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September, 2004-School Supplies Drive: The group collected school supplies and filled and decorated gift bags and backpacks
for homeless families served by Tri-City Housing. We know a lot about this problem - one of our members was homeless for 8
months last year.
October, 2004-Cat Boxes Project: The group collected and recycled wooden wine crates from liquor stores, painted them with
bright designs and donated the to PAWS, a no-kill cat shelter, to give to foster parents of homeless cats. We also collected
cat food and recycled some of the kids' old BUILD-A-BEAR boxes to donate to PAWS. There are a lot of stray cats in our neighborhood
and the kids learned about responsible pet ownership.
November, 2004-Holiday Collection: The group did a collection of small musical instruments, small toys, personal hygiene products
and medicine(such as Immodium and Tylenol) for Hope for the Children of Haiti, an organization that runs a school and orphanage
in Haiti. They decorated holiday stockings and filled them with the items. The kids learned a lot about the poorest country
in this hemisphere.
Spring 2005-Tsunami Relief Yard Sale and Magnet Sale: The group spearheaded a yard sale project with 3 other children's groups,
raising over $1,500 for Save the Children. They made friendship bracelets and key chains that they sold at the yard sale,
too. The children sold a specially designed "Medford Cares" magnet with a lotus flower print(the lotus being the Asian symbol
of rebirth) to raise more money. The magnet cost $2, the idea being that any person can participate in Tsunami relief.
June, 2005-Benefit Rock Concert for the Homeless: The group planned and held a rock concert called "Bringing it Home" featuring
door prizes, face-painting, a karaoke contest, food, and musical performances by three local rock bands: The Mercy Beat, featuring
Brooks School 5th Grade teacher Mike Allen, with a special guest appearance by 4th Grade teacher Eric Paci; Midnight Blonde
featuring Medford middle school students/Roots & Shoots members Gia Greene and Deveney Williams; and The Cascades featuring
Medford middle school students/Roots & Shoots members Ariana Roche and Emily Nixon. Almost $2,000 in proceeds from the event
went to Give Us Your Poor Project and to Homes for Families, two organizations committed to ending homelessness by raising
awareness and galvanizing the public to fight the problem.
September, 2005-Hurricane Katrina Relief Project, Toiletry and Personal Care Item Drive: Roots & Shoots members collected,
sorted and packed the personal care items that were donated to the Hurricane Katrina Relief project sponsored by Brooks Elementary
School Helping Hands and Roots & Shoots Medford. In all, 75 boxes of items were delivered by truck to a central collection
site in Boston (to be shipped at a greatly discounted rate by UPS) down to the Myers Foundation which distributed the boxes
through the Baptist Medical Missionaries. The items were then used as relief for both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita,
as these rural areas of Mississippi and Louisiana were devastated twice.
November, 2005-Wounded Warriors Project: The children learned about the Wounded Warriors Project that serves wounded warriors
at Walter Reed Hospital in Maryland. They wrote letters and made Thanksgiving cards for 15 of the soldiers. The brought treats,
such as holiday candy, to put in a box for the soldiers.
December, 2005-Tents for Pakistan: Was on December 17, 2005. 3:00pm - 4:30pm. A voluntary donation of $5 was requested for
this special event. The donations were given to Islamic Relief Worldwide to purchase Winter tents for the survivors of the
earthquake in Pakistan. If you didn't have the cash, you could participate anyway(of course). A representative from REI, the
camping and adventure store, presented a PEAK program. PEAK (Promoting Environmental Awareness in Kids) is a partnership program
between REI and Leave No Trace to educate children about the outdoors and responsible use of our public lands while camping.
She helped the kids set up a tent and run some fun learning activities for the kids.
January, 2006-Council of All Beings: On Saturday, January 14th from 3:00 - 5:00 p.m., Roots & Shoots Medford held a Council
of All Beings. Each person decided on a being (animal, part of nature, person, etc.) to become, creating our own simple masks.
