Recycled sneakers help build playgrounds

Seventh-grader Liz Smith and eighth-grader Becky Stevenson are striving to make their school and their community a little greener. Their latest environmentally friendly project: creating collection sites for used sneakers of all sizes at Vernon’s Police Athletic League building. The girls acquired large clean garbage cans, put signs on them and placed them at the PAL building so people could drop off their donations. Weekly, Liz and Becky gather the sneakers and bring them to the Nike Store at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in Central Valley, N.Y. Nike recycles the sneaker material to create playgrounds and fields across the country. Want to get involved? Help Glen Meadow’s School-Wide Enrichment students by bringing those old sneakers to Vernon’s PAL building. Pictured below are Liz and eighth grade student, Kayla Walker who is Glen Meadow’s student coordinator of recycling, in helping make Glen Meadow greener.