Lego and Wii Dr. Janes!
Quinn decided he wanted to make a famous person's wii character. The first person that came to his mind was Dr. Jane. Meanwhile... Caden created a Dr. Jane lego. Nice to see Dr. Jane has made such a strong impact on the kids.
Planning Meeting
December 2009. Big plans made for adopting a local family in December, recycling holiday lights, food collection for Community Assistance Program, Feeding the Homeless in January and 2010 goals.
Holiday light recycling Program
Food Collection for Community Assistance Program
December 22, 2009. Earth Hawks distributed bags to a neighborhood in Ojai with notes attached that we would be back in one week's time to collect food for Help of Ojai's Community Assistance Program. One week later, we arrived about thirty strong to sing holiday carols and collect the bags. We raised $115 dollars and collected several wagons full of food.
LED Light Exchange
November 22, 2009. We helped Ojai Valley Green Coalition collect old incandescent Christmas lights in exchange for energy-efficient LED holiday lights. Southern California Edison donated 50 strands of lights to the exchange program. Several members of Earth Hawks spent time at the Ojai Farmer's Market collecting old strands of lights to be sent to a recycling center and educating shoppers about the new energy efficient lights.
Prepare and Serve Dinner for Ojai Homeless
February 13, 2009. We continued our annual tradition of providing a meal for local homeless families in Ojai Valley. During the winter months seven churches rotate hosting homeless families each night of the week by providing a hot meal, a place to sleep and a shower. This is organized by CAP (Community Assistance Program). Earth Hawks donated the ingredients for homemade chili, cornbread and salad, and also prepared and served dinner to about twenty people.
Valentine's for the Troops
"I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world." - Sadako Sasaki
Adopt a Family
Earth Hawks adopted a family for the holidays who otherwise wouldn't be able to provide gifts for their children. We were given the ages of each family member and we made, purchased and wrapped gifts for each. We also made ginger bread ornaments for the tree and packed boxes of food for a holiday meal. The Adopt a Family program is organized by the Community Assistance Program of Ojai.
Sharing Projects with Dr. Jane
Cooper, Dane, Quinn and Bridget presented our Earth Hawk projects in a slide show presentation to Dr. Jane Goodall and a group of 200 school children in Santa Barbara. Bridget had the honor of introducing Dr. Jane. With only a few moments to prepare - she was a pro.
Food for Thought
Earth Hawks held a fundraiser for Ojai's "Food for Thought" program. Food for Thought is an Ojai school program that promotes the environment and health through providing organic, farm-fresh salad bar, nutrition education, garden-based learning, agricultural literacy and trash reduction. We set up a concession booth at a concert fundraiser, called "Locally Grown". We solicited donations from Lassen's Health Foods and sold organic apples, carrots, plums, organic sodas and snacks. We raised $325. Four of our members also performed in the "Carrot Chorus" singing a song about loving vegetables
Provide Food for Homeless Families
Another annual event for Earth Hawks is the preparation and serving of home-made meals to homeless families. We prepare and serve the meals and join the families for dinner and a movie. We sponsor an evening that the local churches in Ojai offer to homeless families. Each church provides a meal and shelter one night of the week, so these families have somewhere to go every night during the winter months. This is our 3rd year participating.
Adopt a Chimpanzee
The children of Earth Hawks donated their own money to adopt a chimpanzee from the Jane Goodall Institute. 100% of the proceeds support the Tchimpounga sanctuary, covering food, medicine and shelter. The program supports African villagers to build sustainable livelihoods that promote regional conservation goals such as reforestation and an end to illegal commercial bushmeat trade.
4th of July Parade
We flew our giant peace dove in the July 4th Parade and won 1st place. We marched with signs on our backs displaying our projects and promoted Roots & Shoots. We participated in the 4th of July Parade 3 years in a row.
