CHF International Celebrates Green Apple Day of Service with 15 Projects in Six Countries

On September 29, staff and volunteers from CHF International offices around the world will be joining Green Apple, an initiative of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), for the inaugural Green Apple Day of Service.

For one day, students, teachers, parents and elected officials, as well as international green building councils, USGBC chapters, member companies and more, will come together in support of healthy, sustainable schools, by taking action in their communities.

CHF is supporting service projects in many of the countries with which it works around the globe, including Colombia, Ghana, India and Kosovo, as well as near its headquarters in Silver Spring. CHF is partnering with IMPACT Silver Spring and Silver Spring Green – two local non-profit organizations focused on community sustainability – to support Broad Acres Elementary School, just five miles from its headquarters.

“I am confident that we can build a meaningful, long-term relationship that will benefit our students, our community, local organizations, and even the wider world,” said Bob Geiger, the new Assistant Principal at Broad Acres.

Broad Acres serves 690 students and is the highest-poverty school in Montgomery County, with 95 percent of the children qualifying for free or reduced-price meals. The school is experiencing some overcrowding and an adjacent park is increasingly becoming a source of garbage. Saturday’s Green Apple Day of Service project will include: picking up trash around Broad Acres, creating better drainage, repainting a chess board and new foursquare courts, and reclaiming blacktop space so the children have more room to play.

“We see the importance of connecting and reaching out to our local community here in Silver Spring,” noted Tamara Arsenault, Deputy Director of Program Innovation with CHF. “As a native of Montgomery County, and with more than 100 employees here in Silver Spring, we believe it’s imperative to form partnerships here at home and bring back the lessons we have learned working overseas, to support community development in our own neighborhood.”