students of Mrs. Schaefer's third grade class)

Pat Volrath
Riverside Elementary
Joppa, MD 21085
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: This project was part of an enrichment project by a fifth grader at Riverside Elementary. His project is about how we can make people aware of the perils of the wetlands. For his project, he developed a letter that was sent to the teachers. We developed a rubric for the bags and asked the teachers to be ] part of the project. The students at Riverside did a super job. The fifth grader then developed a thank you note to send to the teachers and will create an article for the school newsletter. Our thanks to the Mars Supermarket for their donation of 400 bags.

Lonnie Drouhard
Aloha Park Elementary
Bags decorated: 353
Comments: Our school decorated 350 bags which were donated by our local Albertsons and used on Earth Day.
The bags turned out beautifully and the kids enjoyed the project. What a GREAT and simple way to get the message out to remember the importance of the planet which gives us life!!!
Thanks a lot!!!!

We are the Fuller IRTP. of Boston. We made 60 bags for the Stop & Shop in Brookline as part of the EarthDay Project.
Marilyn Burke, lead teacher

Julie Tracy
Hollywood Elementary
Hollywood, MD
Bags decorated: 271

Catherine M.S. Cepress
Shawnee Elementary School
Cincinnati, Ohio
Lakota School District
Bags decorated: 100
Comments: Shawnee Elementary held its fifth annual school wide science fair on Earth Day! The building was beaming with science projects from grades kindergarten through sixth! 440 students participated in the event! To celebrate Earth Day we had several hands on activities in the cafetorium. These activities included your national "Earth Day Bag Project", pond life study using microscopes, soil study using tree logs/soil from our nature trail, tree ring study, "MAKE AND TAKE"-recycling common items into toys, and our very own Butler County Parks director, Miss Mary and her owl. Our bags for the "Earth Day Grocery Bag Project" were lent by our local grocery store, Munafo's Jubilee Foods. We are proud to be part of this very important awareness project. We hope to repeat this next year!

Jamie Wilkerson
Rosewood Elementary School
Rock Hill, SC 29732
Bags decorated: 650
Comments: This year Rosewood students in grades 2-5 decorated the grocery Bags provided by Harris Teeter grocery store at Northwoods Shopping Center. The 400 bags decorated by Rosewood students included slogans about Earth Day and advise about recycling and reusing of natural resources, as well as pictures of the earth drawn by the students. The bags were returned to Harris Teeter where they were distributed to customers.
Earth Day Birthday was celebrated at the Museum of York County on Saturday, April 24, 1999. Students and teachers from Rosewood sponsored an exhibit that allowed students from across the area to decorate their own Earth Day grocery bags while learning more about things they could do to help the environment. An additional feature of our exhibit was a lesson taught by students on which types of items would be best for packing "trashless lunches." Another lesson taught about which items would be best to purchase from the environmental point and could be used to fill the paper grocery bags everyone was decorating. Through this exhibit, students added another 250 bags to those already decorated by students at the school, bringing our total to 650 bags for the 1999 Earth Day Celebration.
It was another great year of fun and learning, connecting our school, our community, and Harris Teeter grocery stores with the students from Arbor Heights in Seattle, Washington and students from around the world.

Deidre Posey
Montevallo Elementary School
Montevallo, AL
Bags decorated: 16
Comments: The students had a great time decorating their grocery bags. Lucky's was kind enough to donate the bags for this project. The bags were great and looked good too. I am a student teacher currently interning at Montevallo Elementary School. I am with third graders.

Chalita Sadler
Lincoln Park Elementary
Columbus Ohio
Bags decorated: 350
Comments: Our school had a great time with this activites. All grade levels participated and the fourth graders got to be teachers for a hour. My class went to all the other classes and helped them with thier bags. They got to expalin what it was we were doing and why. The kids loved it. Thank you so much for the idea. From everyone at our school to yours Happy Earth Day every day!!!!!

Arlene Wilkinson
Dahlgren School
NSWCDD, Dahlgren, VA
Bags decorated: 272
Comments: Greetings from Dahlgren School, Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWCDD), Dahlgren, Virginia! We are happy to report that all grades, from Pre-K to Grade 8, participated in the Earth Day Groceries Project. We delivered 272 decorated bags to NSWCDD's commissary. A display about the Earth Day project was set up in the commissary and the grocery bags were filled with groceries on April 22. Active duty and retired military enjoyed the students' messages and artwork so much that the bags were given out selectively to spread the "word" and enjoyment! We were thrilled to make our small contribution to this environmental awareness project. It really makes us all feel part of the "global village." Each one of us can help make a difference in this world if we all do our share to "reduce, reuse & recycle."

