Trick Or Trash! Sammie is joining Helping Ninjas efforts to collect and recycle Halloween candy wrappers and keep waste out of our landfills!
Helping Ninjas leaders recently connected with fellow Indiana native, Sammie who has a lot in common with them — she is helping the world and providing opportunities for student to give back to the Earth and to be kind!
Sammies Buddy Bench
Sammie collects plastic lids (that would otherwise go to a landfill) and sends them to Green Tree Plastics in Evansville, Indiana where they recycle it into a buddy bench!
The Helping Ninjas found out about what Sammie is doing two years ago and began to collect plastic lids and help to spread the word in their community! Now, Indianapolis, has over 20 participating schools!
Sammie wrote a letter to Helping Ninjas founder, Leo, and his four siblings!
Helping Ninjas, founder, Leo and his four younger siblings: Layla, Sawyer and Skyler.
And then Sammie and Leo decided to have a live chat so that they could meet each other and connect online!
The Helping Ninjas invited Sammie to participate in their Trick Or Trash efforts, and if anyone knows Sammie, it didn’t take her long to start collecting! Helping Ninjas invited her to submit a blog post and are excited to name her as an honorary Helping Ninja! Thank you Sammie!
Sammie is collecting candy wrappers with Helping Ninjas for Rubicon Global’s Trick Or Trash!
Join in and create art inspired by Rubicon’sTrick Or Trash! Post and share and tag #TrickOrTrashArt
Creating art out of Halloween themes or empty candy wrappers, and learning to express yourself and create awareness about helping our environment and discover your inner artist!
In 2019, Helping Ninjas joined Rubicon’s efforts to reduce candy wrapper waste to landfills and Helping Ninjas founder Leo Berry asked his fourth grade classmates to collect candy wrappers to recycle and create artwork to inspire others! Leo and his fellow classmates created artwork inspired by the Trick Or Trash!
Not only did Leo’s class want to join, his teacher, Mrs. Krisi Roher, had an idea! She asked their principal if the whole school could collect! And, she said yes!
College Wood Elementary Cafeteria, Carmel, IN
Thanks to Leo’s teacher and principal’s support, he is now creating an opportunity for all of the students to learn about reduce food waste, participation in the Trick Or Trash campaign and collect their candy wrappers and return to school to be recycled!
In efforts to bring awareness to the importance of recycling their candy wrappers, Mrs. Roher’s class was invited to display all of their artwork it in the school cafe for all to see! (The Helping Ninjas purchased a bulletin board last year for their schools Green Team from a grant they had one with CICF Indiana’s Carmel Green Team Grant. ) Leo is a student member of Carmel Clay School’s Green Team Club! The fourth grade class also placed a box decorated by their after school club: ESE Helping Ninjas and placed it in the lobby of the school!
The CWE TV Crew made an announcement on the morning televised school news and in the weekly news that goes out to all of the school community. College Wood Elementary collected candy wrappers now through America Recycles Day! Great job College Wood!
ESE Helping Ninjas decorated a Trick or Trash box to collect in the lobby of their school
Ten year old, Leo Bery, Helping Ninjas™ founder and his mother, CEO, Lindsey Fella Berry and Indianapols Moms Blog contributing writer appeared on WISH TV in Indianapolis, letting others know how they too can have a more sustainable Halloween!
Pumpkins are smashed, and the aftermath is here! Now, what do I do?
Smashing pumpkins sounds fun, but the composting part may scare you!
Composting is not so spooky!
It’s actually a lot easier then you think, and the alternative?
Dumping the pumpkin in your trash bin, and adding more food waste to our landfills, encouraging more toxins into our air, ground, water — is wayyyspookier!
Halloween pumpkins are an excellent opportunity to explore composting!
Learning to compost at an early age creates a better chance that children will continue to do so as adults. Children who learn to conserve nature and help to reduce waste as part of their education are more likely to continue to make sustainable choices independently.
Composting is a sustainable and circular way to live.
