Virginia Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1999

Karen Reed
Anthony T. Lane Elementary
Alexandria, VA
Bags decorated: 220
Comments: The classes had a lot fun doing this project! The bags looked great! The grocery store across from the school was more than willing to help us with this project! What a great idea!
Gail Ritchie
Kings Park Elementary School
Springfield, Virginia
Bags decorated: 175
Comments: Our local grocery store was happy to provide us with bags to decorate. However, they requested that we NOT return them, because somebody had sued them in a previous year when magic marker got on his suit! We used the decorated bags to store our Earth Day Celebration creations. We asked each family to then use the bag for recycling or take it themselves to the grocery story and get 3¢ off their grocery bill when their bag was used for packing their own groceries.
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

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
Kids Against Trash
Saltville Elementary
Saltville, VA
Bags decorated: 600
Comments: Students and community enjoyed this project.
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.
John Wayland Elementary School drew 300 bags on April 22, 1999 for Bridgewater, VA, IGA Grocery Store
Kateness@aol.com
Ms.Cara Bayersdorfer's Fourth Grade Class
Barrett Elementary School-Arlington, VA
Arlington, VA-USA
Bags decorated: 37
Comments: The fourth graders had a wonderful time with this project. I wish we had more time and had involved more people. But as a first year teacher this was an activity that I just started. Hopefully it will grow next year. However, my class and I still feel we made an important contribution. Next year as fifth graders they hope to continue it with their new teachers. It was a great success, and a big hit with the students.
Lynn Hanna
Sugarland Elementary
Leesburg, Virginia
Bags decorated: 67
Comments: The kids really enjoyed decorating the bags and the parents really enjoyed seeing their students work in the local grocery store! We also collected garbage around the school and the kids were amazed at the type of garbage they were finding. ( We also graphed the garbage they collected.)
Matt Berg
Ft. Belvoir Elementary
Ft. Belvoir, VA, U.S.A.
Bags decorated: 977
Comments: What a beautiful collection of bags. They were quite unbelievable! Great idea.
Jane Stephenson
Southampton Middle School
Courtland, Va.
Bags decorated: 1,000
Comments: My classes sponsored a whole school decorating of the grocery bags from a local Food Lion store in Franklin, Va. Also, my kids are going to the Food Lion on April 22 to be greeters in the store and hand out hand decorated stickers to the customers. On the outside of the store, they are setting up three tables. One will include information and giveaways from our local Litter Control Council, another will include information from our extension office on composting and landscaping using mulch. the final table will be a nature table with a terrarium filled with Northern Fence Lizards and salamanders. the students will remind people of the wonders that we have in our own backyards right underfoot. They will also be showing their new project-- vermicomposting. It promises to be an exciting day!
Michelle M. Hays
Grafton Bethel Elementary
Yorktown, Virginia,U.S.
Bags decorated: 725
Comments: Our entire school (K-5) participated in this activity. Thank you for the wonderful project. Our students had a wonderful time decorating the bags!
Fran R. Forrest
Warwick Early Childhood Center; Newport News, Virginia Public School System
Newport News, Virginia
Bags decorated: 350
Comments: This has been a wonderful school-wide project for all the students in our school. Even at the young age of 4yrs. and 5yrs.,our children have enthusiastically decorated bags to be distributed to various local grocery stores. These children are keenly aware of the importance of recycling.
Thank-you very much for organizing this wonderful Earth Day project!
I also want to add that the participating grocery stores who so graciously donated bags were: Food Lion at Oyster Pt. Square, Food Lion at Franciscan Village S/C, Harris Teeter, Super K-Mart in Tabb, VA, and Hannaford Grocery Store in Tabb, VA. They were so very helpful in donating bags.
Sincerely,
Fran R. Forrest
Warwick Early Childhood Center
Newport News Public Schools
Newport News, Virginia
Bags decorated: 26
A. Campas
Grafton Bethel
Yorktown, VA 23692
Dear Sirs, Students at Chatham Elementary School are gearing up for the "grocery Bag" Earth-Day recycling project. All students are busily decorating bags as we speak. Our specs are:
Chatham Elementary School 100 Chatham Elementary Lane P. O. Box 531 Chatham, VA 24531 (804)432-6461 (804)432-2227 (fax)
Principal: Ms. Diane Mangus Contact: Mr. Terry A. Payne (grade 1)
Efforts are being coordinated by Mr. Payne's first grade class We will deliver the bags to our local grocery store on Wednesday afternoon. Will forward pics. Thanks for the GREAT IDEA!
visit our school web-site: www.pcs.k12.va.us
Bags decorated: 25
Mrs. Andrews
Bags decorated: 24
Mrs.Bauer
Grafton Bethel Elementary
York County, Virginia, USA
Bags decorated: 225 D.O'Brien
Potowmack Elem.
Sterling, VA U.S.A.
Bags decorated: 500
Comments: In groups, my kids wrote letters to inform and persuade the managers of a local Food Lion to give us the bags, parents to shop there and request the bags, and to teachers explaining the project and listing the steps in completing it with their classes. Our school has 100% participation from all grades K-5. We're looking forward to getting the bags back to the community!
Lisa Lineweaver
James River Elementary
Williamsburg, VA, USA
Bags decorated: 90
Comments: Third grade students at D.G. Cooley Elementary School, Berryville, VA, decorated 90 grocery bags. The bags were donated by Food Lion in Berryville, VA.
Davin Baker
D.G. Cooley Elementary School
Berryville, VA
Thank you for the great idea for Earth Day. Our second grade class at Grafton Bethel Elementary in Yorktown, Virginia is participating in the school-wide project.
Mrs. Blanton's Class
Bags decorated: 1000
Thanks for the great idea to celebrate Earth Day. Our school is decorating bags for Randolph Market whick is a local grocery store in Hopewell, Virginia. We have called the newspaper and T.V. stations in Richmond to see if they would be interested in publicizing our earth day project. The children and community are excited to be a part of the nationwide celebration. We'll let you know how well this project goes. Thanks again for the idea!
Patty Wilmot
Patrick Copeland Elementary School
Hopewell, Virginia
Bags decorated: 50
Christina Gail Shepherd
J. Fred Matthews Memorial Library
Saint Paul, VA
Bags decorated: 150
Carol Ayers
Elydale Elementary
Ewing, VA 24248

