Earth Day presented the perfect opportunity to show more than 35 children in the Child Development Centers how the Garrison protects the environment.
Garrison’s Directorate of Public Works environmental division’s Allison Guilliams and Mesha Kilpatrick gave the children a presentation on Earth Day and provided a hands-on learning activity about nature April 18.
“We are so excited to provide an Earth Day event to the preschool and Strong Beginnings classes at the Goss Road and Mills Road CDCs,” Guilliams said. “Because April is also Month of the Military Child, we thought it was a great opportunity to combine both events for the 4- and 5-year-olds of Redstone Arsenal. My child, Heidi, is in the Strong Beginnings class at the Mills Road CDC and she is so interested in nature. Their brains are like sponges at this age, so I love the opportunity to provide additional education and encourage their curiosity.”
Guilliams and Kilpatrick guided the children through the 20-minute Earth Day presentations that showed students how the Garrison strives to protect, sustain and improve the natural and manmade environment of the installation. They gave environmentally friendly ideas on recycling and how to help keep the Earth clean and provided an interactive discussion about the animal population on Redstone Arsenal.
After the discussion, the children had an opportunity to touch the artifacts and ask questions about recycling and the animals that live on Redstone Arsenal.
The children gave plenty of feedback. One child shared how their preschool classroom recycles things at the CDC. Another child asked how their family can recycle things at home. Several children mentioned having interacted with a few of the animals on Redstone – turtle, fox and deer – while others stressed how they don’t want to ever meet some of their animal “neighbors” on Redstone such alligator, bobcat and rattlesnake.
Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Dylan Lemasters also participated in the activities at the Goss Road center. He provided the children a friendly Earth Day and Month of the Military Child greeting, explaining the significance of both observances.
Lemasters asked the children a few questions about Earth Day to stir their curiosity and emphasized the importance of the Month of the Military Child.
“How many of you know what Earth Day is? What do you usually do on Earth Day?” Lemasters asked. “What can you do to protect our planet? You can help keep our Earth clean. You’re going to enjoy the activities that our environmental team have planned for you today. You’ll learn some fun things about Earth Day and Redstone Arsenal. We also celebrate the Month of the Military Child this month, so we want to make sure you know that each of you are a very important part of our Team Redstone family.”
The children received Earth Day goodie bags at the events which included items donated by Redstone tenant organizations and community partners. One key item in the bag was a live plant the children can use for an Arbor Day activity April 28.
“The support we have received for this event in such a short amount of time is amazing,” Guilliams said. “I love our community. I’m glad to that CSM Lemasters made an appearance. I think the kids enjoyed seeing him there. Our presentation was a success. We got a chance to interact with the kids and leave them with some valuable information that will help them to become better stewards of our planet. Our aim was to give them an idea of how they can keep the planet clean on their level. Hopefully, they will make use of this information in their daily lives.”
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