Rubicon#TrickOrTrash campaign provides youth and families a means to recycle candy wrappers! Candy is collected and shipped back to TerraCycle in a custom designed recycling box, paid for by Rubicon, to be recycled. Candy wrappers are not recyclable at curbside and municipal recycling centers.
TerraCycle will recycle or compost the fibers of the candy wrappers, avoiding the landfill altogether! Rubicon is also offering a lesson plan to educators to learn more about reducing waste and making sustainable choices: TrickOrTrash.com
Candy is collected and shipped back to TerraCycle in a Zero Waste Box to be recycled. TerraCycle will recycle or compost the fibers of the candy wrappers, avoiding the landfill altogether!
Helping Ninjas Brooklyn Halloween Clean Up
For two years Helping Ninjas Kathy and Flynn have been collecting candy wrappers in their community in Brooklyn! Now with the help of Rubicon, those wrappers have a way to be recycled verses to the landfill!
Helping Ninjas Kathy and Flynn, Brooklyn, New York], Spectrum Ny1 News
Helping Ninjas Sahana and Sidhaarth in Texas are collecting wrappers in her community for Trick or Trash.
Here is a video that Sahana & Sid made last year while living in Tampa, Florida!
Drop Off Candy Wrapper Location
Helping Ninjas is collecting candy wrappers throughout sixteen cities in the United States via candy wrapper drop off locations in businesses, schools and neighborhoods. To see a list of participating businesses, schools and student groups and/or to join efforts locally and get more information: Drop Off Locations
Did you know that nearly 600 million candy wrappers are sent to landfills each year from Halloween?
Did you know in a landfill, some candy wrappers can take hundreds of years to decompose, some even thousands! Scary! What is even more startling is that there has not been any option for consumers to recycle candy wrappers in our country ever, until now! Thanks to Rubicon there is another option for our empty candy wrappers!
Helping Ninjas™ Founder and Creator Leo Berry
Helping Ninjas founder of Helping Ninas is helping to empower youth in across the globe by providing opportunites for kids to learn to become highly skilled at helping.
For a second year in a row, Helping Ninjas youths are collecting Halloween candy wrappers to be recycled. Helping Ninjas founder and his mother, CEO, Lindsey Fella Berry appeared on WISH TV in Indianapolis today letting others know how they can have a more sustainable Halloween!
Helping Ninjas, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Carmel, Indiana whose mission is to create opportunities for youth to learn to become highly skilled at helping the world – the planet, each other, and oneself.
Helping Ninjas are collecting candy wrappers throughout sixteencities in the United States via organizing candy wrapper drop off locations in businesses, schools and neighborhoods in participation in Rubicon’s Trick or Trash. Helping Ninjas are supporting efforts to reduce waste to landfills and participate in Rubicon’s Trick or Trash a second year in a row.
Helping Ninja Layla
Helping Ninjas Founder Leo and siblings Layla, Sawyer and Skyler celebrated Sawyer and Skylers birthdays this month and celebrated zero waste and Halloween style!
Leo, Layla and their siblings and with the help of their mother and CEO of Helping Ninjas, Lindsey, together they organized the participation of approximately 100 Helping Ninja families and local businesses/schools/student groups across sixteen different cities, and helped to get youth involved in Rubicon’s Trick or Trash and opportunity to learn.
Helping Ninja Saniah
Helping Ninja Saniah and her siblings Saigan, Maison and Maejor are collecting wrappers in their neighborhood, school, and dad’s office! Their father, Dr. Marcus Mcray is collecting candy wrappers in a Rubicon Trick or Trash box at his chiropractor office! Marcus is the owner of Excel Chiropractor Studio and Invoke Pilates and Yoga Studio and is the official chiropractor of the Indianapolis Colts. The Helping Ninja McCray family have been a part of Helping Ninjas since founded in 2018 and are taking part in Trick or Trash for a second year!
Helping Ninja Kate
Helping Ninja Kate in San Diego, California is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash. Kate is a contributing write to Helping Ninjas Blog. Check out her trips for a more sustainable Halloween!
