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Green Sanctuary
As part of the process of becoming a certified Green Sanctuary, these projects were designed and completed by the children of the church.
Religious Education Projects (2 required, 1 for children and 1 for adults)
Project Title: Promote environmentally friendly activities by church members.
Project Description and Action: The first week of each month
Timeline for Completion: Started and on-going
Outcomes: The weekly Church newsletter, which is now e-mailed to all members (except those few specifically requesting a paper copy), contains a practical “green tip”, such as: “Turn off the water while you brush your teeth and save 2,600 gallons of water a year.”
Leads: Bill Landers and Rev. Burton D. Carley
Project Title: Have the children’s Religious Education program focus on environmental issues on the first Sunday of each month.
Project Description and Action: Our Director of Religious Education has fully adopted this goal and incorporated this topic into the on-going ministry for our church school every month.
Timeline for Completion: Begun in 2008 and continuing.
Outcomes: Our children are becoming more aware of how important it is for everyone to be environmentally friendly and to take those steps available to each of us to live a more sustainable life, both for our own benefit and the benefit of our community.
Lead: Cindy Sakaan, Director of Religious Education.
Project Title: First Sunday/Green Sunday
Description and Action: Religious Education for children on the first Sunday of each month focuses on environmental justice and our seventh principle: We respect the interdependent web of all creation.
Timeline: Started Fall 2007 and is ongoing
Outcomes: 2007-2008: Overview of what it means to “be green” including workshops on recycling, composting, consumerism, wind energy, and local community garden efforts.
2008-2009: Wolf River Conservancy including guest speakers, education about the WR ecosystem and how our community is impacted, donations given to the Wolf River Conservancy, children wrote letters to the governor and other officials urging responsible conservation (and received replies!), demonstrating ways to be activists for environmental justice. Children and youth participated with adults in the clean -up of a Shelby Farms trail and installation of a bench along the Wolf River.
2009-2010: Our focus was on our own front yard, the Mississippi River. Children observed our section of the river and wrote or drew reflections of how it changed from month to month. Children also participated in demonstrations about the composition and effects of pollution on water quality in the river.
2010-2011: Community partnerships are being formed. Thus far children have created “peace stones” for placement along the newly opened Greenline. Volunteer teachers are attending training with the Jane Goodall Institute to create a “Roots and Shoots” youth group at The Church of the River. Our first Sunday activities will follow the Roots and Shoots curriculum for the rest of this church year.
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