At Humke Elementary School, there are several such volunteers, and Patti Ebbe is just one of them. Ebbe is president of the school’s Humke Involved Parent Organization, or HIPO, and she also helps out with day-to-day operations. “We raise money to help with monetary and other needs that the teachers or students may need,” Ebbe said. “At the beginning of last school year, we were able to purchase oscillating stand fans for all the classrooms. We purchased four iPads with accessories for the teachers to use in the classroom. We were able to pay for some of the reading materials that were used, just to name a few things.” “Last year we collected 13,333 juice pouches for a company called TerraCycle,” Ebbe said. “You don’t have to wash them out or even take out the straws. You just collect them, send them in using their free shipping, redeem your points and they send you a check. Our ‘Drink Pouch Brigade’ earned Humke Elementary $399.99, or three cents apiece — for basically garbage! We are getting paid to collect garbage that would have gone into a landfill. And the juice pouches are being recycled into new products.” “It doesn’t take a lot of time!” she said. “You don’t have to come to every meeting. Maybe you just come to the classroom to say ‘hello.’ You can spend 15 to 20 minutes at an event and make a difference. It’s important because kids like to see their parents get involved … especially at the elementary school age. They like to show off their parents and grandparents.”