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player ready...The Buffalo Grove “Green Fair” attracted 26 vendors and dozens of residents to this year’s annual event, where attendees were looking to learn about environmental issues and recycling.
“We’re trying to educate the community on different ways that they can be greener in Buffalo Grove,” said Debi Moritz, co-founder of the Buffalo Grove Environmental Action Team sponsored by the Buffalo Grove Park District.
She recruited a variety of vendors to Mike Rylko Community Park in Buffalo Grove Sept. 19, including educators on solar energy, and representatives from the ComEd efficiency program, the Citizens Utility Board, the water reclamation district, as well as from the nonprofit organizations Habitat for Humanity, Give-n-Kind, and the Illinois chapter of the Sierra Club to promote their programs.
“We are soliciting mentees for our environmental mentorship program for college and high students we match up with a seasoned Sierra Club member,” said Gloria Charland, membership co-chair of the Sierra Club. “We’re also collecting signatures for the IDOT [Illinois Department of Transportation] land that was going to be the Route 53 extension. We’re working to make that an open, preserved green space because there are wildlife habitats and pristine wetlands there.”
She said she collected 30 signatures for the petition asking Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state legislators to preserve the 13-mile north/south greenway corridor, former site of the now-defunct Route 53 tollway extension, in central Lake County. The petition states those who sign it “support the use of the land for community recreation, flood protection, and habitat and wildlife conservation.”
Linda Horn is a volunteer for Give-n-Kind, which has placed more than $3 million in donated goods in the hands of other local nonprofit organizations. She was able to collect a list of 15 potential volunteers at the fair along with a trunk full of donated small appliance items.
Some Green Fair attendees said they had the opportunity to learn about solar energy and efforts by the Citizens Utility Board to keep electric and gas costs down. Others visited booths and got information on such things as the new nature museum planned next year for Mike Rylko Community Park, as well as the garden club and park district clubs.
“We also do a lot of collection and that’s pretty important,” Moritz said of the event.
She explained that the event collects bicycles for workingbikes.org. Volunteers with that organization fix the bikes up and then ship them to places where people don’t have any transportation – including in the U.S. or Guatemala. The representative from workingbikes.org said he collected 39 used bikes during the fair.
Shoes, crayons, keys, eyeglasses and more are also collected for other area nonprofit community organizations. Books were collected for shipping to Eastern Europe.
“We try to avoid anything going into a landfill,” Moritz said, adding the recent Buffalo Grove document destruction event had 204 vehicles drop off documents for shredding].
Moritz also noted the fair was a little slower this year compared to prior years, even though it was positioned next to the weekly farmers market. However, many visitors still came with bags in hand to donate at the Green Fair.
Buffalo Grove resident Anabel Valdez-Hudson, 39, brought DVD players that no longer worked and small kitchen appliances for recycling. She also donated shoes and wire hangers. She wanted her four young children to also learn about being green.
“I personally want to recycle more and keep the earth cleaner for them and myself,” Valdez-Hudson. “It’s a good way to get them involved in enrichment programs like this and learn how to do it properly.”
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.