Baystate Textiles Recycling Program at ARPS

Now you can drop your clothing and other textiles into collection bins located at each school. Convenient and easy! The collections are weighed weekly and each school's PGO will receive a check based on the bulk weight. Help the Fort River PGO earn FREE CASH while also helping our planet Earth by up-cycling your textiles. Thanks!

Zero Energy Building Tour Hosted by Mothers Out Front on June 9

Mothers Out Front, Climate Action Now, and Sustaining Amherst have organized a tour of the four Zero Energy buildings in Amherst on June 9:

Zero Energy Building Tour
Saturday, June 9, 2018
9 - 3PM

Amherst, MA adopted a Zero Energy Municipal Building Bylaw that mandates all new Town owned buildings be built to the Zero Energy standard.  The public is invited to learn about large Zero Energy buildings through guided site visits of four buildings in Amherst.  The tours are free and open to the public and attendees are welcome to drop-in/drop-out as their schedules allow.

Tour Schedule:

9AM , Crotty Hall, UMass Campus 

10:30, Hitchcock Center , Hampshire Campus

12:00, Kern Center, Hampshire Campus  

1:00, Lunch break (bring your own or go to Atkins nearby)

2:00, South Congregational  Church

The event is sponsored by Amherst Mothers Out Front, Climate Action Now, and Sustaining Amherst.  Please visit zeroenergyamherst.weebly.com for additional information. 

Amherst Sustainability Festival on April 14

Amherst Sustainability Festival

SATURDAY, APRIL 14th 

10 AM – 4 PM

TOWN COMMON

Join us for a day of family fun, education and entertainment. The Sustainability Festival is in its ninth year and is bigger and better than ever! There is literally something for everyone with over 100 vendors of renewable energy, energy efficiency product suppliers, advocacy groups as well as sustainable crafts and artisans! Stay tuned for more information!

Click for sustainability resources for kids and teens

School Garden Tour on May 31 at 5:15pm

Please join us for an informal PGO meeting/tour/party in the school garden on May 31 at 5:15pm.  Our special guest Jane Costello will give a tour of the garden along with a brief description about how it is being used in school. The tour with be followed by a Question and Answer and brainstorming discussion about how families can enjoy and enhance the gardens.  

There are seeds available for planting and a sign up sheet will be circulated for those who would be willing to water and weed existing crops (only a few) over the summer. In addition, space is available for families to plant summer crops in the raised beds for their own use.  

If there is enough interest, a garden support committee of families would be extremely helpful to work with Ms. Costello in an extended collaboration to maintain and improve this incredible resource for our students and staff.

To learn more about the curriculum used in conjunction with the garden, please click to read the ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst report titled "Hope in School Gardens: The Amherst School Gardens Project." 

Here is an excerpt from the report, titled “Putting the Garden to Bed":

“As the winter winds come swooping in and the days are getting shorter, everyone was excited to get back into the garden at Fort River on one of the last warm days of the year, November 5th. The UMass Sustainable Food and Farming crew, along with Ms. Monica Bhomik’s second grade class, had such a fun time talking about one of our favorite foods: garlic! After discussing the strong, pungent, and sweet flavors garlic can have, the kids told us the foods they like with garlic in them, some of their favorites being pizza, garlic bread, stir fry, and spaghetti. Then we spoke about how garlic has a family just like the second graders do: the Allium family, which includes shallots, leeks, and onions to name of few. These related plants smell and taste much alike, and also grow in a similar way.” 

Bring the kids! They can play on the playground or pick weeds. We hope to see you in the gardens!