As part of the Minnesota Timberwolves FastBreak Foundation's Think Green Month, powered by Juhl Wind, Inc., the Foundation partnered with WFTC My 29 to award Pillsbury Elementary School in Minneapolis the 2012 Think Green Award.
Pillsbury staff and students were surprised yesterday with a visit from Crunch, who presented the school with the "Green Wolfie" trophy, 290 Timberwolves tickets and $1,000. Pillsbury will also be recognized on-court during the April 17 Wolves/Memphis game at Target Center.
Kathy Oneill, parent liaison at Pillsbury, submitted the school for consideration for the award.
"It was amazing. I'm still in shock," Oneill said. "[The kids were] over the top; I've never seen them so happy."
Pillsbury School was chosen from a statewide pool of over 50 nominated schools who submitted information about how their schools or classrooms are making an effort to preserve and protect the environment. Pillsbury School was selected based on the school impact, environmental impact and originality of its green initiatives.
Mark Trumper, an English as a second language teacher, is involved in the bike/walk to school program that Pillsbury has started.
"We've been giving incentives to kids who ride their bikes [or] walk to school, going green that way," said Trumper. Pillsbury School hopes to use the money from the Think Green Award to purchase bikes for students to use.
Marie Kellett, associate educator at Pillsbury, helps in the cafeteria with recycling.
"I work with the kids and we do recycling—plastics, organics,” said Kellett. “From the youngest child to the oldest child, all the kids [are taught] to recycle.
"They all know what to do; they help each other out if we get a new student or if someone doesn't know what to do."