Helping Ninja Sammie
Helping Ninja Sammie in Fort Wayne, Indiana is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Sammie has a new PODCAST: Sammie Smiles! In episode 2, Sammie interviews pen pal and CEO of Ryan’s Recycling Ryan Hickman. They talk about all things recycling and helping the environment — and about her involvement in Helping Ninjas and Trick or Trash!
Helping Ninja Avi
Helping Ninja Avi in Carmel, Indiana is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninja Malone and Frankie
Helping Ninjas Malone and Frankie in Pheonix, Arizona are collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninja Mac
Helping Ninjas Mac in Las Vegas, Nevada is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninja Harper and Emma
Helping Ninjas Harper and Emma in Lexington Kentucky are collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninja Isabella and Declan
Helping Ninjas Isabella and Declan in Nashville, Tennessee are collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninja Bhavya
Helping Ninjas Bhavya in Noblesville, Indiana is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash. Bhavya is Indiana’s Jr Pre-teen National Miss Princess 2020.
Helping Ninja Quinn
Helping Ninjas Quinn in Fishers, Indiana is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninjas Flynn
Helping Ninjas Flynn in Brooklyn, New York is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninjas Thatcher
Helping Ninjas Malone and Frankie in Denver, Colorado is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninjas Maria
Helping Ninja Maria in Boston, Massachusetts is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninjas Amy
Helping Ninjas Amy, Elijah, and Hannah in Greenwood, Indiana are collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninjas Lucas
Helping Ninja Lucas in Wilmette, Illinois is collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Helping Ninjas
Helping Ninjas The Grant Family in Chicago, IL are collecting wrappers in her community for Rubicon’s Trick or Trash.
Learn how you can get involved this Halloween!
Helping Ninjas encourages and provides an opportunity to youth throughout the year to create their own at home “TerraCycle” home-made zero waste boxes to collect snack wrappers and other items that are not reachable at municipal curbside recycling centers, and now Halloween candy wrappers!
Check out these awesome Helping Ninjas at West Clay Elementary in Carmel, Indiana at the Carmel Clay Parks and Recreations after school enrichment program, ESE Helping Ninjas Club! These Helping Ninjas are collecting candy and snack wrappers to be recycled at Terra Cycle!
Helping Ninjas participated in World Widlife’s Foundation Wild In The Classrromfirst-ever LIVE Remote Class with WWF Environmentalist and Conservationist, Erin Simon! Helping Ninjas celebrated World Oceans Day 2019 by learning about ocean plastic with a WWF expert! Helping Ninjas had the opportunity to ask questions directly to Erin right from our own Outdoor Classroom!
My Adventures at Dauphin Island Sea Lab!Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) is at the east tip of Alabama on a small island called Dauphin Island. Where the Mobile Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico.
To pursue excellence in marine science education, research, coastal zone management policy and public engagement.
Dauphin Island Sea Lab Mission
In easy terms, their mission is to teach and inspire others to take care of our oceans!
DISL has an Estuarium and offers scientific training, college classes during the summer as well as different summer camps for kids of all ages!
DISL are the headquarters of the Alabama Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
Grand Bay Coastal Resources Center
I’ve been at Dauphin Island Sea Lab for about a week now and I’ve already done so many neat things. This is my second summer taking classes through my home college, Auburn University, for credit towards my marine biology degree. They’ve given me so much field experience and knowledge about marine life that I will definitely use later in my career.
One of the courses I’m taking is Coastal Wetlands Ecology, which is the study of the biology, chemistry, and hydrology of the wetlands of our planet!
Did you know that wetlands aren’t just freshwater like what we know as swamps and bogs?
There are many wetlands that have salt water, too, like the salt marshes and estuaries around Dauphin Island!
Did you know that estuaries are nurseries for thousands of baby marine animals?
It is extremely important to want to protect them just like we want to protect our oceans. Without our estuaries, there wouldn’t be anywhere for the babies to grow up!
Grand Bay National Refuge
We took a day trip to the Grand Bay National Refuge right outside Pascagoula, Mississippi where there are some of the most extensive and diverse salt marshes in the country!
