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Schools

Ojibwa Teacher Adds Clothes to Recycling Projects

With the direction of teacher Mary Jo Strizic, Ojibwa students and staff now donate to the Disabled American Veterans.

When Mary Jo Strizic realized she had to get the word out to the 703 students at about a new donation opportunity, printing up the flyers really bothered her.

“You have to know that printing up hard copies of anything really kills me, so I used half pieces of paper for each one,” said Strizic, who is a longtime advocate of and runs the program at the elementary school. “We have been a green school for awhile now and I’ve been recycling for years, both paper and plastic.”

Recently adding a donation bin for Disabled American Veterans (DAV)–to collect gently used clothes, toys and games–just seemed the natural thing to do for this Macomb Township resident and longtime fifth-grade teacher.

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“My dad was in the military and so I just connect with that and felt it was a great idea for our school,” Strizic said. “And we’ve just filled it for the second time now in just two weeks so I’m really excited.”

Ojibwa is the first public school in the area to host the new DAV clothes donation box which collects clothes for the DAV Thrift Store in Westland. The Donation Bin program is a way for local schools and organizations to raise money simply by recycling used clothing, said DAV Outreach Coordinator Aaron Lewber.

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“We are very excited to be at Ojibwa and we donate $30 every time the bin is full, which helps us out and the school out, too, so it’s a win win,” Lewber said.

An additional donation of $500 from the DAV, to go toward the fifth-grade class’ annual field trip to Joe Dumars Field House, was a pleasant but shocking surprise to Strizic.

“I couldn’t believe it when we got this donation for our Joe Dumars field trip, I almost cried,” Strizic said, noting that the DAV was impressed to learn that all proceeds from her recycling projects go towards fifth grade field trips.

“We were happy to make the donation," Lewber said. "We want to set a precedent that we want to support the schools and we would like to expand into other schools in the area with our bins."

Offering up free candy to students who helped fill the DAV bin with donations, Strizic said so far not one pupil has stopped to ask her for the treats. She said she thinks perhaps it’s because they are used to working diligently to fill the other bins in the school.

“All the plastic, cardboard and paper in the building are collected once a week from containers in each classroom by my fifth graders and they do this collecting rain or shine or snow or sleet,” Strizic said. “And the custodians have said it really makes a difference, has reduced the number of trash bags they have each week.”

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