A group of five business students called the Fabric Finders held a clothing drive at Winslow Elementary School to promote recycling awareness among 4th and 5th grade students. Their goals were to educate students on clothing recycling and collect over 500 recycled items. They succeeded in collecting over 1,000 items of clothing and fabrics from the students. The group worked well as a team to plan and implement recycling lessons and activities, despite facing challenges along the way. They were able to donate all collected items to local charities to help promote sustainable practices in their community.

1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Shannen Mota, Lauren Fahey, Kristina Yarmaloff, Magaly Salazar, Liliane
Elkhoury

2. We are the Fabric Finders, a group of five business management students at the University of Massachusetts
Dartmouth. We have completed the America Recycles Day (ARD) Team Project at Winslow elementary
School with the 4th and 5th grade to raise recycling awareness in the greater New Bedford local community.
Our main focus is to teach the students on how clothing and other fabrics can be recycled as well as to engage
them in a school wide clothing drive. We reached our ultimate goal of raising 500+ items of clothing and
fabrics.
We believe in promoting recycling awareness to the younger generation because it is important for them to
start learning how to protect their environment at a young age.

3. 
Introduction

Our Mission

Operation Principles

Our Goals

Community Partners

First Meeting

First Event

Second Event

Actual Donating of Clothes

Team Plan for Improvement

Individual Roles

Meet Project Criteria

Teamwork Lesson Learned

Conclusion

4. 
We are the Fabric Finders, collectively we are
striving to better the New Bedford community by
improving recycling habits.

Our mission is to promote and educate good
recycling habits to the fourth and fifth grade students
of Winslow Elementary School.

5. 





Communication
Time Management
Organized
Planning
Clear Goals
No Team Member Left Behind- Equal Shares of work

6. Goal
•
Make recycling fun
Goal
•
Collect 500 articles
of clothing
Result
•
Created different
games made out of
recycled materials
Result
•
We accomplished our
goal by doubling
Goal
Result
•
•
Donate all items
raised to the
Salvation Army in
New Bedford.
Dropped off clothing to
Salvation Army and
Red Cross drop off.

7. 



Working with 4th and 5th grade at Winslow Elementary.
Main contact with Lori Silveira.
Paula Bailey the principal.
Marissa Perez –Dormitzer New Bedford Recycling representative.

8. 


Met with Lori Silveira and fellow 4th grade teacher to
discuss ideas.
All notions approved by Winslow Elementary.
Schedule future event.

9. 
Met with 4th and fifth grade students.
Introduced ourselves.
Questioned the children’s knowledge about recycling.
Taught the children about recycling.
Delivered clothing boxes.
Distributed the flyer and permission slip to students for parents.
Got students pumped up for future event.

LET THE CLOTHING DRIVE BEGIN!!!
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
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
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

12. 


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Gathered 4th and 5th grade in auditorium.
Collected data of how many items gathered from each class
Engaged students in different activities that incorporated recycled materials.
Announced winner of clothing drive and presented homework pass.
Surprised remaining three classes with homework pass for excellent participation.
Thanked teachers and students for their generous help in our semester project.
Gathered clothing from classrooms at Winslow.

14. 



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Gathered and bagged enormous amount of clothes
Contacting different locations to accept our donation.
Found the perfect location at 1103 Shawmut Ave New Bedford
Contributed our donation to Red Cross and Salvation Army.
Back home excited with our achievement.

15. 
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Trouble with finding a school that could fulfill our mission.
Their donation exceeded our expectation.
Difficulties in carrying the clothes to vehicles.
Unexpected bad weather.
Miscommunication with salvation Army employees.
Finding the location to donate clothes.

17. What we plan to do…
What we plan to stop doing…
Manage time more wisely.
Stop procrastinating.
Communicate with each other more frequently.
Try not to take on more work than each team member
can handle.
Delegate work fairly.
Getting off topic in meetings.
Ask for help if needed.
Stressing out over things that can be easily solved with
teamwork.

18. Lauren
 Contact Manager
 Meeting Coordinator
Kristina
 Classroom
Coordinator
 Wiki Coordinator
Shannen
 Team Leader
 Secretary/ Note Taker
Magaly
 Photographer
Liliane
 Recycling Tip

19. 
Service to Community Partner(s)

A close relationship with Marissa Perez
Contact with Winslow Elementary
Contact with Lori Silveira and Paula Bailey



ARD Event(s)

Assembly number one which was held on America’s recycle day.
Assembly number two Taught students different ways to use recycled materials
Gathered statistics of number of people we directly and indirectly impacted .

Community Involvement/Recycling Awareness, Education, and Behavior

Winslow Elementary student taught about the importance about recycling.

Sustainability-

. The props used in our activities at our main event were made out of recyclable good s



20. 
Team Engagement

Although we had problems and obstacles our engagement on the project helped us overcome all the
obstacles and accomplish our goal as a team.

Encouragement

Our team was made up by people from different countries and ages and at times it was hard to be on the
same page. As a diverse team we needed to encourage each others to get our tasks completed.

Time Management

We learned together as a team that we need to take the initiative to work through the struggles of a
task, rather than put them to the side and avoid completing them in a timely matter.

Healthy Conflict

After getting to know each other and learning to work as a team. We learned to have healthy conflict and
debate on our ideas and thoughts.

21. Goals Accomplished!

Raised awareness to the young generation.

Raised 1145 pieces of clothing.
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The classroom totals were as follows
◦ Fifth grade classroom number one- 333 items
◦ Fifth grade classroom number two- 253 items
◦ Fourth grade classroom number one- 250 items
◦ Fourth grade classroom number two- 150 items

Overall total of 991 items (raised within one week in Winslow)

Indirectly impact the community of New Bedford like parents, teachers and the actual people benefit from
the clothing.

Gain experience working as a team.

Learned our strength and weakness and how to combine them to make the ultimate team.