Arlene M. Wilkinson,
Project Coordinator
Dahlgren School
Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division
Dahlgren, Virginia

Evelyn Chew
DODDS-Bob Hope Primary School
APO AP 96367 (Okinawa, Japan)
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: Our first grade team (10 classes), some third and kindergarten classes took part in this wonderful event. The students were able to not only share their artistic skills, but they also shared how they could take care of the earth. The bags were given to us by the Kadena Air Base Commissary. We delivered them on April 20th. A small number of students and parents came with me to make the presentation. The students gave a short speech to the Commissary Director and to some of the workers.
This is my second year taking part in this activity. Last year my first grade class in Harlem , New York took part in this community sharing event. Thank you.

J.R. Draper, M. Koenig, J.W.Draper, D. Tepper
Holladay and Marshall Elementary Schools
Tucson, AZ, USA
Bags decorated: 75
Comments: Our local Smith's grocery store was very pleased to receive the decorated grocery bags. Students had a great time designing and decorating the bags, while sharing what they knew about taking care of our earth. This was a fun way to celebrate Earth Day!

Shirley Campbell
East Marion Elementary
Silver Springs, Fl
Bags decorated: 829
Comments: This is a wonderful program. The students loved it and the parents were very supportive. Special thanks goes out to our local Winn-Dixie grocery store for all their help and cooperation. I discovered this website very close to Earth Day. The manager of the store (Mr. Webber) came to my aid and provided the needed bags quickly and cheerfully.

Sally Avitabile
Nathaniel Morton Elementary School
Teacher
Plymouth, MA
516 bags decorated

Kris Alexander
Pack 807 Boy Scouts of America
Tustin, California
Bags decorated: 50
Comments: This month the kids had a theme of "Pollution Solution" and the children decorated the Earthday Bags as their project. They had a great time in doing it. Jason Alexander was the co-ordinator for the project. thank you

Our small suburban school of 326 students participated for the first time this year. Each student decorated a bag to spread the awareness of Earth Day issues. It was a wonderful way for the school to do an environmental project together. We delivered over 300 bags to Shaw's Supermarket in Dartmouth, MA.
Submitted by Connie Sweeney,
4th Grade Teacher.

We are from the YMCA in Columbus, Ohio. We participated in the Earth Day grocery bag project with our latchkey children. We decorated and returned 100+ bags to our area Big Bear store. Thought you would like to have us in your tally. If possible could you send us the final count. Thank you for you time. -YMCA Latchkey staff
Judith Hearing

Just a note to let you know that our elementary school in New Town, ND decorated and delivered 287 grocery bags on Earth Day. The kids had a great time and I turned the delivery trip into a math lesson for my first graders. We will do it again in 2000.
Sherry Locken
first grade teacher
Edwin Loe Elementary
Box 700
New Town, ND 58763

The students of Pine Tree Elementary School (located in Monroe, N.Y.) decorated about 1,100 grocery bags. They were delivered to a local grocery store by my (Mrs, Lang's) class. The students handed out their grocery bags to customers, to be used to bag their groceries. While doing this they gave customers a brief explanation as to why they drew what they did on their particular bags.
This project was enjoyed by all. Many meaningful Earth Day messages were delivered via grocery bags. My students really enjoyed personally handing out their hand decorated bags and seeing them used.
Local and regional papers were there to record and report on the efforts by Pine Tree students to help the community remember Earth Day.
Rosemarie Lang

Jill MIchno
Johnson Park Elementary School
Princeton, NJ USA
Bags decorated: 65

Our school, Evans Elem., participated in your grocery bag program for the first time this year. We were soooo excited to see "our bags and students" on your website. We would like to request that you add Albertville, Alabama under our school name so that others can see where we are from and please add us to the Alabama map. Thank you so much for all your help and this consideration. We plan to do this again next year...only bigger!!!
Jenny Sanders

Sara Schearer
Hayden Heights Elementary
St. Paul, MN
Bags decorated: 150
Comments: The Earth Day Bags were a huge success with students. Science students in grades 1-5 were involved this year. They were proud of the bags they decorated. We brought them to Cub Foods in Maplewood, MN. The store manager was pleasant and easy to work with on distributing the bags. Next year I am hoping to include the whole school.