Virginia Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1998

This is our 3rd year participating in the Earth Day Grocery Bag Project. This year we had six schools decorate a total of 1940 bags. This was a joint project between the Fort Belvoir Commissary, Fairfax County Schools, Partners In Education, and the Directorate of Installation Support. The bags were distributed by the Commissary on Earth Day. The kids and Commissary patrons fully enjoyed the project.
The participating schools were:
Barden Elementary (Fort Belvoir) - 200 bags
Cheney Elementary (Fort Belvoir) - 200 bags
Markham Elementary (Fort Belvoir) - 200 bags
Quander Road School (Alexandria) - 100 bags
Woodlawn Elementary (Alexandria) - 600 bags
Woodley Hills Elementary (Alexandria) - 640 bags
Miller, Kristin millerk@dpw.belvoir.army.mil
Fort Belvoir, Virginia
I didn't see your idea until the Sat. before Earth Day. I went to Winn Dixie and asked for bags. I showed him the print out I got off your sight, explaining the project. He said he didn't use that many bags,but gave us 50.
I took these to school and had my Kindergarten, the other Kindergarten, the TMH class and the two fourth grade classes participate. I returned these to Winn Dixie that Monday. They said they would hand them out on Wed. After work I went to the store and requested Earth Day bags. The clerk didn't know what I was talking about. One girl overheard and said she thought she knew where they were. I don't know how many were used.
Next year I will go to a variety of stores so our whole school can participate. I will then return these to the same stores. I will also call the local t.v. station.
I think the manager of the Winn Dixie was just trying to do me a favor, not really thinking about what it was for. Next year I will make sure I get my point across. Also, going to a variety of stores, sending a letter to parents requesting they visit the stores on Wed., will help get the message out.
Thanks for a great idea. My kids really enjoyed the project.
Kathy Shaw kshawdave@att.net
Highland Park Learning Center Magnet School
1212 Fifth Street, SW
Roanoke, VA 24016
We had a total of 130 Pre K, Kindergarten and 1st grade students to participate in the Earth Day Grocery Bag project. Kroger supplied the bags for our school.
Tish Thornton (tish_thornton@hotmail.com)
Preston Park Primary
Roanoke, Virginia
Loudoun Country Day School is a private school in Leesburg, Virginia. We have 170 students total and about 150 students helped to decorate 279 grocery bags. The grocery bags were then delieverd to the Leesburg Giant and the store manager, Mr. Fritz, was very helpful and supportive. The students LOVED this project and I feel that they learned some valuable lessons about responsibility and what others can do to help save the Earth.
Thank you very much.
Melissa Mandak LCDS@mediasoft.net
Technology Coordinator
Loudoun Country Day School
237 Fairview Street, NW
Leesburg, Virginia 20176
http://server.mediasoft.net/LCDS/LCDS.html
The students at Mount Zion Elem.School in Suffolk Virginia decorated 300 Food Lion Grocery Store paper bags with Earth Day Pictures and slogans.The art work was as diverse as the Earth itself. They chose to depict the seas and the wildlife as well as the terrain of our planet.They incorporated catchy slogans like "reduce,reuse,& recycle" and "Love our Earth". This was a terrific project!We will certianly be involved again next year!
Lesa McNamara (Macpac@Mindspring.com)
Mount Zion Elementary
Suffolk, Virginia
What a great way to spread the word about Earthday- without using paper! My class opted to decorate bags instead of entering a poster contest. We saved a tree! My 10 students colored 50 bags.
Michelle Howard (mhoward@averett.edu)
Bonner Middle School
Danville, VA
Hello! My name is Jean Bell and I teach fifth grade at Sterling Elementary School in Sterling, Virginia. We are about 45 minutes west of Washington, D.C. Eight classes participated in your Earth Day Groceries Project. We decorated 275 bags for our local Sterling Park Safeway. They were excited, too, as they had never participated in this project either. I hope to send you a picture later of some of our students working on the project. This was a great idea! We hope to participate next year also. Happy Earth Day!
Jean C. Bell jcbell@pen.k12.va.us

