Families can bring their paint/marker-free, candle-free pumpkins and drop them under the flag pole for Black Earth to pick up at 12:30 p.m.

This year, The Great Pumpkin Rescue will take place on Monday, November 4, 2024.  

Volunteer Opportunities:

• Design flyers to send home with students
• Help with the morning of pumpkin drop-off
• Help with throwing the pumpkins into the compost truck (12:30 p.m.)
• Help with clean up after throw-in

Assist students to put waste into the appropriate receptacle after they finish eating and help make sure we compost and recycle as much of our food and meal waste as possible.  This is a great opportunity to interact with students, teach them about sustainability, and share in a slice of your child’s day!

Volunteer Opportunities:

Volunteer during Brackett lunch: Help kids sort their waste during lunchtime; stand by the bins and help kids know where to put compost, recycling, trash, and the shared bin.

Commitment Time: about 40 minutes-1 hour during school hours. 

Help make our PTO Community Events at Brackett more environmentally sustainable and reduce waste created.

This year’s events include:

• Fall Fest (Saturday, September 28, 2024)
• Culture and Creativity Night (Friday, November 15, 2024)
• Glow Dance (Friday, February 7, 2025)
• STEM Night (Friday, March 21, 2025)
• Scooper Bowl (Thursday, June 5, 2025)

Reduce waste and help Brackett families recycle and reuse clothing by organizing or assisting at one of our clothing and gear swaps!  Our swaps include:

• Winter Gear Swap
• Spirit Wear Swap
• Sports Gear

Gear swap dates for the 2024-2025 school year are to be determined.  Check back soon for more details!

Volunteer Opportunities:

Help organize and send home flyers:  Design, copy, and distribute flyers about the swaps to send home with students via their backpacks.  Volunteers copy the flyers, divide the them into packets of the correct number for each class, place them in teacher mailboxes, and communicate with teachers to have them distributed in student backpacks.

Commitment Time: about 1 hour.  Both at-home (for flyer design) and briefly during school for distribution in teacher mailboxes (can be done at pick up or drop off)

Help set up, staff, and/or clean up:  Help with swap set up, staff the event, and clean up afterwards.

Commitment Time: about 1-3 hours.  Outside of school hours.  Volunteer for the entire swap or just help out for an hour or two!

Help organize and host clean up events on the Brackett schoolgrounds and Robbins Farm Park each Fall and Spring.

In addition, this year, we are hoping to add “Pick Up at Pick Up” dates throughout the school year.  Pick up trash for five minutes after school during pick up – every little bit helps to keep our environment clean and our school beautiful!

Dates this year are yet to be determined.  Check back soon!

Volunteer Opportunities:

Help organize and send home flyers:  Design, copy, and distribute flyers about the cleanups to send home with students via their backpacks.  Volunteers copy the flyers, divide the them into packets of the correct number for each class, place them in teacher mailboxes, and communicate with teachers to have them distributed in student backpacks.

Commitment Time: about 1 hour.  Both at-home (for flyer design) and briefly during school for distribution in teacher mailboxes (can be done at pick up or drop off)

Help set up, staff, and/or clean up:  Help organize and staff the clean up event.

Commitment Time: about 5-10 minutes directly after school for “Pick Up at Pick Up” or about 1-3 hours for our larger Fall/Spring clean ups.

Help get local, sustainable businesses on board for a Brackett Eco-Card. Brackett Families will buy a card from the PTO, and the involved businesses will give a discount to card holders

Work with the Brackett After School Program (BASP) by bringing a sustainable or environmental activity to do with the after-school kids.

This year, June Fair will take place on Sunday, June 8, 2025.

Volunteer Opportunities:

• Help organize the Green Team Native Plant Sale
• Help host the Green Team Plant Sale table
• Work with the PTO to help this event be more sustainable and reduce the waste created.