Stand Up For Our Planet

Helping Ninjas™ new initiative “Stand Up For Our Planet” is to applaud those individuals and businesses that put forth effort to help our planet and each other.

Our mission is bring awareness to those that are helping and to celebrate their efforts. Helping Ninjas believes it is best to lead by example and it is important that we teach our youth to recognize and thank those persons or indviduals, organizations and coprorations, who are helping our planet is some way – big or small. Stand Up For Our Planet initiative is led by youth, a mission to learn to inspire others to celebrate any and all efforts by others whom are protecting our home and future.

Included in the global issues this initiative addresses in hopes to educate the community and inspire a to help is: food waste, hunger and food rescue – and repurposing. And it’s connection. Helping Ninjas™ recognizes Second Helpings as our first official receipent of our Stand Up For Our Planet Certificate.

Helping Ninajs celebrates Second Helpings efforts to help our environment and our planet.Helping Ninjas salutes and celebrates Second Helpings’ environmental responsibility and mission to reduce food waste and hunger simultaneously and to stand up for our planet.

Helping Ninjas™ #StandUp4rPlanet celebrates efforts at Second Helpings, whom is recognized for its efforts to stand up for the planet; Second Helpings repurposes rescued food to feed those in need, helps promote culinary skills and opportunity by preparing healthy, nutritious meals, and promotes a sustainable environment by practicing compost and recycling methods in the kitchen.

Helping Ninjas thinks that every city needs a Second Helpings!

Helping Ninjas declares Second Helpings as Helping Ninjas! Helping Ninjas™ celebrates efforts at Second Helpings through our #StandUp4RPlanet initiative and recognizes Second Helpings for its efforts to stand up for the planet since 1998. Second Helpings repurposes rescued food to feed those in need, helps promote culinary skills and opportunity by preparing healthy, nutritious meals, and promotes a sustainable environment by practicing compost and recycling methods in the kitchen. To date Second Helpings has repurposed 200,000 pounds of rescued food this year alone — and delivered approximately 80,000 meals per month.

Helping Ninjas™ @standup4Rplanet initiative can be found on social media.

StandUp4RPlanet Learn more about stand up for our planet initiative.

Helping Ninjas™ supports Second Helpings charitable efforts.

Helping Ninjas has supported Second Helpings with their mission to fight hunger by organizing a charitable cause to collect items from Second Helpings kitchen Wish List. The children held a “Rock For A Cause” event with partner School of Rock in Carmel, IN on April 2018 to bring awareness to their hunger and food waste and its connection. Helpings Ninjas collected and donated over $100 of spices, vingers and oils to Second Helpings.

Donate To Second Helpings. Second Helpings is in need of tomatoes. It is listed on their high priority list, we helped by sharing our harvest. Helping Ninjas™ were able to donate approximately 75 lbs of organic, from the garden tomatoes to Second Helpings this summer. Tomatoes that students from a local Indiana elementary and middle school grew by seed at an Indiana elementary school cafe garden and a helping ninja home garden – children experienced hands on opportunity to grow organic produce and to care for the plants and help harvest.
This effort was part of a grant award project that the Helping Ninjas were awarded in May 2018 from the CICF Foundation’s Carmel Micro Green Teen Grant Award. Growing fresh produce and herbs and practicing sustainable and organic gardening methods was part of the award through their project called, Helping Ninjas™ “Green Community, School and Garden Outreach.“

Helping Ninjas began volunteering At Second Helpings in To HELp FIght Waste and reduce hunger in 2017

Helping Ninjas, Leo & Sid at Second Helpings

About Second Helpings. Each day, Second Helpings volunteers and staff rescue prepared and perishable food from wholesalers, retailers and restaurants — preventing unnecessary waste. That rescued food is used to create 4,000 hot, nutritious meals each day that are distributed to more than 90 social service agencies that feed people in need.

The Second Helpings Culinary Job Training program trains disadvantaged adults for careers in the food service industry. This helps eliminate hunger at its source. More than 800 adults have graduated from this program, and Second Helpings alumni are now working in Central Indiana as cooks, executive chefs, business owners and culinary instructors Second Helpings recognizes the need practice sustainable actions to promote a healthy enviornment.

