CHF International Marks Green Apple Day of Service

CHF International Marks Green Apple Day of Service

CHF International marked the inaugural Green Apple Day of Service, an initiative of the Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), by facilitating 15 projects in 6 different countries. Students, teachers, parents, elected officials, CHF staff and volunteers came together in support of healthy, sustainable schools, by taking action in their communities.  CHF supported service projects in Colombia, Ghana, India, Kosovo and Palestine, as well as near its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Some highlights from the different countries include:

India

CHF supported  an entire week of activities in Bangalore as part of the Green Apple campaign. Over 2,000 students from seven schools dedicated five days to the service of the city of Bangalore – creating awareness about recycling and waste management, planting trees in their school campuses and participating in clean-up drives around their neighborhoods. The week’s activities were a huge success, in no small part to the number of local partners and community members who supported the students in their efforts.

Please learn more here: Community Support Leads to a Successful Green Apple Week of Service in Bangalore, India

Ghana

In Accra, Sixty pupils and their teachers visited the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI). They  learned about composting, its contribution to reducing green house gas emissions and its significant role in organic agricultural production. Based on what they learned at BNARi, the pupils decided to begin separating waste at their school to start a small-scale composting project with support from the BNARI technical staff as a way to produce organic fertilizer for their school garden.

Read the full story here: Extending the Learning Environment Beyond the Classroom

Palestine

CHF supported activities at schools in Abu Dis  and Jalqamous. In Abu Dis, more than 100 students conducted activities based on the theme of “reusing our trash to beautify our schools.” Projects included creating wall mosaics made out of old tiles, sunshades made out of plastic bags found near the school and tires used to plant new herbs, trees to beautify the school grounds. In Jalqamous, nearly 100 students from the Jalqamous Girls Primary School participated in environmental education exercises learning about green building and  solar energy kits. Students also held a  drawing competition around green themes and completed school beautification projects, including painting, planting and creating artwork using recycled materials.

To view photos from the projects in Abu Dis and Jalqamous:Green Apple Day of Service in Abu DisGreen Apple Day of Service in Jalqamous

Colombia

CHF International brought of all of its partners together to celebrate the Green Apple Day of Service in seven schools in Northern Colombia. Activities inclued plannting trees, creating murals, learning about wastewater treatment, watersheds, solid waste management and pest control.

Learn more about the activities in Colombia here: CHF International and Partners Celebrate the Green Apple Day of Service in Colombia

U.S. 

At Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring, MD nearly 100 people including parents, students, siblings, staff from Broad Acres, plus volunteers from CHF International, IMPACT Silver Spring, Silver Spring Green and the U.S. Green Building Council joined together to clean-up around the school and improve the playground. 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. Together the volunteers, cleaned off the dirt and reclaimed about 1000 square feet of additional blackto, laid pressure-treated lumber to protect the playground from silt runoff, painted new games on the blacktop, and collected a mountain of trash and recyclables from the adjacent park.

Read more here: Students from Broad Acres Elementary Unite with Students around the Globe to Promote Green Schools