To a group of Paly students’ wearing E-Club shirts, with the earth drawn quite noticeably, their peers ask, “Is that the Environmental Club?”
E-Club stands for the Paly Earth Club, which promotes environmental awareness and informs people of the small, everyday things that they can do to help the environment, such as turning off lights in unused rooms and picking up trash, according to sophomore club president Gloria Yu.
“If people did even a little [for the environment], it would mean a lot to the environment as a whole,” Yu said.
The club has a goal of fundraising $3000-$5000 for Acterra, an environmental organization, according to Yu. Acterra promotes “local solutions that foster a healthy natural environment,” according to its website (http://www.acterra.org). Acterra collaborates with Canopy, a non-profit advocate for the urban forest in Palo Alto that “works to educate, inspire and engage the community as stewards of young and mature trees,” also according to its website(http://www.canopy.org).
Along with selling E-Club t-shirts, the club has held two garage sales and a bake sale, earning a total of around $1000, according to Yu. Although this is far behind the goal, Yu is confident the club will raise enough to donate by the year’s end as the club is finalizing its plans for more projects and activities.
First of all, E-Club will set up a booth at the May Fete Parade, which will take place on May 5, to gain more publicity. The club members will have planting pots for the children to decorate, fill up with soil and then put seeds in for $5.
“[Having the booth set up at the May Fete Parade] will give us an opportunity to reach out to more people and fundraise more,” Yu said.
More activities are soon to come, however, the dates are not finalized for those events. E-Club will be holding a Chevy’s Dinner Night, where 10-15 percent of the profit will be donated to Acterra. The club will also hold a car wash and ice cream social in the next two months.
Composed of mostly sophomore girls and three to four sophomore boys, around 10 people attend their meetings regularly. In this comparatively small club, The members always have fun, according to Yu and other members.
“The club has many enthusiastic members,” said sophomore Jenna Lose, who recently joined the club. “They are really friendly and welcoming, which is a lot of fun.”
“People should join E-Club ’cause it is just really fun, and a time commitment of lunch once a week and half a day every month [can help the environment], Yu said. “Everyone in the club has a roll and gets the opportunity to feel like they’ve done something good for the earth!”