Behind the Scenes: Recycling with Chivas USA

This guest blog post was written by Eveline Bravo, Heal the Bay’s Beach Programs Manager. 

The Chivas USA professional soccer team and Home Depot Center in Carson are working hard to green their organizations and recently collaborated with Heal the Bay to help others do the same. That’s why three special schools have been selected to step up their recycling efforts on campus in a cross-town challenge. Point Fermin Elementary in San Pedro, Loreto Elementary near Downtown and Stonehurst Elementary in the San Fernando Valley have been pitted against each other for a match to see who will win the challenge to recycle the most.
 
All three partner schools have been amazing, with each principal taking a major role in inspiring the kids to recycle at every opportunity. Heal the Bay recognizes that competitions at schools for prizes also mean additional work for school staff and parents, but it has been truly fantastic to witness the genuine excitement of Stonehurst, Loreto and Point Fermin to do more to be environmental stewards. Of course, great prizes also help.
 
Chivas USA gathered a long list of gifts, but in this competition to do good for the environment’s sake, there are no losers. Obviously the real winner is the planet, but the students of the winning school will receive XBox consoles, gift cards, field trips and gift baskets to share and distribute at school. Not to mention that all, and we do mean all, students and staff will receive tickets to the Chivas USA green home game, where each school will be honored for their participation during a special, field-level, pre-game ceremony. What an experience it will be for the kids that get to walk on the field and receive their recognition from the famous Chivas Fighter.
 
This competition is also supported by the City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works Bureau of Sanitation, who will be distributing and collecting the bin equipment for this challenge. A special delivery of 60 blue recycle bins will make their way from the city to the schools April 4-14 for the competition.
 
Heal the Bay was excited and honored to host the announcement assemblies at each of the schools. We couldn’t wait for the opportunity to teach, encourage and motivate everyone to do their best. We even brought out the “bag monster” to get the message across that there are many things that can go in the blue bins to be recycled, including those pesky single-use plastic bags. If only we had a Styrofoam monster in time for our presentations, since that too can go in the blue bins of City of Los Angeles.

We can’t wait to see the results and to recognize the student winners of the 2011 Chivas USA and Heal the Bay Recycling Competition on April 30 at the big game.

Hopefully, you too can join us at Home Depot Center!