Virginia Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1997

The U.S. Army Transportation Center, Environmental and Natural Resources Division, Fort Eustis, Virginia, in conjunction with the Fort Eustis Commissary, encouraged local schools and activities on the installation to participate in the 1997 Earth Day Groceries Project. Students from the following schools decorated grocery bags to promote environmental awareness throughout the community.

Location: ..............................Number of bags:
Greenwood Elementary, Newport News, VA - 707
Lee Hall Elementary, Lee Hall, VA - 494
Dozier Middle School, Newport News, VA - 290
Reservoir Middle School, Newport News, VA - 219
Child Development Center, Fort Eustis, VA - 108
Youth Services, Fort Eustis, VA - 34
Fort Eustis Commissary, Fort Eustis, VA - 1
A total of 1, 853 bags were decorated.
Point of contact for this project is Joanna Bateman, Environmental and Natural Resources Division, Fort Eustis, VA. (E-mail address is: jbateman@emh4.eustis.army.mil)

This is our second year particpating. The Fort Belvoir Environmental and Natural Resoruce Division in cooperation with Fairfax County Schools decorated 2250 bags. The decorated bags were distributed by the Fort Belvoir Commissary.

Cheney Elementary, Fort Belvoir, VA - 200 bags
Markham Elementary, Fort Belvoir, VA - 400 bags
Hayfield Intermediate, Alexandria, VA - 250 bags
Quander School, Alexandria, VA - 200 bags
Woodley Hills Elementary, Alexandria, VA - 650 bags
Woodlawn Elementary, ALexandria, VA - 550 bags

Kristin Miller millerk@dpw.belvoir.army.mil
Fort Belvoir, VA

Students from all over Patrick County, Virginia enjoyed decorating Earth Day Grocery bags during our Earth Day celebration sponsored by the Patrick County Junior Woman's Club. On Saturday April 19th pre-schoolers through high-schoolers created colorful Earth Day messages on 150 paper bags. Our two local grocery stores in Stuart distributed the bags on Earth Day to many surprised and delighted customers. Our kids were enthusiastic and enjoyed this project. We hope that for Earth Day 1998, we can count on support from local schools to make an even larger contribution to the Earth Day Grocery Bag project! :-) :-) :-) :-)
Joni Gardner jgardner@swva.net
Patrick County Virginia
We looked at the guestbook and we were impressed with what we saw. We also were surprised that there were no Virginians. We decorated 500 paper bags. We tried to scan our newspaper article, but we don't know if it was sent. We would appreciate it if you would e-mail us back and let us know if you received the article.
Sincerely,
Beth Reynolds
Susan C. Williams swilliam@pen.k12.va.us

Virginia Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1996

This submission is long overdue. For Earth Day 1996, I coordinated the Grocery Bag project for Fort Belvoir, Virginia (a U.S. Army Installation). Seven schools in our area participated. The project was well recieved by the schools and the Fort Belvoir community. The Fort Belvoir Commissary donated the 2,700 bags that were decorated. The breakdown by schools is as Follows: -------------------------------------
Kristin Miller
kmiller@vistafortb.dgsys.com
From Linville-Edom Elementary School in Linville, Virginia, a school of 260 students (K-5), I am proud to say that we were able to decorate 500 bags from the local Food Lion. That very night I started receiving phone calls from people who shopped at Food Lion and got one of our school's bags! The people at Food Lion have been very happy with the community response, and is ready to do this again. Why can't I come up with such nice simple, big impact, ideas?