Johnett Scogin
Texas School for the Deaf
Austin, TX
Bags decorated: 87
Comments: Deaf and hard-of-hearing students from prekindergarten through 5th grade enjoyed working on this project. Although we were unable to get our bags delivered on Earth Day, we felt good when remembering "Earth Day is Everyday". We plan to greatly increase our participation for Y2K! Thanks for coordinating this activity. (We may be submitting a few digital photos later.) -- Johnett Scogin, TSD

Tracy L. Bembenek
Crosswind Elementary School
Collierville, TN 38017
Bags decorated: 1,022
Comments: This is the first time our school has done this as a school- wide program. It was great! The students loved it. Two of our local grocery stores were more than happy to provide the bags for us. A photo and story will be in our local paper "The Collierville Herald" this week.
We look forward to doing this again next year!

Elise Jacobson
Brookridge Elementary
Overland Park, Kansas
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: 16 of our classes decorated grocery bags from Sun Fresh Grocery Store to promote environmental awareness

Please include Johnson Elementary School in your list of participants for this Earth Day. Our 5th grade classes prepared 140 bags that were distributed at the Bethel Food Market. We are in Bethel, CT (in the western part of CT in northern Fairfield County).
Thanks. Gene Sharkey, Classroom Teacher
Susan Bachman, Media Specialist

Brandy Senkowski
Lewton Elementary School
Lansing, Michigan
Bags decorated: 350
Comments: At Lewton Elementary School there were six interns from Michigan State University. We all got together and decided to organize a schoolwide program called Earth Awareness Week. Decorating the grocery bags was one aspect of this week long celebration. The student's loved decorating the bags, and celebrating Earth Day. A child in my second grade class called decorating the bags a community service because we were helping other people become aware about recycling. I think this is a great program, and I am looking forward to participating again next year. Thanks for giving us an easy way to teach children about recycling and saving the Earth. Sincerely, Lewton Elementary School

Southlawn School
Liberal,Kansas
500 bags sent out.
Southlawn

Newton Yost Elementary is located in Porter, Indiana by Indiana Dunes State Park and Lake Michigan. Thanks for providing such a wonderful program. I am happy to report that students and teachers from Newton Yost Elementary decorated 602 bags in celebration of Earth Day 1999. We would like to thank WiseWay foods for participating in the Earth Day Project this year. This is our second year to participate in the Earth Day Groceries Project and we hope to enjoy the project again next year! Thanks :)
Sharon Klahn

Deanna Bernard
Kitayama Elementary School
Union City, California
Bags decorated: 640
Comments: Our school is new this year. The school consists of grades K-4 We thought it would be fun to get a community based service project together and send out a message to the public that we care about the earth. The Lucky store in our area donated the bags and used them on Earth Day. I will be e-mailing pictures of our project for you to put up on the web site. Our students enjoyed doing this project. They were creative with art work and slogans.
Kitayama Project Organizer
Deanna Bernard

Dr. Ann Kennedy
St. Paul's Episcopal Day School
Kansas City, Missouri
Bags decorated: 150
Comments: Each year we celebrate Earth Day with an afternoon of special activities planned by the teachers. We work together in small groups of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. One of our activities this year was the grocery bag project. Our bags were provided by the Wild Oats market, a small, urban market right down the street from our school. We have a daily chapel service in which we say a "Peace Pledge". In it is the promise that we will care for our earth, water, plants, and animals.

Laura Campbell
Poinciana Elementary School
Key West ,Fl. USA
Bags decorated: 120
Comments: Students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades decorated bags this year. They enjoyed this project very much, and next year we hope to have even more classes involved.

Jerry Cigliana
Cass Street School-Milwaukee Public Schools
Milwaukee Wisconsin USA
Bags decorated: 75
Comments: Earth Day in Milwaukee had a great example of one of the resources that the earth gives us. It rained and rained and rained!! That didn't stop us. We put on our ponchos and walked to our local Pick-N-Save. We handed out all our bags and the shoppers were very impressed. This will be an annaul project for us here at Cass. Please visit our web site at http://ftp.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/schools/cass.

Jennifer Stubbs
Woodside and Red Arrow Elementary Schools
Hartford, Michigan USA
Bags decorated: 675
Comments: This is the first year we have participated in the Earth Day Groceries project and we had a great time! Harding's. our local grocery store donated all the bags we needed, and distributed them on Earth Day. Students at both elementary schools (K-5) decorated bags. Our after school program walked the bags to the store and wished customers a Happy Earth Day! We all can't wait to do it again next year.

Irene Cronin
Valley Cottage Elementary School
Valley Cottage, NY USA
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: The student at Valley Cottage Elementary School grades K-5 decorated 400 bags. Thanks to the A&P in Valley Cottage this project was very successful.