Second Helpings Environmental Responsibility
-Food Rescue
-Recycling
-Gardening

Donate to Second Helpings

View their wish list on amazon to donate online!

High-Priority Items Needed at Second Helpings.

Soy Sauce
Vinegar – all kinds
Cooking Oil
Cooking Spray
Garlic Powder
Fish Sauce
Tomatoes
Pasta

Learn more about Second Helpings!

Second Helpings Helps Environment

Second Helpings

Did you know?

The United States Government announced in 2018 a plan to use food waste more effeciently? Helping Ninjas is glad to see a governement led project to address this issue in the United States. Helping Ninjas also recognizes that Second Helpings in Indianapolis was ahead of its time, addressing this issue in 1998! Second Helpings has been rescuing food and repurposing it for 20 years!

Helping Ninjas hopes that organizations like Second Helpings can inspire other organizations, citites, communities, to take their lead.

You can learn more The United States paln to address food waste with food rescue.

United States announces plan to address food waste 2018: Waste Dive

Do you know someone who is standing up for our planet?

Please share with us! You can send via email or share on social media!

Post and tag us @helpingninjas or @standup4Rplanet or #StandUp4RPlanet

Learn more about our Stand Up For Our Planet Initiative

Rather than singling out those who are not, let us help educate our youth about those who are helping our planet, and lead our youth in a public expression of gratitude.

Want to learn more about our initiative to inspire? Through positive expression we encourage others and our educating our youth that “Insults Do Not Inspire.” Read more here: Social Ettiquette

Want to learn more about food rescue?

Composting, A Beginners Guide

Helping Ninjas would like to recognize contributing writer, John Quinn of Germantown, TN who has shared his excellent guide with us, joining our efforts to help edcuate youth and others the importance and value of f composting and how to do it at home!

He has shared with us and now we would like to share what we have lerned from him with you! #LearnHelpShare. He has created a step by step guide to help you start a compost bin at home: A Beginners Guide To Compost. His guide provides educational information about what composing is as well as its use and how to make and use it yourself at home! . This compost guide was added to our website to share what excellent efforts this individual is doing to help our planet.

Thank you John for being a Helping Ninja!

A Beginners Guide To Compost By John Quinn

Want to learn more?

Learn more here about our Kids Compost Iniatative.

How to Start Composting?

How to Start? Starting to compost is as simple as getting a container and soil. The secret is to stir the soil and the items- you will ensure that the compostable process of breakdown begins by stirring it each time. Try not to allow a large pile to accumulate without soil, if the soil gets low, add more. You always need enough soil to stir in your compostable items. Avoid dumping compostable bags into your compost, it will take longer to compost, so starting out adding ingredients directly to the soil out of the bag is best.

Air comes from the vents on the side of the compost bin.

Emptying the waste from the bag each time.

All of the things work together in a compost.

Would you like to join our movement and iniatatives?

CONTACT US:

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Books For Youth Drive

Creekside Middle School hosted a Books For Youth Drive to supoort the Helping Ninjas effforts for a whole week during October 14 th through October 19th at the school and we collected almost 400 books today – total we have collected about 600 books from Creekside Middle School this week! We collected the books and get them out to our vehicle it took us over an hour today; it was hard work but we are glad that we did it becuase it is going to help alot of kids. Thanks Creekside Middle School for helping us collect books for Books For Youth!

Written By, Leo and Sid, Helping Ninjas, Carmel, IN

Books For Youth Collection

Helping Ninjas did our first collection of books at College Wood Elementary School, who will be supporting Books For Youth and the Helping Ninjas efforts during the 2018/2019 school year by collecting gently used books!

We are excited to report that in less than two weeks, College Wood has collected almost 225 books!

Thank you College Wood Elementary!

