Families: Turn off Your Lights on Saturday, March 28
Goddard Schools are Kicking it Off!
Goddard Systems, Inc., named the number one child care franchise company for the eighth year in a row by Entrepreneur magazine, is proud to announce it has joined World Wildlife Fund’s 2009 Earth Hour. A global call to action on climate change, during Earth Hour on Saturday, March 28th at 8:30 p.m. hundreds of millions of people around the world will turn off their lights for one hour in a vote for action on the climate crisis.
Across 320 Goddard Schools nationwide, more than 40,000 children will help spread the message that by working together, each one of them can make a positive impact in working towards a sustainable future. The Goddard Schools will launch an entire week of activities and lesson plans beginning March 23rd leading up to a big celebration for the Stepping Up for the Environment event on March 27th at 10 a.m., a day before the global event.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Goddard Schools’ teachers and children to get creative in ‘stepping up’ awareness about saving energy and the environment,”says Joseph Schumacher, Chief Operating Officer at Goddard Systems, Inc. “Joining Earth Hour enables our students to get the message out to their families, at their school and in their communities.”
Throughout the week, children and teachers will participate in a variety of fun activities, games and lessons designed to increase their awareness of how energy use and daily activities can affect the future of the planet and how they can conserve energy in their daily lives. To help provide content to schools and children, World Wildlife Fund has created a website, www.EarthHourKids.org which features lesson-plans, games and songs children can download. There is also a section for parents to email their state and federal representatives.
In preparation for Earth Hour, Goddard Schools will integrate the environment into a number of engaging learning activities including art projects, science lessons and even during snack time! Classes will nominate an official “Lightning Bug,” who will be responsible for always turning off the classroom lights when the children exit the room. Students will also create invitations asking parents and neighboring buildings to join them in Earth Hour.
On March 27th, Goddard Schools will celebrate Earth Hour with the Stepping Up for the Environment event. Each Goddard School across the country will create a large banner and students will decorate it with handprints and footprints, leaving their own little “carbon” footprint. Children of the older classrooms will either deliver the banner to the city or town hall to let them know about Earth Hour, or invite a city official to the school to receive the banner. Then, at 10 a.m., schools will turn off any non-essential lighting for one hour.
Participation in Earth Hour supports Goddard Systems, Inc.’s ongoing efforts and commitment to the environment. Recently, Goddard has become involved with Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) which give schools the option of purchasing wind energy credits, offsetting 100% of a schools electricity usage with clean, renewable wind power.
About Goddard Systems, Inc. www.goddardschool.com
Recently named #1 Childcare Franchise in the United States, by Entrepreneur magazine, for the eighth consecutive year (January 2009) and one of the Top 200 Franchise Systems (in worldwide sales), by Franchise Times, for the second consecutive year (October 2008); Goddard Systems, Inc. (GSI) is expanding The Goddard School® network throughout the United States. Headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, GSI currently licenses 320+ franchised schools with more than 40,000 students in 37 states. With a successful system in place and dedicated franchisees, GSI is the acknowledged leader in franchised childcare and a premier childcare provider in the United States.
About World Wildlife Fund and Earth Hour
Earth Hour (www.EarthHourUs.org) is a global initiative of WWF in which millions of people around the world will cast a vote in favor of action on climate change by turning off their lights for one hour on March 28, 2009 at 8:30 p.m. local time. By voting with their light switches, Earth Hour participants will send a powerful, visual message to their leaders demanding immediate action on climate change. WWF is the world’s leading conservation organization, working in 100 countries for nearly half a century. With the support of almost 5 million members worldwide, WWF is dedicated to delivering science-based solutions to preserve the diversity and abundance of life on Earth, stop the degradation of the environment and combat climate changes. Visit www.worldwildlife.org to learn more. For more information on WWF, please contact Dan Forman at 202-495-4546 / dan.forman@wwfus.org
Note to Editors: B-roll and Earth Hour still images can be found at www.earthhour.org/mediacentre.
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Thanks for promoting Earth Hour! Another way you can recruit people to the cause is by creating a Earth Hour group on Commit21.com. Simply create a group about one action that you will commit to do for Earth Hour and recruit your friends, family, and co-workers to get involved in that action as well. When it comes to climate change, simple actions can make huge differences and Commit21 leverages social media to influence networks of friends, family, and co-workers. Check it out at www.commit21.com
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