Dennis Durost, Kindergarten teacher
Linville-Edom Elem.
ddurost@pen.k12.va.us

Congratulations on such a great project! Our students in grades K-6 greatly enjoyed participating. This was our first schoolwide Internet project.
London Towne ES, located in Centreville, VA (Fairfax Co in Northern Virginia) made 856 bags. The bags were distributed at our local grocer's, Giant Food on Stone Road.
We look forward to visiting your web site and map.

Debbie Harrison
K Teacher
ddharris@pen.k12.va.us

Happy Earth Day from Plains Elementary. Our whole school participated in the Earth Day Grocery Bag Project. We have a four year old program and kindergarten through fifth grades in our school. We decorated 544 bags for Food Lion. Thank you for sharing this project with us. What a wonderful way to establish communication between the community and the schools.

timberville, virginia
plains elementary
susan mcclelland
mcclell@pen.k12.va.us

Virginia Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1995

The students of Rural Point Elementary School in Mechanicsville, Virginia, have decorated 750 bags to be distributed by a local grocery store on Earth Day. Bags were decorated by all of of students (K-5) including our pre school (handicap) class. Everyone was very excited about the project and felt is was an excellent way to communicate with our local community. Please include our bags in your world wide totals.
Sincerely,
Jo Fowlkes, Technology Aide
jfowlkes@pen.k12.va.us
Reporting in that Ashlawn School decorated 350 bags which will be used by our local grocer this Saturday. We had a great time doing it and the kids were quite creative. We had more bags than students, and a group gave up their lunch recesses to finish the job. Put us on the list for next year!
Wren E. Gurney,
ESOL-HILT
(English for Speakers of Other Languages-High Intensity Language Training)
Ashlawn Elementary School
5950 N. 8th Rd.
Arlington, VA  22205
wgurney@ashlawn.gmu.edu
Sorry for taking so long but things go hectic around here just like at your end I am sure. Ware Elementary chose a logo entitled "Ware Cares - Earth Day 1995". We decorated and distributed 429 bags on April 22nd thru our local Food Lion Store. Hope to hear how the other schools did - could you send that info? Thanks for all your help!!! Cheryl Kent

********************************************************************************
Cheryl Kent
Secretary, Ware Elem. School
Staunton, VA 24401
332-3938
ckent@pen.k12.va.us
******************************************************************************
Back again...not only did our local Super Fresh use all our 350 bags to decorate the store before giving them to customers, but the manager visited our school and gave each student an apple. He also gave the school a cherry tree to help replace one of the 57 trees we lost due to construction. The project was a great community relations activity for us and the business. We've become partners.

Wren E. Gurney, wgurney@ashlawn.gmu.edu
ESOL-HILT
(English for Speakers of Other Languages-High Intensity Language Training)

Ashlawn Elementary School
5950 N. 8th Rd.
Arlington, VA 22205

Virginia Earth Day Groceries Reports - 1994

Hi from Dublin Middle School! Our seventh grade Topaz Team prepared about 100 bags and had the local grocery store Wade's hand them out. Thanks for the idea! We had fun and one of my old students, who helps bag the groceries, said he enjoyed reading the comments on the bags also.
Barbara Bell
Dublin Middle School
Dublin, Virginia
bbell @ swvgs.vak12ed.edu
Hi! Just a note to let you know that Hunters Woods Elementary School in Reston, Virginia, decorated 320 Earth Day Grocery Bags. The SCA voted to take on the project; 2 officers and the PTA president picked up bags from 3 local grocery stores. The Art teacher got in on the act, and soon we needed more bags! Everyone enjoyed the project; it's too bad that we couldn't work it out for students to deliver the completed bags, but I got some great pictures at one of the grocery stores. Thanks for the idea! I have a feeling it will become an annual event for us.
Karen Foley
Hunters Woods Elementary School
From: "Karen C. Foley"
Dublin Middle School in Dublin, V, participated in the grocery bag decorations for our local Wades grocery store. The manager supported it to the tune of 400 bags for the first time. All indications are it was very well received by the shoppers on the 22nd.
The artwork was exemplary and supportive.
Thank you for making this listing. We plan to expand this to all 600 students next year.
Sincerely,
JimCook(jcook@swvgs.vak12ed.edu
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