Mrs. Slattery
St. Mary of the Assumption School
Mentor, OH, USA
Bags decorated: 160
Comments: St. Mary's in Mentor Ohio, both of 4th and 5th graders took part in Earth Day by coloring grocery bags from "Finast". Both grades colored a total of 80 bags each. Each student wrote a little environmental message on the bag.Thanks for the idea. We hope this will help others to start taking a part to help save their world.
Sincerely,
Students of St. Mary's of the Assumption
Mentor Ohio

JO3 Michael Gloekler, USN
David Glasgow Farragut Elementary School
U.S. Naval Station Rota, Spain
Bags decorated: 516
Comments: Thank you for a great project idea. I stumbled across this internet site while researching Earth Day as part of my duties as a Navy Journalist. The school's spring break really bumped right up to Earth Day and the teachers were looking for something to do with the kids that could be done quickly. So, call it a matter of coincidence, but when I contacted the school about the project they embraced it ecstatically. I then contacted the manager of the Defense Commissary Agency here who thought it was a great idea and donated all the bags we needed.

We decided to add something different to the project. I went one step further, since the commissary is our only grocery store on base here. I set up a special recycling bin for the decorated bags and, since we know how many bags went out, the kids challenged the parents to recycle them in this special bin on their next trip to the store for a "grade." We will be able to count the returned bags and score the adults on their recycling.

Thanks again for a great project idea!

JO3 Michael Gloekler, USN

My name is Marci League and I am a biology teacher at Heritage High School in Newport News, VA. We were a first time participant in this project, and it was a positive experience all the way around. The students enjoyed the decorating and also became aware of the purpose behind Earth Day. Food Lion was extremely helpful in donating and then distributing the bags. In all, we decorated approximately 250 bags. Thanks!
Marci League
Heritage High School
Newport News, VA

Cathleen Sutton
Eastern Pulaski Elementary School
Winamac, Indiana
Bags decorated: 1,000
Comments: I was researching Earth Day ideas for a teacher I work with and came upon this site. We thought it was a neat idea! What started out as a class project turned into a whole school project! I hope we can do it again next year!

Shirley Kay Smith
Lemm Elementary
Spring, TX, USA
Bags decorated: 725
Comments: Lemm Elementary decorated and returned to Krogers and Randalls grocery stores 725 grocery sacks. 100 of those sacks were "recycled" grocery sacks from student's homes. Our school theme for the month was "A grocery sack a day helps keep the earth's "blues" away.". The "earth friendly" recycled grocery sacks were decorated and returned to the stores with the other sacks. Thank you for intitiating this program. Our students had fun learning and creating! Shirley Kay Smith, Lemm PTO

Mrs. Janet Kendrick
Lima Primary School
First Grade Teacher
Lima, New York 14485
Bags decorated: 200
Comments: I discovered your project while searching for Earth Day ideas for my first graders on the internet. I shared the information about the project with a technology support group I sponsor in my school and they were excited about trying it with me. Four first grades, two second grades and two kindergarten classes participated. When our bags were decorated, we walked to the local Big M grocery store and presented them to the owner, Mr. Gary Milburn , who donated the bags to us. Our students thoroughly enjoyed the activity and the environmental awareness it promoted. My goal for Earth Day 2000 is to get all sixteen classes in our school to participate in the project!

Pat Zimmerman
Benner Elementary
Bellefonte PA
Bags decorated: 22
Comments: The children loved doing a community service project. This activity came on the heels of a unit about tropical rain forests and made the students feel like they could make a difference!!

Ms. Charlie Hinderliter
Carmi-White County Middle School
Carmi, IL USA
Bags decorated: 142
Comments: Thanks to the cooperation of our locally owned Chet's Market, the seventh grade students at Carmi-White County Middle School designed 142 grocery bags! This was our first year to participate in the project. The check-out clerks let me know how much they and the customers enjoyed the bags. We are proud of all the students who participated, and I look forward to utilizing this project next year! Thanks for the opportunity.
Charlie Hinderliter, C-WCHS Student Teacher

Bags Decorated: 89
Mrs. Keller's and Mrs. Helm's four kindergarten classes decorated 89 sacks to help spread the word that we all have to take part in helping preserve our environment. The local Winn Dixie Grocery store on Davis Blvd was kind enough to donate and distribute our Earth Day sacks to the community. We loved decorating the sacks and discussing the meaning of Earth Day. This was our first year to participate but it won't be our last! What a wonderful idea.
Smithfield Elementary School
North Richland Hills, Texas 76180
Joan Keller

Jeanette Davidson
St. John the Evangelist School
Schenectady, New York, USA
Bags decorated: 312
Comments: Our fifth grade teacher's dad owns a grocery store and he supplied the bags (L&M Market, Schenectady). The students were encouraged to shop at the store on Earth Day to receive their groceries in a beautiful bag. It was reported that customers were coming to the store and wanted just a great bag!

