2016 Earth Day Action Grants Announced

 

These small grants, awarded by St. Louis Earth Day, provide an opportunity for people, groups and nonprofit organizations to “take action” on environmental issues and implement projects on Earth Day or throughout the year. Funding for the Earth Day Action Grants is generated through the fundraising efforts at the Earth Day Eve Celebration.

Word of Life Outdoor Learning Center and Youth Garden – Word of Life Lutheran School

Students, teachers, parents and community members will be developing a youth garden on the campus of Word of Life Lutheran School. This garden will provide opportunities to strengthen the students’ connection with the earth, provide service opportunities, and develop a creative learning space.

 

Waste Reduction, Education, and Diminishing Food Insecurity by Switching to Biodegradable Meal Containers – The Campus Kitchen Project

Student volunteers at the Campus Kitchen at Saint Louis University (CKSLU) recover excess food from Trader Joe’s, cook the food into healthy meals, and deliver individually packaged meals to food insecure residents in our community. CKSLU will purchase biodegradable meal containers, rather than continue to use Styrofoam meal containers which will help the organization better fulfill its mission to reduce waste, empower student volunteers, and build communities.

 

School Garden and Outdoor Classroom – Mason Elementary (Saint Louis Public School)

This project aims to create school-wide environmental awareness, to create a successful, sustainable garden using organic methods, and to start, maintain and support family and community member involvement in and discussion of gardening practices. Students will be taught how to improve their diet and prepare healthy meals with garden produce. This project will also provide a hands-on learning opportunity for students, teaching them how to plan, make decisions, collaborate, take responsibility, explain and persuade.

 

The 2016 Sustainable Backyard Tour – Slow Food St. Louis

The main purpose of the Sustainable Backyard Tour is to paint a big picture of connectivity for residents of St. Louis and surrounding areas, explaining the importance of a healthy ecosystem and the impacts of water, soil and fossil fuels in the residential landscape. The tour coordinates dozens of backyard and garden sites for a free, self-guided tour. Tour sites showcase a range of green living practices, including low-impact lawn care, composting, creative reuse of materials, organic gardening, chicken and beekeeping, gardening with native plants, mushrooms, fruit & nut trees, rainwater conservation, pesticide and herbicide reduction, renewable energy production, and backyard habitat creation. (June 12, 2016, from 11 to 4 p.m.)

 

Planting project in Little Creek Nature Area (Ferg/Flor Sch. Dist) – Forest ReLeaf

Forest ReLeaf will provide 225 native species trees and shrubs to replant in an area students have been working to clear of honeysuckle and other invasive species. 25 of these will be larger, 7- and 15-gallon size species that, while native, are difficult to come by even from commercial nurseries. Broadening the variety of native species in this outdoor classroom will enhance the teaching component.

They will also provide trees grown from seed from Missouri State Champion trees located in Bellefontaine Cemetery and Missouri Botanical Garden that they can go visit themselves. Carrying on the legacy of these trees gives students another way to connect to the trees and shows them the long-term potential the trees have. Bellefontaine Cemetery is located very close to the school and will be available for students to tour with special emphasis placed on visiting the mother tree of the trees these students will be planting.

 

Mallinckrodt Grounds Improvement Project – Mallinckrodt AGI School (Saint Louis Public School)

As part of a large multi-phase/multi-year effort to create a pleasant, dynamic, engaging, and nature-based play space for the students and community to utilize and enjoy, Mallinckrodt will install two outdoor recycling/trash receptacles and a locally-made bicycle rack on the Mallinckrodt AGI school grounds. All school classes will participate in an outdoor lesson at the location of the new recycle/trash receptacles discussing recycling, its importance, what becomes of recycled materials, and what is appropriate or not to recycle.  In art classes, the older students will engage in making signs to communicate this information and remind the school community of this information on an ongoing basis. These signs will be posted around the school and on the trash receptacles.

So far, the school has added a wonderful school garden in partnership with Gateway Greening and have also recently added a Little Free Library in the front yard of the school, which is seeing a remarkable amount of activity from the students and neighborhood. They have elected to use a locally commissioned bike rack in their project.  It will be designed and built by a local arts organization, St. Louis Artworks, and will be made out of recycled bicycle parts.

 

How to Eat a Rainbow – St. Louis Arc

St. Louis Arc will partner with a graduate student from SLU studying nutrition to develop a program for the children who attend Childgarden Early Childhood Center to expand their current garden space to include a wide variety of vegetables. This grown food can be then incorporated into the breakfasts, lunches and snacks that are served at the center. The garden will be a collaborative effort of teachers, parents and children. Through this project, St. Louis Arc hopes to build respect and understanding of where food comes from and that it doesn’t magically appear in the grocery store.  They will also teach children and their families about the importance of healthy eating. They hope that the children will become more open to trying new foods if they have a hand in growing them and that some families might be inspired to plant gardens at home.

