The spirit of goodwill is contagious. Goodwill employees and their families are often guilty of spreading the spirit of giving back to others and the community-at-large.
Take for instance, Jennifer Kuwahara, wife of Rick Kuwahara, Goodwill Industries of Hawaii’s Business Development & Marketing Manager. She’s a teacher at Mililani Middle School and she has been organizing plastic bottle cap and lid recycling drives at the school for the past three years.
This year’s drive, which ran for about four weeks, inspired the Yellow Track 8th graders to participate in this eco-friendly project. The winning class was rewarded with a pizza party and students who collected the most plastic caps and lids in each class received a Goodwill Hawaii t-shirt.
Mililani Middle School students give back to the community and environment
When you see the students’ faces in this photo, it’s evident that they were thrilled to have collected more than 20,000 plastic bottle caps and lids. This project educates students on how to be responsible consumers and also how to respect the land, Hawaii’s ocean and marine life through recycling. Just think, if they hadn’t collected these plastic bottle caps and lids, the items would likely be in our landfills or polluting our coastlines.
Project diverts more than 20,000 plastic bottle caps & lids from Hawaii's landfills and coastlines
Goodwill, being a green organization, was part of a pilot program that has collected these lids working in collaboration with other organizations over the past year. Goodwill does not make any revenue from recycling plastic bottle caps and lids – it’s just another way that Goodwill gives back to the community.
Congratulations to the eco-conscious students of Mililani Middle School. For the latest news about their school visit the Mililani Middle School blog.
Being green is definitely at the heart of Goodwill’s philosophy. When you shop or donate your gently used items to Goodwill, you set in motion a whole series of earth-friendly activities. Every item you donate or purchase at a Goodwill store is one less item thrown away. By recycling items through your donations and purchases, Goodwill reuses viable resources, and reduces waste on our planet.
Additionally, your donated items create many layers of value. By providing revenue to support Goodwill’s mission and programs, your donated items help people in your community to become more self-sufficient and reach their full potential. To learn more about Goodwill’s mission, programs and Donate Movement visit www.higoodwill.org.