Jane Bielejewski
St.Anthony School
Trenton,NJ
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: Every student in our school decorated grocery bags from Acme on Rt.33, Hamilton Square,NJ. It was a big success, with the media taking a picture at the Acme and putting it in the Trenton Times on Friday, April23rd. We look forward to participating again next year!

Jan MacPhail
Marzolf Elementary School
Pittsburgh,PA 15209
Bags decorated: 472
Comments: This was a great project for our students, grades K-4. Everyone enjoyed decorating their bag. Foodland grocery store was very cooperative with the project. We're looking forward to doing this again next year.

Parkway Middle School participated in Earth Day. We received 100 bags from Publix on Osceola Parkway. I distributed them to a few teachers and received 40 completed entries. I took them back to Publix and it was greatly appreciated.
CHRIS2446H@aol.com

Cindy Maley
William Walker Elementary
Portland, Oregon, USA
Bags decorated: 382
Comments: What a simple way to send a great message out to the community! The kids had lots of fun making the bags and the store loved them.

Julia Harrelson
Sorry this is late,but thought you would like to know that a new school joined your project. I hope this isn't too late to put on the web site. Our entire school ( K - 5th ) decorated 679 bags from Kroger. Pontiac Elementary School in Elgin,SC had a great time participating in this wonderful project. We are busy writing Thank You notes to our local Kroger for the bags. Hopefully all the customers enjoyed using our bags on Earth Day.

Maryam Ek-Hellberg
Warring Magent Academy
Poughkeepsie, New York
Bags decorated: 418
Comments: I saw this in Science and Children and decided to try it with my class that I am student teaching with and then i realized that i might be able to get the whole school involved and so i asked. It was the greattest thing ever. All the kids did a wonderful job and Shop Rite hung some bags up on a bulliten board and It looked great. i am so pleased with this project that in the fall i will do it with my class if i get a job. Thanks for a inspring so many young children to appreciate their communities.

Bonnie Phelps
Manor View Elementary
FT. Meade, MD
Bags decorated: 602
Comments: Michele Noble and Bonnie Phelps, 3rd grade teachers at Manor View Elem., used this project as a way to involve the entire school student body of 589 children. We recieved our bags from the Ft. Meade Commissary. All of our children have parents in the military. The students were thrilled at how they could do their little part toward Earth Day 1999.

Greetings from East Elementary School in Pendleton, Indiana. Our students and staff enjoyed participating in the Grocery Bag project this year and hope to continue with the project next year. We decorated a total of 1,131 grocery bags for our Payless Supermarket. We greatly appreciate their support and encouragement on this project. Our local newspaper even followed the story from beginning to end. They featured pictures of students working on the bags as well as shoppers receiving the bags at the grocery store on Earth Day. This is a great project and really encouraged our students to think about their part in taking care of our environment.
Jeff Frampton

Melissa D. McKee
Fred S. Engle Middle School
West Grove, PA, USA
Bags decorated: 85
Comments: I think it is great that you have a website in which to record this event. I have done this project in previous years but have just found out about the website this year. The students really enjoyed decorating the bags and were really focused on the idea of promoting environmental awareness as well as helping the community - school connection. The grocery store that donated the brown bags also gave us a $10.00 gift certificate to award to the student who decorated the best bag. This helped to ensure that the students would try their best when designing the Earth Day decorations. Thanks for promoting this great project. I look forward to engaging in the activity again next year. Please send any promotional information you have to help make next year even more successful. Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Melissa D. McKee
Fred S. Engle Middle School
107 School House Road
West Grove, PA 19390

Danielle Dolick
Coronado Hills Elementary
Denver, CO
Bags decorated: about 450
Comments: Our class was happy to read about this project in Weekly Reader. As soon as the kids read the article, they knew this was something that our school should do to help make the community aware of Earth Day. This is the first year our school has participated, and the kids absolutely loved it. The people at Albertson's were also very eager to help! Most teachers in our school participated from kindergarten through fifth grade. It was an excellent experience which we hope to repeat. Thank you for getting us started.