 

Chefs Cook Fresh Competition – Midwest Association of Farmers Markets

The goal of this project is to demonstrate creative ways to use local farm produce and products by showcasing the relationship between our farms, food, chefs and markets in the Midwest region. The Chefs Cook Fresh Competition will provide a venue for local chefs to compete in one cook-off at the farmers market in their area once a month. One chef each month is crowned the winner at that market’s cook-off.  Market-goers sample the dishes and vote for their favorite dish. The chefs will demonstrate sustainable methods in food sourcing and preparation, event production and waste management. Monthly champions will compete at the end of the season finale!

 

Our Schoolyard Greenification Project – St Louis Language Immersion School

This student group will  build tiny greenhouses and raised beds that students will have access to for observation during recess as well as during their classes and units of inquiry. They can study, collect data on plant growth, learn about agriculture, and about how much energy it takes to grow food that ends up in the grocery store.

Students and families will  learn how easy it is to grow vegetables and will be encouraged to grow their own food. This new green space on the school campus will attract insects and birds to the area for pollination and food so that students can also learn about ecosystems.

 

Environmental Music and Arts Project – Environmental Music and Arts Project

eMAP is a series of events that will combine entertainment with environmental education and action.
These bi-monthly fundraising events will raise awareness of different environmental issues, while local artists and musicians share their talents. The proceeds of each event will be donated to a different environmental non-profit organization. The selected organization will be given the floor in between musical acts to present a specific environmental topic as it relates to what they do. While in the short term, they just want to start up a dialogue about the environment, ultimately, eMAP will hope to provide an avenue for meaningful education and action.

 

BESC Community Earth Day Project – Riverview West Florissant Development Corporation

An estimated 200 participants will come together to successfully clean up, plant, recycle, and change the mindset of the neighborhood to become more conscious of all they use and dispose of. The event will be marketed throughout the area on radio, television, newspaper, and electronic media. Volunteers will assist in picking up trash and creating barrels for recycling. Missouri Botanical Garden volunteers will work with neighbors to plant trees and seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as educate on the importance of planting. The guest speaker will elaborate on the variety of ways everyone can contribute to a healthier environment and lifestyle. St. Louis Community College and Washington University will demonstrate how to make green cleaners and send all participants home with samples and recipes to make their own. Youth will decorate the recycle barrels and grocery bags that will be distributed to stores to spread the word further about the necessity of environmental consciousness.

 

Gorlocks Going Green (G3) Sustainability Peer Educator Program – Webster University

The goal of the Gorlocks Going Green (G3) Sustainability Peer Educator Program is to foster a robust culture of sustainability on Webster University’s campus. The G3 program will focus on training undergraduate and graduate students to be well-versed and informed about sustainable lifestyles, habits, resources and knowledge with the ultimate mission of delivering educational opportunities, such as workshops and lessons, to their peers across campus. The G3 program instills in the program participants, and especially in the G3 team, habits, behaviors and ideals about being a more intentional and compassionate steward of the environment that they can take with them after graduation and continue to foster in their lives outside of Webster University.

 

Container Garden Educational Program – St Anthony Food Pantry – St Anthony Food Pantry

Clients of the St. Anthony food pantry will be taught how to do container gardening. They will be provided
the plants and written directions on how to care for each plant, along with fertilizer.  In addition to the nourishment they will provide, the plants are symbols of the love and care that we should have for all the earth. Families will experience the joy of eating fresh vegetables while learning new behaviors which will impress on them the desire to care for the earth by nurturing plant life and recycling.

 

Grant recipients will be recognized at Earth Day Eve on Saturday, April 23 at 5:30 pm.

Ensure all qualified proposals are funded in 2017! You CAN make a difference!

Help us reach our goal of $15,000 for 2017 Earth Day Action Grants. Money raised during Earth Day Eve and the Earth Day Festival will determine available funds for the next grant cycle. Make Earth Day every day by enabling grassroots projects to spring to life!

1. Join us at Earth Day Eve on April 23rd (4:00 pm – 7:00 pm) – get a taste of the Earth Day Cafe and enjoy the music of Jake’s Leg. A small cover charge ($5) supports St. Louis Earth Day and our Earth Day Action Grant program. Friends of Earth Day tickets ($45) include delicious fare catered by Baileys’ Restaurants, Avant wines, Jeni’s Ice Cream, and Schlafly beer.
2. Donate! Your donation supports the programs of St. Louis Earth Day, including our Earth Day Action Grants.