COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND OUTREACH AT THE FEATHER FRIENDS FESTIVAL

The Feathered Friends Festival at the Riparian Preserve is Gilbert's annual tribute to birds, animals, insects and all other forms of wildlife. Together with World Peace Roots & Shoots we hosted an area that included display boards that detailed the mission of Roots & Shoots and Jane Goodall’s Giant Peace Dove Campaign, and included information on our service projects and the chimp guardian program. At our tables, we offered origami, a raffle to raise funds for our service projects, greeting cards to raise funds for orphan chimps, and canvas bags with a list of tips to care for the earth that people could paint and decorate on the other side. Another display board explained the benefits of using canvas bags in place of paper or plastic. Nearby was displayed Shanti, the giant peace dove, in all her splendor, blowing in the wind. Both the parents and children in our group handed out R&S brochures and spoke to people about our projects, about starting their own R&S groups, and about the ways everyone can make a difference, such as requesting or starting a recycling program in towns where there was none in place. Our children also enjoyed learning about wildlife from the other exhibits at the event.