NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Boys and Girls Club of Hutchinson and Earth Matters are teaching kids about how to use their resources more wisely.
"We work with primarily fourth and fifth graders that go to the after school program at Avenue A," said Nancy Bether with Earth Matters. "They are very curious about the Reno County Sanitary Landfill and how all of that works. We got to go out there and look at it and satisfy some of their questions. It was a pretty fascinating field trip. They had lots of questions about how people recycle paint and chemicals and lawn things. They were very curious about the big pits and all of the birds."
Along with a set curriculum, students learn about the Reno County Landfill and the science used in the local waste system and the TECH Recycling Center, Fair Price Clothing, and Builders Bargains to see how reusing takes place locally.
"In May, we're going to go to a dairy farm that's self supportive from the very beginning," Bether said. "They have a cycle where they wash their barns out with their pond water and they raise all their own dairy cows and they raise all their own feed for their dairy cows, so basically, we're just trying to educate our kiddos on how to be good stewards."
Earth Matters hopes to take students who have completed the program into classrooms and community organizations to share their commitment to environmentally conscious choices.
"We always want to give kids the opportunity to learn more about our community and the part they can take in it," said Lindsey Fields with the Boys and Girls Club. "I'm personally already seeing the impact that Earth Matters has. I run our little torch club program over at Avenue A, which is fourth and fifth graders. They are talking about trees and parks and rivers and turtles and large cats, which is probably the zoo. Those are the kinds of things that kids are interested in. They care about the world around them, but they don't necessarily know what they can do, because kids don't always feel empowered, so that is part of what we're here to do is give them the education and the voice to make a difference."
For more information on the Boys and Girls Club, go to bgchutch.com.
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