Green Bronx Machine

Greetings All:

By the time you settle in to read this, I will be well on my way to Dubai for Global Teacher Prize. Regardless of the outcome, I already feel like a winner and want to thank all of you for your support and kind wishes – we will surely keep you posted in real time. In fact, just yesterday, Arne Duncan called to wish me well; you can only imagine how surprised and honored I was. Clearly, we are growing something greater! That said – our focus remains the National Health and Wellness Center at CS 55 – our facility and our students are at the heart of what we do and where we hope to go.

This week we had Omar taking home fresh produce in his new freezer bag courtesy of TEDxManhattan. He is tracking the temperature of his bag and the food he and his family are preparing and eating. He now understands that fresh food is not something with an infinite shelf life or an object in a sealed piece of plastic residing on a shelf. These are healthy life outcomes that translate into strong academic lessons related to graphing, data, prediction and analysis. And if that’s not enough, we’re helping to reduce our waste footprint and eating better too! Omar is thinking of creating a delivery service!

As I stated in my TEDxManhattan Talk, now that you know more, I expect you to care more! Please help us keep going and help us keep growing so our reach can forever exceed our grasp. Our goals include a Gala Opening for Fall 2015 so we can send home 100 bags of student grown groceries weekly, 52 weeks per year aligned to academic outcomes while we prepare and excite students to attend Bronx High School of Science. Now more than ever, we need your support. Please take the time to show how much you care and contribute to our Barnraiser Campaign – one dollar a day can change lives and outcomes for this and future generations. HELP US GROW!  Together, we can do this!

Si se puede!

Stephen Ritz

Greetings All:

This past Saturday, at TEDxManhattan, the students and I took the stage and received a STANDING OVATION! What an honor. We revealed our vision for the National Health and Wellness Center here at CS 55 and you heard us loud and clear! Within CS 55, we are already seeing the fruits of our labor and the add value we are bringing. These include:

• 50% reduction year-to-date in behavioral incidents and out of class time
• Dramatic improvement in School Quality Review and School Report Card – we have helped to move scores from Developing to Proficient in five critical areas of School Performance – school culture and performance are changing daily
• Weekly lunch and learns with Principal Torres and students, faculty and parents – all grown by students in school
• Students and faculty are taking home fresh produce on a weekly basis – we have a waiting list!

Our goals once we open the Center in September include:

• • Increased school-wide scores on NYS Standardized Testing
  • Embedded curriculum within the entire school, across all grade levels
  • Comprehensive programming before, during and after school as well as evenings and weekends

And by the way….. We will be sending home 100 bags of student grown vegetables distributed weekly, 52 weeks per year!

NOW IS THE TIME TO MOVE FROM EXCITED TO COMMITTED!

Today I urge you to walk with us, work with us, and GROW SOMETHING GREATER as WE BARNRAISE OUR WAY! Please take a moment to make a contribution and show just how much you care! The eyes of the future are looking back at us – we can make it better for them TODAY!

Si se puede!

Stephen Ritz

No one is more grateful and excited about TEDx Manhattan than I am. Be it a participant or a spectator – this is where the magic happens and BIG IDEAS are born and spread. Three years ago, I took the stage and spoke about the history of our work. Since then, we have worked to grow and refine it. This Saturday, I take the stage as the winner of the TEDx Manhattan Award and couldn’t be prouder; we are so grateful for your love and support! I’m so excited to unveil and present the new focus, mission and vision of Green Bronx Machine and talk about the National Health and Wellness Center at CS 55.

Join our official viewing party, hosted by our friends at Horyou. Sign up for a fun an inspiring afternoon, and see the talk of the future live!

Donate to our Barnraiser Campaign so we can build the National Health and Wellness Center at CS 55. Together, we will change the way children learn and eat in schools! Si se puede!

Green Bronx Machine was proud to host White House Chef Bill Yosses and Global Super Star and Celebrity Author / Advocate Reed Alexander to our school where we prepared vegetarian meals using the very ingredients we grew in school via our Tower Gardens. We debuted our very own Mex-I-Can Amer-I-Can Grow Your Own Tower Garden Taco. This historic event brought students together from public, private, charter and international schools to cooperate, collaborate, grow something greater and inspire healthy living for all right in the heart of Claremont Village in the South Bronx. We were supported by the Offices of Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., State Senator Gustavo Rivera, Congressman Jose Serrano, Council Member Vanessa Gibson and so many more! Proof the Bronx CAN – Change Attitudes Now! Learn more here:

Article with Picture: BRONX FREE PRESS CS 55

VIDEO: News12 White House Chef in Bronx

Barnraiser Update

Si se puede!  A recipe for success! Thanks to our dear friends at Blendtec and Karl Lovas of Healthy Kids Concepts, we’re proud to offer you a Free Blendtec Classic Blenders with extra canister, Guide Book, DVD kit and recipes for a $150 donation to our Barnraiser Campaign – we’ll even mail it to your home! This kit is 100% American Made with a value of $279! What a great way to inspire healthy living for you and for our children here in the Bronx. Get yours today!

