This year, we focussed on two main projects, both in our EcoKids Club, and in our school. Our first project was a collection of pop can tabs for our local hospital. This was a very good project for us, because it allowed us to involve the community in our collection, through letters that were sent home. After we collected all of our pop tabs we were able to donate them to the local hospital in order for them to be recycled to make wheelchairs. We always donate them in the name of a boy who began the program in Regina. This year, we also had a contest between ourselves and other schools to see who would be able to collect the most pop tabs. This helped us to collect even more than we had previously, and there was a presentation ceremony in May to announce the winner.

The other project that we worked on this year was initiating an Idle-Free zone around the school. We were able to get an expert in to talk to us about idling and why it is so bad, and what we could do about it. She provided us with a sign that we could hang around our school yard. We also learned how idling and extra greenhouse gases in the environment could help to accelerate climate change. We promoted our campaign by inviting media to some of our school presentations. We also informed the community by sending out our school newsletter which contained information about our campaign and anti-idling facts.

Overall, it was these two projects that have been the major ongoing initiatives of the EcoKids Club at our school. We look forward next year to continuing these projects and possibly expanding and adding to our list of activities.

The EcoKids Club of Ecole Elsie Mironuck School