Date: March 30, 2011
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The Village Green Preservation Society (VGPS), the environmental club at Andrews University, has applied for and received a grant to support recycling efforts on campus. The grant of $474 was provided by Berrien County through the School Recycling Grant Program, a program that exists to provide monetary support for school waste reduction, recycling projects and activities that support environmentalism. This is the third consecutive year VGPS has received the grant. Funds will be used to provide recycling bins in Bell Hall and the Center for Adventist Research (CAR). 

“VGPS hopes the new recycling bins will help people realize that no matter what you think about global warming or the politics of oil drilling, our world is finite and we should do what we can to care for it,” says Larnell Smith, VGPS president. “We are only the temporary stewards of this planet, and it is our hope that through this new recycling system, it will be easier to be a good steward at Andrews University.”

Looking for ways to spread the message of VGPS, officers originally planned to write a grant for Bell Hall only because of the high number of students and faculty in the building each day. They also hoped to familiarize students in the School of Education with proper recycling techniques.

“We thought it would be a great influence on future educators to have recycling bins available in their place of study,” says Larnell. “That way, when they go to their new place of employment, they will be in the habit of recycling and perhaps implement recycling programs in future work places where there are none.”

The group also received a request from the staff at the Center for Adventist Research to implement recycling in their area, “Which we happily did!” says Larnell. Additional funding from the Office of the Provost will help promote the new bins on campus and educate students and faculty about recycling methods.

This spring’s grant marks a total of four grants awarded to the University through VGPS, including grants for the residence halls, Administration Building, Ruth Murdoch Elementary School and most recently Bell Hall and the Center for Adventist Research. VGPS’ mission is to continue to apply for recycling grants so students, faculty and staff will eventually have access to recycling in every building on campus. Plans for next year’s grants are currently underway.

“As recycling becomes more visible on campus, I hope it will continue to raise our awareness of our God-given responsibility to care for Creation,” says Tom Goodwin, VGPS sponsor. “I’ve enjoyed working with these students, who have high ideals and are willing to put effort into making AU a better place.”

To learn more about the VGPS, visit their website. The society also has a Facebook page available to the public and a blog at www.greenwisevgps.blogspot.com/.