That is the motto FBLA’s Partnership with Business project is using to encourage students to promote their new textile recycling program, by asking at least two neighbors on the left and two on the right to fill out pledge forms with contact information. Those forms will then help create a database of people to notify when the collection drive actually begins.
Seniors Laura Liu and Alexandra Huang approach a home in the school neighborhood to share information about FBLA and 7th Generation Recycling’s new “Pledge 2 Recycle” program. Through the program, textile donations left on curbs will be picked up by 7th Generation and donated to third world countries or re-purposed. Photo by Amelia Yang.
The “Pledge 2 Recycle” program is the first step in PwB’s new collaboration with the San Jose based company 7th Generation Recycling. The company partners with local organizations to donate usable textiles to third world countries and re-purpose the unusable. When the drive starts, the company plans to pick up all donations so that all community members have to do is leave their unwanted textiles on the curb.
The goal is to have at least 1,000 pledge forms returned.
“[That] may sound like a lot,” FBLA Vice President of Projects senior Laura Liu said. “But we’re just trying to get people to let 7th Generation send them information.”PwB began promoting the pledge forms on Jan. 5. Forms were also sent to fifth period teachers to hand out during announcements. As an incentive for students to participate, 7th Generation is offering prizes to students who return the most forms — $150 for first place, $75 for second and $25 for third. The class that returns the most forms as a whole will receive $250.
7th Generation is also giving the school $0.03 for every pound of textiles donated. FBLA PwB decided to donate that money to Gov Team to help subsidize the cost of their trip to Washington, DC.
“7th Generation told FBLA that programs like this usually generate around $6,000. That is a lot of money that would really help us out,” Gov Team President senior Iris Liu said. “[The trip costs] $1400 per person and a lot of our members are having trouble paying for it.”
In return, Gov Team, along with NHS, CSF and Interact, is helping spread the word about the program around the city. Members from all five organizations will be meeting in the bus circle on Jan. 15 at 2 p.m. to go door-to-door in the neighborhood and inform community members about the program and encourage them to fill out pledge forms.More information can be found at the FBLA PwB website. Pledge forms can be downloaded here and turned into the office or P6.