Kelly Anderson
Cherokee Heights Elementary
St. Paul / Minnesota
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: Hello!!
The 5th, and 6th grade sciences classes that were studying the environment for the past 3 weeks collaberated with RC Dicks IGA in west St. Paul. The students decorated the bags while listening to their favorite music to set the right mood into getting others involved in helping the environment. We decorated a total of 400 bags and brought them back to the store for earth day!!!!! Thank You for the great idea.
Cherokee Heights Students!!!!

Dawn Corley
Kindergarten/ First Grade
Westminster, SC
Bags decorated: 500

Deborah Chadwick
Princeton Elementary School
Princeton, ME
Bags decorated: 197
Comments: This was our second year participating in the Earth Day Grocery Bag Project. Almost every student in the school decorated a bag.
This year our Spring Fling had an environmental theme. The bags were judged and prizes were given out at each grade level. The winning bags were on display throughout the school.
Bags were donated and distributed by the Princeton AG again this year.
Next year we are planning to contact all the elementary schools in Washington County to see if we can get county-wide participation in the project in 2000.

Brenda Hawley
Southridge Elementary School
Prince George, British Columbia, Canada
Bags decorated: 280 bags
Comments: Great response again...Our Kindergarten to Grade 7 school decorated grocery bags in the Earth Day theme and our local Overwaitea packed groceries in them. I can hardly wait to hear how many bags were decorated in all!

Heather Nixon
McKenzie School
McKenzie, Alabama 36456
Bags decorated: 400
Comments: This was the first year that our small school participated in this project. McKenzie School is in a rural community. Our school consists of grades K-12 and we have approximately 375 students combined. Every student was given a bag and allowed class time to decorate the bag. We followed the directions and ideas that we obtained from this website. We incorporated our own ideas as well. Needless to say, it was a great success and we intend to participate next year. One of the highlights to our project was when the PTA sponsored a night for parents to come to the school with their children and decorate a bag together. This was a wonderful opportunity for parents to interact in a school-sponsored activity with their children and promote awareness of the Earth Day cause. I am including pictures of some of the bags and students who participated. There is also a picture of my two chilren, Katie and Kendall, holding the bag we decorated on parents night. I believe the title was appropriate for all the schools and children who participated: "Small hands helping a big world".

Mrs.Paulson's third grade class
Mount Horeb Intermediate Center
Comments: This is Mrs. Paulson's class and our grade level decorated 137 grocery bags. We learned a lot of different ways to save our Earth. We learned how to recycle, reuse, and reduce.

Diana Sombers
Students from M.T. Bedwell Elementary School in Bernardsville, New Jersey made over 500 grocery bags for our local supermarket. Students is grades 1-4 designed fabulous environmental messages and pictures. The bags were well-received by the supermarket and the community. We are interested in hearing about other school projects, too.

Laurie Ernstrom
Harold Oliver Primary
Portland, Oregon
Bags decorated: 600
Comments: We worked with Fred Meyer to get the grocery bags. They were very helpful and willing to partner with us. The students were really excited to participate by decorating the bags with earth friendly messages and pictures. They were very proud to have the bags used on Earth Day at Fred Meyer. Many of them wanted their parents to go shopping at Fred Meyer in hopes that they would get the bag they decorated. A great activity for our K-3 students.

Helene Goulet
Ecole des Deux Mondes Elementary School
Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada
Bags decorated: 136
Comments: This was our first adventure decorating grocery bags for a local store. Each student in the school did participate. We hope to include other activities as well next year.
Merci!

Alicia Smith
Mountain View Middle School
AmeriCorps Member
Beaverton, Oregon, USA
491 bags
What a wonderfully simple and fun project! This was a great opportunity for our school to promote and spread environmental awareness within the school and to the greater community. Sixth, seventh, and eighth graders here at Mt. View took time out of their regular classroom activities to decorate bags in celebration of Earth Day. Once completed, I was fortunate to look at each bag and admire all the colors, messages, intricacies, and unique designs. I'm sure there were many customers at the neighboring Thriftway who simply could not throw away their earthdaybags. Thanks for this great idea!!

Jan Zobeck
Hellbeck Elementary
Pueblo, Colorado, USA
Bags decorated: 313
Comments: Students in 1st and 2nd grades decorated bags with County Market, a local grocery store being the sponsor.

Shelly McCrary
Germantown Elementary
Germantown TN
Bags decorated: 22

Kids Against Trash
Saltville Elementary
Saltville, VA
Bags decorated: 600
Comments: Students and community enjoyed this project.