Sid, Arjun and Skyler, Helping Ninjas, Carmel, IN

Books For Youth Delivery

Helping Ninjas delivered 1300 books last Wednesday and filled 50 back packs at the Books For Youth Delivery to Indiana Deptartment of Child ServicesBooks For Youth Collection Site. Helping NInjas kids collected and donated 1300 books to the Books For Youth and helped to sort and count books and stuffed 50 back packs which equals 50 foster children will receive a Colts book bag! A great way to recycle and give back at the same time! Helping NInjas collected these books with book bins that local community members and organizations helped to fill!

Helping NInjas is thanful for everyone who is pitching in with this initiative to help Books For Youth, a progarm established by Indiana Deptartment of Child Services and the Colts. SCI Cargo is also a sponsor of Books For Youth.

Ninja Zone helped to collect these books we delivered with Ninjas Books4Youth Games! Children were invited in a Ninja Zone obstable cousre challend and recycle books and help others at the same time.

College Wood Elementary in Carmel, IN will host a colletion bin for books during the 2017/18 shcool year. So far, College Wood has colleccted over 200 books.

Helping Ninjas and one CreeksideMiddle School student helped to coordiante a Book Drive at his school for one week and was able to collect 600 books!

Helping Ninja also has bins at other locations. If you would like to help efforts to help IDCS Books For Youth and learn more here.

DIY Native Bee Hut Project

Helping Ninjas helped a local school with a DIY native bee hut project.

The student made huts will now be part of the Helping Ninjas native bee hut project – an iniatative to educate youth about the importace of native bees – and how they help our environment. With this iniatative we are helping to encourage the community and learn more about how you can help native bees. Helping NInjas have been guided through local park educators and Crowne Bees, who is the founder of the The Native Bee Network and plated a large role in helpping this school leader to create a DIY design that will help native bee habiats.

Milkweed & Monarchs FieldTrip

Helping Ninjas were very excited to have had the opportunity to bring this idea to life! A first for ESE students to take a field trip to plant seeds at a Carmel Clay Parks West Clay Park!

ESE Helping Ninjas are on a mission to help save milweed and monarchs!

These ESE Ninjas got to help restore land from invasive species and to plant native milkweed seeds that will encourage a sustainable environment and give monarchs a place to lay their eggs!

Approximately 30 ESE Helping Ninjas planted native milkweed seeds donated by Helping Ninjas — in which Hamilton County Parks donated to us for use on our mission to help them save Monarchs!

ESE students learned about milkweed, how to harvest and plant it – and got to plant it in the ground as well as plant seeds to take home a compostable pot and soil!

This activity marked the first “official” ESE Helping Ninja club! A program in in which we are pilotiing at ESE with Carmel Clay Parks and Recreation at a local Carmel Clay School .

Recycle Halloween Costumes

Why should you recycle Halloween costumes?

There are several reasons to recycle Halloween costumes!

One, they are expensive and others in need could benefit from you doanting or recyling them! And, from an environment stand point, Halloween costumes that go are thrown away stay in the llandfill for many years– some Halloween Costumes even forever!

Polyester costumes are made from petroleum products — and they will NOT decompose. Cotton costumes are take years to breakdown due to lack of oxygen in landfills.

Halloween Costume Exchange Cool Creek Nature Center, Hamilton County Parks, Saturday October 13th and October 20th 1-4pm at Cool Creek Nature Center

Want to volunteer at Cool Creek Costume Exchange?

Helping Ninjas Cool Creek Costume Exchage Volunteer Opportunity

To view more opportunities to volunteer in Indianapolis and surrounding areas, please email or submit a request to join our closed FaceBook page: @helpingninjakidsindy

Live Near Cool Creek? They collect costumes all year round! Please choose to donate and skip the Landfill!

Host a Costume Collection Drive

Join Helping Ninjas and help collect old Halloween Costumes!

F ind one near you!

See More Pictures:

Re-Boo, Re-Wear, Re-Scare Cool Creek Costume Exchange 2018

Cool Creek 2018 Costume Photos

Cool Creek Costume Exchange 2017

Re-Boo! Halloween Recycling Exchange

Help Get Costumes in the Hands of Foster Chidren!

