Well, it has been another extremely positive week for the Green Fund. We have been visiting quite a few classes as stops on our road to 1200 signatures. We are really happy and motivated by the responses we are getting from the student body as well as the faculty and administration. Our signature numbers are climbing at an incredible rate, and we are very excited about that. If you are interested in taking around a petition yourself, just send me an e-mail to rachel {at} leaveitgreen(.)org . I will be sure to send you the file.

I would also like to send a very sincere thank you out to those of you who are already collecting signatures. Your dedication is amazing. If you have been collecting signatures, and you have some forms that are already filled up, try to get them to me so that we can keep track of the number. We would like to have as many signatures as possible by Wednesday, so that when Dan and I go into the SGA meeting on Thursday, we know where we stand. So don’t stop collecting, we just need your completed sheets.

On Wednesday, Dan, Doug, and I met with Bill Rudloff, head of environmental health and safety, and Joel Brown, who works with Bill in the office. These guys do the recycling on campus, and they gave us a lot of ideas to think about and work with. I don’t know if you guys know this or not, but SRU is currently participating in a program called Recyclemania, which keeps track of the recycling on campus, and compares it to other schools. We are currently competing with a lot of schools, so be sure you are recycling everything you can (not that you aren’t already). We set Bill and Joel up with the people of ARHS, so we are hoping to see some efforts in the residence halls.

Which brings me to my next piece. Wednesday night, we attended the ARHS meeting, where the Green Fund was widely accepted. We were really encouraged by this group, and different members have even offered to help us go further in our efforts. We hope that this is the start of a great relationship, and that we can start to see more environmental efforts coming right from the residence halls.

So that is about it for the week, but I do have a quick announcement:

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 14th (Valentine’s Day)

Come and show your love for the Green Fund at our hot chocolate drive! The Park Ranger’s Society, in support of The Green Fund, is hosting a hot chocolate drive in the quad next Thursday. There will be members of the Green Fund group there to answer questions, petitions to sign, and best of all, FREE hot chocolate to drink! We will be set up in front of the Library during common hour, and look forward to seeing all of you there!

Also, check out the Green Fund in this week’s issue of the Rocket. We are really excited to have all of this press, but also feel as if we need to defend ourselves regarding the article in the opinion section. If you feel like writing a letter to the editor, we absolutely encourage you to do so. This is a student initiative, so the student’s voice really does count. Also, as part of the paper this week, they have chosen the Green Fund as the subject of the poll. You can vote online at The Online Rocket. We have to be proactive when it comes to the press, so get your opinions out there.

Have a GREAT week, and I will see you guys on Thursday!!

Rachel