“Trash For Peace” Teaches Urban Kids About Recycling and Healthy Eating

Trash for Peace volunteers

Portland, March 27th, 2015. A new sustainable savings coupon book is helping non-profit Trash For Peace expand their visibility and programs. Trash For Peace, which teaches urban kids about recycling and healthy eating, was featured at coupon book launch party and fundraiser at Slide Inn Restaurant.

Publisher, Raymond F. Quinton said, “I love what Trash For Peace does and what they stand for. They give urban kids a chance to have some hands on involvement with recycling and sustainability, and they get to see how to grow that involvement into business opportunities.”

Here’s an the website address with more information about the sustainable savings coupon booklet:
www.globalmarketingconcepts.info

Organizers say sustainability should be a lifelong pursuit and should touch everyone in the community, regardless of race, color, gender or economic status. Global Marketing Concepts is committed to doing its part to make a difference, in part by publishing an exclusive coupon book that supports impacting sustainability everyday.

As a 501(c)3 organization, our mission is to turn “trash” into “peace”. To educate and spread awareness about the capacity we have as human beings to use our creativity and innovation to replace the concept of trash with resourcefulness and giving back. We strive to encourage people to reduce, reuse, and then recycle for a healthier and more peaceful planet.

Vision:
Empowered, healthy communities living in a world without waste.

The event, sponsored by LoanStar Home Lending and Global Marketing Concepts had door prizes, from local sustainability focused businesses.

Trash For Peace, founded by Executive Director Laura Kuchner, works with schools to teach kids how to build recycling bins from recycled materials, teaches kids zero waste, healthy cooking techniques, and has plans to expand their coffee roasting project with a solar roaster to teach youths how to run a sustainable business.

Presenting Sponsor LoanStar Home Lending SVP of Marketing and Business Development, Kenn Bartley said, “We want to do our part and support the businesses and community who care about our future. We are demonstrating that sustainability can be fun, too! Everyone will also have an opportunity to learn more about energy conservation, indoor air quality, available remodeling and rehabilitation loans, loan incentive programs and discover the advantages of purchasing new energy efficient homes.”

From Trash For Peace:

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala, our founder, Laura Kutner, helped create the youth development program that focused on integrating a life skills curriculum into rural schools. One of the schools she worked in also happened to need new classrooms. One day during recess she realized that a technique she had heard about through the organization Pura Vida Atitlan could be modified to build these exact classrooms using plastic bottles and trash! After proposing the idea to the community, that is exactly what they did!

Soon the streets of Granados were much cleaner, as the entire community worked together to stuff more than 6,000 bottles full of trash to build the walls of their new classrooms. Towards the end of the project, the Non-governmental organization Hug it Forward stepped in to help finance the rest of the cement, doors, and windows that were necessary. As a result, a wonderful partnership was born. Hug it Forward is now working on their 16th bottle school in Guatemala!

Not long after the bottle school was complete, Tropical Storm Agatha surprised Guatemala with its strength and endurance. Many villages flooded, homes were destroyed, and worst of all, some lives were lost. In San Miguel Duenas, the second village where Laura lived, the flooding was made demonstrably worse because thousands of plastic bottles were dragged by the river to the foot of the bridge that led into the town, creating a giant plug. The community was shocked to see that trash had created such a disaster.

The storm was a reminder to Laura that – although much great work had been done with the bottle classrooms, there was much work still to be done. When she returned to the United States, she wanted to continue sharing this story and teaching the lessons learned from it, by finding creative and innovate ways of encouraging people to incorporate the values of reducing and reusing into their lives, and to see waste as a resource for positive change. She loves working with communities to teach them how to turn their trash into peace, sharing these ideas and experiences through creative construction. It was in this way that Trash for Peace was born, and the incredible people and communities that become involved and volunteer their time and energy are what make this organization flourish.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.