Thanks to all of you guys that came to the unveiling of our new love child, THE GREEN FUND. The meeting was a great success, but we have a long way to go. For those of you who couldn’t make the meeting, I will give you a little run-down on what went on.

We had presentations from several different environmental groups on campus, which included us (Leave It Green), the Green Bike Initiative, and the Macoskey Center. Representitives from these groups, the GGE Clubs, the Cycling Club, and the Outing Club were all there, as well as our most important guests–the students. Then came the big event–the introduction of The GREEN FUND! So let me explain this a little.

Our ultimate goal is to have a $5 fee added to the students bills each semester. Thats less than a campus lunch, less than a 6 pack, and less than a movie ticket. If you add up the fees for your entire 4 years of school, that’s less than a tank of gas. This money will have so much potential as well. Once we have the fee implemented, we will be generating about $80,000 a year. This money can be available for use by approved “green” projects, educational programs and activities, and even grant and scholarship programs. Since the fee will take a while to put into action, we are going to jump-start our effort by implementing a donation fund. Soon you, your parents, community members, and school staff will have the ability to donate to the Green Fund.

This project is going to take a LOT of student power. We need to collect 1200 student signatures to have a referendum for the spring ballot. This means we need to get a lot of petitions out there. If you are interested in collecting signatures, please e-mail me at rachel {at} leaveitgreen(.)org , and I will send you a copy of the petition for you and your friends to sign. We can’t do this without you, and I really hope you will help us out.

Also, we will be placing an order for t-shirts. They are kelly green with white writing, and they say “green fund” on the front, with the logo for campus climate challenge on the back (it is a group of kids raising a wind turbine). Underneath the picture, we have used a quote from Gandhi that says, “be the change you wish to see in the world.” If you are interested in purchacing one, the current cost is $13 dollars. However, as we are not trying to gain a profit from these, the more people order, the lower the cost will go down. So tell everyone you know! If you are interested in purchacing one, you can e-mail me your name, phone number and shirt size, or sign up in the GGE office on the 3rd floor of ATS.

I will continue to post updates on here, but I also want to let you guys know that we have created a facebook group for easy contact. Just look up “The Green Fund” in the search box, and add us to your groups. There are also pictures of the T-Shirt on there, and the video by Matt Bucceri and Doug Goetz will soon be added as well.

Thanks all for your support, and if you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me–i will do my best to get out a prompt response.

Peace and CHANGE,

Rachel