Vanessa Maggard
Sandy Hook Elementary
Sandy Hook, KY US
Bags decorated: 100
Comments: This is our first year; but, it was a wonderful experience for the students to promote and learn about global environmental issues.

Nancy Carter
York Elementary School
Raleigh, NC
Bags decorated: 28
Comments: My children have enjoyed doing this activity.

Marc Charpentier,Jeanne Menke,Jo-D Roth
Lauderhill P.T. Elementary
Lauderhill, Florida
Bags decorated: 850
Comments: Our school is located just west of the city of Ft. Lauderdale in Broward County, Florida. We chose this activity because it allowed us to reach out into our community and join hands with Publix Supermarket, our Partner in Excellence. Our children loved it!! We decorated 850 bags and our entire school participated. The Earth will be very happy!!

Ann White
J. Garfield Jackson Academy
East Orange New Jersey
Bags decorated: 360
Comments: What a terrific idea! Our 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students did a wonderful job.This project really made students think about the kinds of environmental problems our world is faced with. The manager at the Pathmark stores was very impressed with the artwork of the students and took great pleasure in participating in the project. Thank you Pathmark West Orange. We are looking forward to doing this again next year.

Mrs. Hardman
Kanawha City Elementary
Charleston, West Virginia 25304
Bags decorated: 335
Comments: I am pleased to announce that students in grades K-6 at Kanawha City Elementary School, in Charleston,WV decorated 335 grocery bags to be distributed at the local Foodland Grocery Store. The students had a great time with this community project. We look forward to participating in the Earth Day Project next year. The parents were very excited to go shop to see our bags and bring home the message to help "Save Our Planet". Thanks for this great idea!

Dianne Knapp
Ralph R. Smith Elememtary School
Hyde Park, NY/Dutchess County 12538
Bags decorated: 100
Comments: The students took the part of artists with a social conscience. Their artwork had a message: Take good care of the earth!

The John Cooper School of The Woodlands, Texas joined in the Earth Day Groceries Project in 1999. Students in the lower and middle school participated by decorating 320 bags to be distributed by our local grocery store Randalls at Panther Creek Shopping Center. Students really enjoyed drawing their messages about preserving our environmet on the grocery bags. This was a great idea! Thanks so much.
Cheryl Dickinson
K-3 Science teacher.

Lisa Pizzolla
Lee F. Jackson School
White Plains, NY 10607
Bags decorated: 295
Comments: This was a great project! My Classes enjoyed doing this for earth day. Pathmark in Hartsdale was very happy and excited about this project that they want a picture to go in there compainy new letter. I hope that Pathmark will start using brown bags. Thanks to the company that gave our school the brown bags. I look forward to doing this project next year.

Andria Magallano
Walter P. Jones Elementary School
Macon, Georgia USA
Bags decorated: 550
Comments: This is my second year participating in this fantastic project. Last year, I never got a chance to make a report, but I was able to encourage my own students to decorate around 100 bags. This year, I asked a local FOODMAX grocery store for a bundle (500) and I decided to turn it into a whole school effort. This idea was so well received, I quickly ran out of bags! Several other teachers went to the same grocery store and requested more bags. Next year, I am going to ask for two bundles!! Overall, Jones Elementary decorated around 550 bags! Thank you for the great idea and the wonderful message this sends to our children!

Floy Creveling
First Baptist Church Service Center
Santa Ana, CA.
Bags decorated: 58
Comments: We had 58 of our school age kids participate in decorating bags from our local Ralph's. (Located at 17th and Bristol in Santa Ana, CA.) After decorating bags, our 4&5 year olds went on a field trip to our local Ralph's to return the bags. The Manager there was very helpful. The manager took the kids on a tour of the store, took pictures, handed out goodie bags (a real hit), and displayed some of the bags. We love the idea of bagging customers goods with the rest of the decorated bags. Thank you to Ralph's for all their help and support in making this a fun and exciting project for our children.

Greetings From Blairstown Elem School ( K-6 ) in Warren County, New Jersey We real enjoyed taking part in this worthwhile project again this year. I will be sending you some pictures of some of the student grocery bags.
Felix Staffaroni

Elaine Maggioli
Independence School
Newark, DE, USA
Bags decorated: 450
Comments: Thank-you, we enjoyed participating in this project and are looking forward to the Earth Day 2000 project!

Sally Nelson
Raymond Marquith Elem. School
E. Galesburg, IL 61430
Bags decorated: 150
Comments: We decorated grocery bags for HyVee Grocery Store in Galesburg this year. This was a new place for us; as the one we have decorated for the last two years are no longer in business. Hyvee was so pleased with this project.

