CHEVY & JAYNI CHASE TEAM WITH AL RABY STUDENTS TO SAVE PLANET EARTH

 Comedian Chevy Chase & his wife Jayni meet staff and volunteers of the MGR Foundation that works with Al Raby students to advance the green initiative. (Photo by Brad)

Hollywood and Chicago’s Garfield Park community came together to save our planet. No, this isn’t the plot of a Chevy Chase movie, but he is involved. Comedian Chevy Chase and his wife, Jayni, came to Al Raby High School, 3545 West Fulton Street, to launch a new green community schools initiative. Jayni has been involved in the ecology movement for over 20 years and is a board member of the Chicago-based MGR Foundation, whose staff has been working with Al Raby students for several months, sensitizing them to ecological issues and teaching them sustainable methods they can apply in their daily lives.
    Al Raby is the first school selected for this program. For the kick-off, attended by Mayor Daley, students researched energy-saving proposals for each room in the house, as well as the yard and community. The students conducted an energy audit at the school and computed monetary savings from conservation, as well as the benefits to the planet from reducing their carbon footprints.
    Chevy and Jayni Chase expressed admiration for the students’ enthusiasm and said the success of the initiative is up to them. The Chases made a five-year commitment to the school and its green initiative.
    Raby students held a community recycling event, collecting old cell phones, used and unwanted batteries and light bulbs. The Citizens Utility Board provided CFL bulbs to give out at the green initiative launch. More conservation and consciousness-raising events are planned in the future promoting ecology.

Al Raby students in pajamas demonstrate the energy conservation steps that can be taken in the bedroom. (Photo by Brad)

 Al Raby students gather around Mayor Daley and a rain barrel. (Photo by Brad)

 These students provide all kinds of suggestions for making your bathroom ecological and economical. (Photo by Brad)

 Mayor Daley talks green with comic actor Chevy Chase and his wife Jayni, kicking off the Green Community Schools Initiative at Al Raby High School. (Photo by Brad)

 The helmets may be nerdy, but the savings in dollars and to the environment from biking rather than driving or taking the bus are quite attractive, according to these Al Raby students who crunched the numbers. (Photo by Brad)

 Al Raby students consider conservation in the utility room, including installing energy-efficient windows. (Photo by Brad)