Ojai Land Conservancy
Earth Hawks volunteered at the Ojai Land Conservancy to help restore the Ventura River Preserve. The Arundo donax (a non-native giant reed) is being removed and native plants will be planted. We worked hard filling sand-bags, rolling plastic tarps out over the mowed non-native grasses, hammered stakes into the tarps and then secured with sandbags. The black tarps will kill the seeds and then the native plants can be planted. When we pulled up and a bunch of wild children piled out of the car, the organizer looked a bit worried. We must not made it clear that our group were children. They were very pleased with the kids' hard work. We finished 1 1/2 hours earlier than expected.
Beads for Life
We ordered "Beads for Life" bracelets from Roots & Shoots and sold them at three local events: a school holiday craft fair, a contra-dance concert, and an Irish dance concert. We sold all 500 of the bracelets we ordered within a week. Ugandan women turn colorful recycled paper into beautiful beads. The beads become income, food, medicine, and school fees. All profits from "Beads for Life" are invested in community development projects that generate income and help people work their way out of poverty.
California Coastal Horse Rescue
Earth Hawks helped clean up at the California Coastal Horse Rescue after heavy flooding. The rescue cares for those horses that no one else will care for. They provide food, shelter, rehabilitation, medical care, and adoption services for horses that have been abused, abandoned or neglected.
Ventura Beach Cleanup
We've picked up dozens of large trash bags full of garbage at Ventura Beaches.
Continuing Care Center
Earth Hawks volunteer annually at Ojai's Continuing Care Center. The Center is a place where seniors live when they are not well enough to take are of themselves at home. It's often a place of recovery after a hospital visit. We made water colored bookmarks and lavender sachets to hand out as gifts. On another visit, we made origami doves to hang in their rooms. We put on small talent shows and entertained with a violin recital, piano recital, caroling and Irish dancing. We've also brought in small animals for the patients to pet. For those not able to come to the community center, we visited in their rooms and sang holiday carols and brought our gifts.
Ventura River Bank Restoration
Earth Hawks donated their time and muscle to the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy. We participated in the steam bank stabilization project. A 350 foot section of the Ventura River bank was secured with seven trenches that were each planted with thousands of willows to protect the bank by deflecting storm flows and capturing sediment for further bank protection. We weeded around the willow plantings to allow them space to grow.
Food Share
Earth Hawks volunteer annually at Food Share in Ventura. Food Share is a food bank that organizes surplus food donated from markets and restaurants and distribute to families and seniors in Ventura County. We've packed over 700 holiday goodies bags for children of migrant workers. On another visit we packed bags of food to be delivered to local seniors
Santa Barbara Zoo Fox Festival
Earth Hawks prepared a booth for the Zoo Fox Festival. The festival's theme was educating the public about endangered species. We chose the Amur Leopard. There are fewer than 50 leopards left in the wild. We gathered signatures for the"stop the pipeline" campaign and sent it to the President of Russia. The proposed pipeline goes right through the Amur Leopard's habitat. We also sold chocolate and crafts and tattoos and sent to the campaign. We are happy to report the Russian government has reconsidered the location of the pipeline. We like to think we helped make that happen!
International Peace Day
We made our giant peace dove from recycled materials and participated in the Los Angeles International Peace Day at Griffith Park. It was quite awe-inspiring to see dozens of giant doves coming down the hill.
Search and Rescue Dog Foundation Fundraiser
We raised $969 for the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. The Foundation trains search dogs to find people buried alive in wreckage or Natural Disasters. We made crafts to sell and sold snacks at a Shakespeare performance of a local theater group. We also held a raffle with donated gifts from Patagonia and a local surf camp.
California Youth Summit
Dane, Bridget and Casara attended the California Youth Summit at Montecito Sequoia at Kings Canyon National Park. They attended workshops on how to organize projects and shared their projects with the group. They learned about R&S's commitment to "Drop of Hope: Water for the World" projects for 2009. Also attended a lecture about Climate Change. They woke up to several inches of new snow on Sunday morning..
Humane Society Fundraiser
We baked homemade dog biscuits to benefit the Humane Society. We used organic ingredients and sold them at the Humane Society. 100% of the profits went to the Humane Society.
Yes on Measure A
We created posters for "Vote Yes on A" to protect Ojai's open spaces. We worked together to design a poster and placed them around the city in local business' windows.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
