Mahalo for Your Support!
Posted On: Jul 03, 12
During the 2011-2012 school year we reached thousands through our programs. Here’s a snapshot:
‘AINA In Schools is a farm to school initiative that connects children to their local land, waters, and food in order to grow a healthier Hawai’i. In addition to encouraging the use of locally grown fruits and vegetables in school meals and snacks, the program teaches kids to grow food in their own school gardens. ‘AINA In Schools also provides nutrition education and field trips to local farms, while outreach efforts engage parents and other community members in environmental protection and healthy food choices.
This year 2,000 students participated in ‘AINA IS garden lessons and garden clubs, while nearly 1,300 took part in nutrition lessons. 474 parent and community volunteers supported the program by giving 5,550 hours in support of Garden Parties, Salad Bars, Healthy Snacks, and teaching garden and nutrition lessons. The program provides educational resources and consulting to four ‘AINA schools that served 80,000 individual fresh produce snacks this school year. 2,000 students are also treated to weekly fresh salad bars in their cafeterias.
Environmental Field Trip Assistance Program gives schools the financial assistance needed to bring students to outdoor sites where they can experience hands-on learning about Hawai’i's natural environment.
5,506 students at 60 schools participated in field trips supported by Kokua Hawai’i Foundation. Field trip sites included Kahuku Farms, Ka’ala Farms, Nalo Farms, Waikalua Loko Fishpond, Lyon Arboretum, Ku’u Home Kulaiwi, and many others.
Environmental Education Mini-Grants help teachers from Hawai’i public schools advance their environmental education goals.
4,980 students and 40 schools received assistance for environmental education supplies, curricula, and workshops. This year’s mini-grants supported waste audits, vermicomposting workshops, aquaponics systems, gardening and agriculture projects on school campuses.
Kokua Earth Action Program (KEAP) is an environmental service-learning initiative encouraging students to work toward creating lasting, positive change in their schools and communities. KEAP Projects allow classes to pursue their own stewardship endeavors.
During the 2011-2012 school year, 2,619 students from 13 schools participated in 14 student-led environmental service learning projects. KEAP projects included “Go Green, Be Plastic Free,” “Composting & Worm Bins for our School Cafeteria,” “Reduce, Reuse and Recreate,” and “From Field to Table.” KEAP participating school, Ewa Makai Middle School was recognized as one of 78 U.S Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools announced during Earth Week.
3R’s Recycling Program empowers students to engage and educate their school community about the 3R’s (reduce-reuse-recycle) with in-class recycling and school-wide collection. The 3R’s School Recycling Program provides recycling bins and educational resources to classes, and supports student leadership groups and their advisors to reach their waste reduction goals with recycling drives, waste stream audits and outreach events.
32,500 students at 45 participating schools reduce, reuse, and recycle on campus. Several of these schools have started composting and vermicomposting food and green waste, while a select few have conducted waste audits of their campuses, cafeterias and classrooms. In 2012, students from multiple 3R’s schools participated in policy initiatives regarding waste reduction and recycling at the school, county, and statewide levels.
Plastic Free Schools encourages school communities to make plastic free commitments to use reusable water bottles and tote bags and pack waste-free lunches. The program provides educational resources, and trainings on the environmental and health benefits of going plastic free to minimize the consumption and pollution of plastics in our schools and islands. Plastic Free Schools also helps reduce marine debris from local beaches by regularly hosting beach cleanups.
100 educators attended the Teacher Institute “Can You Be Plastic Free?,” and two O’ahu schools hosted Captain Charles Moore’s visit to share his new book “Plastic Ocean.” Over 2,000 students and families attended screenings of the film “Bag It” at 16 schools and businesses. Over 600 volunteers participated in beach cleanups at Hale’iwa, Kahuku, Kailua & La’ie beaches, giving 1,928 hours to keeping our beaches plastic-free.
Our community programs and campaigns aim to inform, inspire, and empower a broader audience to be environmentally responsible.
Educational Events allow us to share a variety of environmental issues with a broader community audience including parents, educators and school administrators.
This year 2,500 people attended KHF-hosted film screenings and discussions, cooking demonstrations, conferences, symposiums, and teacher institutes.
Plastic Free Hawai’i is a coalition of community members and business owners that strives to educate the stores, restaurants, schools, residents and visitors of Hawai’i on the environmental and health benefits of going plastic-free to minimize the consumption and pollution of plastics in our islands.
More than 1,800 coalition members have made a Plastic Free Commitments which include taking a reusable shopping bag, carrying a reusable water bottle, choosing products with less packaging and patronizing restaurants that carry biodegradable take-out materials. Over 60 businesses from Hale’iwa and Kailua towns have pledged to stop disbursing single-use plastics such as plastic bags, cups, and Styrofoam containers.