Times are tough all over. The entire world is in a recession. In Lawrence, Kan., and in many other cities, school is about to start, and many parents will not be able to buy school supplies for their children. It would be wonderful if GCSAA were able to donate enough to buy school supplies for every needy child in Lawrence, but we are also watching our pennies closely. However, we do have something that a lot of students need -- binders!
In the past few years, GCSAA has moved away from using printed materials and the plastic binders that hold them. We still use some plastic binders in the office just because we have them, but for the most part, they have been phased out. As a result, hundreds of used plastic binders of all sizes threatened to take over our office supply room. The binders had to go, but we couldn't just toss them in the dumpster so they could sit in a landfill forever. We needed to find someone who could reuse them.
The Ballard Community Center in Lawrence organizes distribution of school supplies to local children in need, and the kind folks there said they would take everything we had. That was a good start, but some of the binders were dirty or full of paper or had clear plastic covers that been damaged or discolored. Over the past month at three different work parties, GCSAA employees have volunteered their time to sort through binders and clean them up so that they can start a new life in Lawrence schools.
This project required patience and a steady hand, especially when it came to removing the clear plastic covers. Volunteers used sharp Exacto knives and lightweight utility knives to cut precisely along the binder edges to remove the covers. This sort of activity can lead to cramped hands and blurred vision (only temporary, of course), but GCSAA employees persevered, restoring 433 binders for use this school year.
Special thanks to Karen Cooper, Leann Cooper, Margo Campbell Szabo, Darcy DeVictor, Becky Downing, Lanie Griffin, Tara Grisafe, Ashli Harjo, Marrietté Haswood, Debbie Hoffman, Seth Jones, Sheri Light, Bill Newton, Bunny Smith, Jessica Thompson, and Lisa Wick for joining the work party and to Paul Chaussee and Bob Kidder for tolerating our temporary mess in the basement. An extra special thank you to Ryan Toner for taking the binders to the Ballard Center.
A short footnote to the post about GCSAA's new recycling program. Bob Kidder sent the staff a photo of the new recycling bin just one short week after it arrived at GCSAA. Full to the brim!
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