Carol Van De Walle
Audubon Elementary, Rock Island Dist.41
Rock Island, IL 61201
Bags decorated: 100
Comments: We had a great time doing this. HyVee grocery store was very cooperative.

Martha Williams
Ocean Park Elementary
Ocean Park, WA 98640 USA
Bags decorated: 130
Comments: This is our 2nd year decorating bags from Jack's Country Store in Ocean Park, WA. Last year, my class took their decorated bags over to the store and had our picture taken for the local paper. Jacks gave us a tour of the store, a souvenir wooden nickel to commemorate their 100th year anniversay and a coupon for milk. The most exciting part was seeing the cardboard compactor! What a day!

Donna Magrath
Willis
Ansonia, CT
Bags decorated: 100
Comments: This is a fantastic project. I showed it to my student teacher that I had last year, and she did it with her 7th grade team. My kids were so excited that they made their parents go shopping at Stop and Shop to see if they could see some of their bags! I will definitely do this project again.

Maria Casillas
East Memorial Elementary School
Greeley, Colorado USA
Bags decorated: 22
Comments: Thank you for organizing this project. My students did a lot of thinking about the importance of taking care of our planet. They wrote inspirational messages on their bags, and we really hope we helped to make a difference!

Barbara Hawkins
Carrollwood Day School
Odessa, FL
Bags decorated: 176
Comments: CDS participated in a very successful �Earth Day Groceries Project� We obtained large paper grocery bags from the Publix at Van Dyke and Dale Mabry in Tampa and students in all grades decorated the bags with beautiful environmental messages and pictures. The children�s artwork was truly exceptional. Finally the bags were returned to the store were they were distributed on Earth Day. A reporter from the Carrollwood News was present at the store when four of our children presented the decorated bags to the manager. He interviewed the children and took many pictures of the event. We sincerely thank the manager of our local Publix for participating with us in this project. As a result of this project, third grade students have begun an aluminum can recycling project at CDS. Funds raised from the recycling will be used to adopt an endangered or threatened animal through an environmental organization.

Patty Farr
Rush Elementary
Lubbock, Texas, USA
Bags decorated: 100
Comments: Sixth graders at Rush Elementary thoroughly enjoyed decorating Earth Day Bags. The United grocery store was very excited to receive them to give out to their customers.It was so much fun that we may try to do it with the entire school next year. Thank you.

Ellen Rock
Miller Wall Elementary School
Marrero, LA
Bags decorated: 258
Comments: This is our first attempt, and given the fact that I only informed my coworkers about 10 days ahead of earth day, we are all most pleased with the results, and definitely plan to participate again next year. My oldest daughter works in the grocery store which provided the bags and has had numerous comments about our art work.

Barb Valen
ELC Middle School
Estherville, IA 51334
Bags decorated: 15

The students in Mrs. Westhoff's fourth grade class at Courtland Elementary School in Spotsylvania, Virginia worked together with the local Food Lion grocery store to participate in the Earth Day "Bag It!" program. Nineteen students decorated and wrote Earth Day messages on 105 bags. The Food Lion then distributed these bags to their patrons on Earth Day.

Joyce Mullen
St. Clare Catholic
St. Clair, MO USA
Bags decorated: 100

Karen Garcia
Rio Hondo College
Whittier, CA USA
Comments: The Earth Club of Rio Hondo College sponsored their first 'Spring Campus Clean Up'. A total of 56 students, faculty, staff, and residents participated at this event held on Saturday, April 24, 1999. One of the members brought to our attention the 'Earth Day Grocery Project' you are sponsoring. We wanted to use your bags to pick up small pieces of trash around the campus. Normally, clean up crews use the big black trash bags that never get filled to capacity. We thought by using your "We're Putting Our Environment First" grocery bags to pick up the smaller pieces of trash around the campus we would produce less waste. The following local Ralphs Grocery Stores donated the bags to our cause: Store #245, Store #162, and Store #246. In addition, we were able to recycle most of the glass bottles, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans we picked up.
Our goal is to make the 'Spring Campus Clean Up' an annual event. Our objective is to bring awareness to the students, faculty, staff, and local community. We must make everyone realize that the harm we inflict upon our envirionment, we are also inflicting upon ourselves.

Once again students at Chemong School, Bridgenorth, Ontario, Canada participated in this worthy project. Students from Grades 2 to 7 decorated a total of 325 bags. Thank you for organizing this activity.
Sincerely,
Jane Galbraith

Happy Earth Day, 1999!

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