Donate to the National Organzation: Ween Teen

The National Retail Federation does an annual survey to measure consumer spending around Halloween. Its 2014 survey found more than two-thirds of Americans planned to buy costumes. Of the $2.8 billion people were expected to spend on costumes, $1.4 billion was for adult costumes, $1.1 billion was for children’s costumes and $350 million was for the ever-growing category of pet costumes. With all these Halloween costumes floating around, it seems like someone would have come up with a good way to recycle them.

Milk Grows Gardens

Milk. It does a garden good.

Did you know milk grows gardens?

Helping Ninjas and their elementary school’s cafe students used milk as a fertilizer on their school’s cafe gardens’s vegetable and herb and flower gardens.

Helping Ninjas won a Micro Green Teen Grant Award for a Green Community, School and Garden Outreach Project. Hleping Ninja students helped to create awareness about farm to table, organic fertilizers, composting, garden fresh foods and how to help promote a more sustainable community and environment. The three students who won the grant award, included was an outreach effort and initiative in which they worked alongside the guaidance of Mrs. Susan Eva McCord, College Wood Elementary Cafe Manager & CWE Cafe Garden Director with helping to create awareness about a more sutatinabilty and food “from the garden” and “farm-to-table foods.” The CWE gardens were located at the Carmel Clay Plots to Platess Organic Community Garden.

Students learned you can take food to the garden also. Including milk.

Milk is a natural fertilizer and pesticide. Milk gave students an organic farming/gardening method and helped to produce healthy crops!

Helping Ninjas students helped to successfully grew over 400 lbs of tomatoes this year at both the school’s cafe gardens and at a helping ninja home organic-garden. Tomatoes among green peppers, jalepneos, basil and other herbs and flowers. Students grew 100% organic vegteble gardens. The school’s cafe garden was located at Carmel Clay Schools Plots To Plates Community Garden.

Helping Ninja students helped their schools cafe gardens fertilize tomatoes and other plants with diluted milk and water, and also used milk waste in their compost. That’s right! Milk can be composted too! Milk helps keep soil healthy and the calcium helps plants grow. Milk also derters unwanted bugs and helps prevent fungas growth. Learn more about the school’s cafe garden Helping Ninjas had the opportunity to help this year.

Milk helps compost. Milk helps plants grow! Milk helps us grow too!

Milk diluted with water can be sprayed directly on tomato plant leaves or at the root of the plant. The calcium in milk is great for tomatoes! Milk helps tomatoes fight common fungal disesases, like blossom end rot, and helps to deter unwanted pests too! And, milk can be used as to create a healthy comppost! The vitimins and micoobes in milk help the process of compostiing, aiding to create a renewable energy – compost that can be used to grow tomatoes! Helping NInjas used milk in their compost — and used it to grow tomatoes!

Helping Ninjas hope to spread awareness about the power of milk.

On World School Milk Day, students in their school’s caeteria celebrated milk and how students used it as fertilzer to help grow gardens this summer.. This schools cafteria garden used up-recycled milk cartons made into pots with flowers that students grew in the their cafe’s gardens! Helping Ninjas helped to create a bulletin board to display infomation to help edcuate and create awareness about the power of milk and showing others how they were able to use it to grow gardens as part of the outreach efforts. Helping Ninjas donated the board to their school cafeteria.

Septemeber is National Action Against Hunger Month

Students who attend College Wood Elemenatary donated organic tomatoes that they were able to grow this summer as part of their outreach initiative and had enough harvest to be able to to help those in need in their community.

Second Helpings, is an organization in Indianapolis that rescues s unwanted food from local grocers — reducing waste that would normally go into landfills, and repurposes it make nutritious meals to help feed families in need.

Students learned that milk can be used to help our planet in more ways then one! Millk helps ourself, each other, and the planet!

You can be a helping ninja too!

Drink Milk. Compost Milk. Grow Gardens!

To learn more aobut milk and how it helps to replensih soil, helps gardes ad ensures a healthy harvest: www.milkgrowsgardens.com

“My mission is to feed our children the healthiest most economically efficient meal in a postive and genuinely caring environement for them to enjoy.” – Susan Eva-McCord