We were asked to reflect on our own personal "Circle of Compassion" regarding people, animals, and the environment. Each person
shared what that being would like to say to the world, what they hope for, and so on. It was be a very powerful experience.
February, 2006-Valentines Day Treat: On February 11, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. Roots & Shoots Medford baked cookies and made chocolates,
guided by a professional chocolatier. We sampled these items to see if they met our approval. The following day, those goodies
were brought to Bread and Jams, a free meal program for homeless people in Cambridge. This was be a special treat for Valentine’s
Day.Roots & Shoots Medford baked cookies and made chocolates, guided by a professional chocolatier. We sampled these items
to see if they met our approval. The following day, those goodies were brought to Bread and Jams, a free meal program for
homeless people in Cambridge. This was a special treat for Valentine’s Day.
April, 2006-School in a Box Fundraiser: On April 15, 3:00 - 5:00 p.m. Roots & Shoots Medford members stood outside the entrances
of Super Stop & Shop selling "Medford Cares" magnets, and using the money to buy 'School in a Box Kits', for children surviving
the earthquake in Pakistan (6,000 villages destroyed - 73,000 people died - 30,000 of them were children in school). Each
kit provides 80 children and 2 teachers with school supplies. We raised enough to buy 2 kits (each kit is $200) We raised
$450 in total. We will be sending the money to UNICEF (who built tents for the children to make schools), who will provide
them with the kits.
October, 2006-Peace Day: On October 14, 2006 Roots and Shoots held a meeting and discussed what peace was about, and what
symbolized peace. We made a "Web Without Words" where we created a web and undid the web without talking. It was a fun meeting,
and the first of the school year.
November, 2006-Non-Violence Meeting: We had visitors from the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in Dorchester. They discussed
their work helping families of homicide victims and preventing violence. We will created a mosaic artwork of peace, it was
photographed and printed onto Peace Cards. We had some pizza too. Now we are selling the Peace Cards to raise money for the
Louis D. Brown Institute, helping them to continue their important work.
December, 2006-We prepared the printed Peace Cards (that we drew and designed in November) for sale and talked about ways
to sell them. We folded them, added envelopes, made sets of 5, and tied them in ribbon and raffia. Do you have any more ideas
of places to sell the rest? If you do email Christine. We'll also had a holiday party. We had some snacks, and thank you
to the people who brought extra.
January, 2007-We sold our printed and decorated sets of peace cards outside of Stop & Shop on Riverside Ave. We thank all
of the customers who stopped and took their time to buy peace cards. You can email Christine Ellersick at cellersick@janegoodall.org
if you want a pack of Peace Cards, they are going fast so ask her about the prices and if there are any left.
February, 2007-We created pages for our Tips for Tiny Tops... Saving the Earth! book, which went very well. The book
is filled with everyday tasks that anyone can do, that will help the earth become a better place.
March, 2007-We decorated light switch covers to put in our rooms to use with our $400 gift, florescent light bulbs! We also
talked about Energy Hogs.
***BONUS: On March 18, 2007, Christine Ellersick, Kathryn Ellersick, Christine Bennett, and Lauren Bennett attended the Harvard
Museum of Natural History to meet Jane Goodall and for other Massachusetts Roots & Shoots groups to meet her and presents
their projects to her. Also, Dr. Goodall delivered her lecture Reason for Hope in a Complex World at Harvard's Sanders Theater
at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 18. She discussed the exciting and innovative work of the Jane Goodall Institute and Roots & Shoots.
A book signing followed. Tickets sold extremely quickly. Fifteen Roots & Shoots groups exhibited their work at the Harvard
Museum of Natural History beginning at 10:30 a.m. Dr. Jane visited and heard about their projects. Two of the groups were
from Medford: The Medford High School group as well as our group. Space was very limited, because Roots and Shoots didn’t
run this program, but Harvard did. It was a great experience to meet Jane Goodall, and see some of Massachusetts' hardworking
Roots & Shoots members.
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