Photo of a salt marsh at Grand Bay National Refuge
Outside of the Coastal Resource Center at Grand Bay, we saw dozens of marsh plants, fiddler crabs, fish, shrimp, flowers, and carnivorous plants, like the sundews I photographed!
Sundews are a small carnivorous plant of boggy places, with rosettes of leaves that bear sticky glandular hairs. These trap insects, which are then digested.
Sundews have sticky residue on their leaves to catch tiny bugs to eat.
The Grand Bay National Refuge is also home to a now rare type of habitat: the longleaf pine forest. It’s almost completely gone in the southeastern part of the country because it was harvested for human development and it needs fires to keep it healthy, which haven’t happened naturally for a very long time. The fires actually burn the grasses surrounding the longleaf pines in the forest to prevent overcrowding and to promote a healthy ecosystem. The forest management at Grand Bay is scheduling burns in the forest to try and bring back this rare habitat so that it can someday be back to what it once was!
It’s important to note the negative impact that humans have are not solely on the oceans and other well-known ecosystems, but also on the lesser-known ecosystems like the longleaf pine.
The other course I’m taking is Marine Ecology, which not only looks at our wetlands, but everything else about the ocean that we know and love! We learn the interaction between organisms and their environments in the deep ocean, coral reefs, seas, open ocean, polar seas, etc.
Anything that happens to do with the marine environment, we study in this class!
So far, we have done experiments looking at the settlement of larvae of different animals and how this is affected by currents and the tides and on predation of hermit crabs. It’s important to understand the interactions between organisms when they are threatened by climate change so that we can create recovery plans, which consist of all the information known about that specific organism, it’s environment, the threats it faces, and what we can do to help!
It’s amazing what just washes up on the shore!
Found this one all by itself.
That’s all for Week One! Thanks for reading and tune in next week for Week Two of My Adventures at Dauphin Island Sea Lab!
Did you know? 8 million tons of plastic is thrown in the ocean every year.
Did you know? More plastic has been produced in the last 10 years is more than we used in a century.
Did you know? There is a plastic floating island in the ocean twice the size of Texas!
Written By Helping Ninja, Ethan, Age 9 and Leo, Age 10
We learned this today at our Helping Ninja Party. We watched clips from a video called Plastic Planet and also watched Our Planet. Both were so cool. And a few facts, disturbing.
Today was our last day of school at our elementary school. We rode the bus home together to have a party to celebrate the start of summer. We learned that we can help oceans this summer even though we live in Indiana. We can collect plastic or choose not to use it at all.
Today we ate popcorn and pizza and had zero waste. We recycled the paper box that the pizza was delivered in. We chose to use aluminum sodas and we rinsed and dried and recycled our soda cans. We used paper straws. We used 100% cotton fabric napkins. We composted our pizza crust and grape stems.
We learned about plastic in the ocean. Even when you don’t think its there its there in micro plastic. EVERY PEICE OF PLASTIC EVER MADE IS STILL HERE TODAY. We want others to learn how to help the ocean!
Afterwards, we decided to make a video. We thought it might help others learn what we learned. So, we made a video to share with others what we have learned about plastic pollution. Helping Ninjas Sawyer and Vedh starred in the video – Vedh filmed and directed it and helped to produce it!
Check it out!
You can watch it on our Helping Ninjas YOUTUBE CHANNEL or here:
On April 22nd more than 1 billion people will participate in Earth Day, the largest civic observance in the world. All over the globe people are encouraged to honor our planet, coming together and helping to restore, conserve and protect nature, creating a greener home.
In 1970, Earth Day was first celebrated by twenty million Americans, citizens in cities across the United States urged for environment protection, and their voices were heard. As a result, the United States Congress authorized permission to create a new federal agency responsible for environmental issues: the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Earth Day continues to inspire people to make a change to better our planet, to spark a passion for nature protection and bring attention to the need to strive to create a positive impact every day. The need to understand the impact of our changing climate and the importance of raising awareness.
Consider joining the movement and take action for Earth.
