Project "Green" Light

I came up with the idea of Project "Green" Light in my living room while talking to my sister. I wanted to have a bulb exchange but wasn't sure how. I decided to contact CFL manufacturers to try to get the bulbs donated. I submitted my idea on a CFL bulk bid website. I received more than 20 email replies from companies wanting to help with my project. One company's representative who read my idea worked with the local electric cooperative in our area. He called them and told them of the high school girl wanting to start a project. Mary Nelson took the call and found out my family was customers of their coop. She called and wanted to set up a meeting to find out more about my idea and expressed interest at being involved. She told me to create a proprosal and we set up a meeting with her and the president of the coop. I went in with my plan and they agreed to be a part of it. They told me after my presentation they would donate 2000 bulbs for me to have an exchange with. I met with Freeborn County 4H Club key leaders and pitched the idea to them as community service projects for their members to distribute the bulbs. I asked that in return for the free bulbs their members collect an old bulb to recycle or a canned food item. Freeborn Mower Coop then called back to say they'd donate 2,000 more bulbs if I also offered the program to 4H clubs in Mower County. So I agreed and went and presented it at a leader meeting in Mower County. 12 clubs agreed to participate. I picked up the bulbs in my dad's truck on two pallets and in a hot machine shed in the summer took apart the pallets and reboxed them. I prorated the bulbs by member so that clubs received an even share of bulbs to distribute. I then delivered the club's boxes to the leader's homes and they distributed them at a club meeting. I set up a collection day at Freeborn Mower Coop's site and members from the clubs brought in their collected items. We received 2,292 old bulbs, 1,323 food items and $278 in donations from recipients. I had visited the Salvation Army and a representative was on hand at collection day to recieve the food and thank the people involved. It was raining lightly that day but everyone was so inspired and happy noone minded. I wanted to show the younger 4H-ers that one person's idea could make a huge difference. Each of the 4,000 CFL bulbs save $67 more than an incandescant over the lifetime of the bulb. 67 X 4000 = $268,000 savings impact in the two counties I implemented my project in. I submitted articles to the newspapers in the two counties and was interviewed twice on TV for my project. I decided to enter Project "Green" Light as a citizenship project at the local fair. I won Grand Champion and took it to the MN State Fair and received a blue ribbon. Mary Nelson at Freeborn Mower Coop became a mentor and she received national and state attention for helping me. She was asked to speak at a state and national convention. She recieved an email from Steve Johnson to Mary Nelson at Freeborn Mower Cooperaive Services: "When someone reads it and clicks on the "email to a friend" icon, we get a blind cc. I've gotten about a dozen this morning already, all along the lines of "we should think about doing something like this." So that was the desired effect!" -Steve Johnson National Rural Electric Cooperative Association It is hard to estimate how many coops will embark on similar projects because of mine.