TEDxManhattan

TEDx Manhattan is coming on March 7 and El Capitan will be presenting his GREAT IDEA WORTH SPREADING and our vision for the future. Green Bronx Machine is the proud winner of the first ever TEDx Manhattan Award. Learn more.

Dear friends, family and colleagues:

Just this week I learned from Principal Torres that since starting our work at the school, year to date behavioral incidents and out of class time disciplinary actions have been reduced over 50%! In fact, on WPIX TV this week, 4th grader Mousa told all of NYC how “happy and proud his family was” to get groceries that he grew in school. All of this as students gain access to the art of growing healthy food aligned to academic outcomes and stellar school performance and we’re just getting started. Simply put, the children LOVE THE PROGRAM!

As you know we have been working furiously to build the National Health and Wellness Center here at CS 55. Today, I’m thrilled to share our first renderings from the architects. To be clear, our goals include sending 100 students home weekly with bags of fresh produce – 52 weeks per year – while students excel in all academic areas! We are now eating fresh vegetables that we grow in school on a daily basis. Further, we are preparing students and practicing for the Fourth Grade Science Exam and are excited to cultivate our 15 raised beds once the snow thaws. Most importantly, we are working on growing the first cohort of CS 55 students to attend the BRONX HIGH SCHOOL OF SCIENCE! I remain here committed and volunteering on a daily basis to see this dream to fruition.

Today, I humbly ask for your support and to join the mission. We need to raise a minimum of $33,000 to complete this project; an initiative that will change both health and educational outcomes for this and future generations! Give our children license to dream, to aspire, to grow and be involved! Please help us grow something greater here at CS 55 and support our Barnraiser Campaign! Together, we can do this!

Si se puede!

Stephen “El Capitan” Ritz
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Dear Green Bronx Machine Friends:

Thrilled to report that our Founder, Stephen Ritz AKA “El Capitan” met with His Holiness, Pope Francis, last week at The Vatican. El Capitan was named with twenty other delegates to work with Scholas Occurrentes via Global Teacher Award and Varkey Gems. Their intent is to work with Pope Francis to impact 33 million lives in the next three years. What an honor to represent our hometown and local work; proof the Bronx CAN – Change Attitudes Now! We call it: From Hope to The Pope! Afterwards, El Capitan was quoted as follows:

“The warmth and love radiating from His Holiness will change the world! To be in a room with Pope Francis – much less at Vatican City – is beyond inspiring; his words moved me to tears – and further action. He is the revolution and he continues to coalesce people around the world in an unprecedented and inclusive manner via love, compassion and commitment. As a Top Fifty Finalist in the Global Teacher Prize, I am honored to be working both here in the Bronx and as part of a larger team of equity warriors dedicated to a greater good and more equitable world. I am most grateful to Varkey Gems, Scholas and my colleagues for this opportunity to pay it forward. The best is yet to come. Together, we can all prosper! Si se puede!”

As always, thanks for your support – we appreciate you! The best is yet to come!

Si se puede!

El Capitan and Crew

Jennifer Lopez Special

Be sure to see the Green Bronx Machine / Si Se Puede Crew featured on the Jennifer Lopez Special airing Saturday, February 14 on TNT immediately after the NBA All-Star Game! Talk about a Happy Valentines Day Celebration! The scene was shot live at CS 55 featuring our local students!

Barnraiser

In advance of El Capitan’s TEDx Manhattan Talk on March 7, we are excited to be launching a Barnraiser Campaign. We consider you a part of our team, and now We need YOU to join us in this endeavor by raising our big goal of $135,000 to help get the National Health and Wellness Center up and running. The campaign launches today – click here to support our project, and please spread the word to everyone so we can reach our goal!

Dear Green Bronx Machine Friends,

We are thrilled to announce that we have been chosen as the winner of the 2015 TEDx Manhattan Prize. This is a huge honor, and all of you who voted for us were the ones who made it happen – THANK YOU!

Check out the announcement, and follow the link to see how you can help now. Also be sure to watch on March 7th as El Capitan takes the stage to speak about GBM and our community.

Si se puede!

Dear Friends of Green Bronx Machine:

If you haven’t voted for us yet, please take a moment – voting closes Sunday!

Please VOTE GREEN BRONX MACHINE! It only takes a click!

http://www.tedxmanhattan.org/2015-tedxmanhattan-award/

Si se puede!

Dear Friends of Green Bronx Machine:

We’re thrilled to announce that we are finalists for the TEDxManhattan Award! We need your support!

Please VOTE GREEN BRONX MACHINE! It only takes a click!

http://www.tedxmanhattan.org/2015-tedxmanhattan-award/

Si se puede!

In the midst of the busy holiday season, we wanted to wish you all well and share a few of the latest developments here at GBM. 2014 has been a great year for us, and we are looking forward to even more in 2015.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season to you and those you share it with.

Congratulations to El Capitan!

GBM’s fearless founder, Stephen Ritz aka El Capitan, was recently selected to be among the top 50 finalists in the world for this year’s Global Teacher Prize. Being nominated is a huge honor in and of itself, and making it through to the final round is an acknowledgment of just how important and impressive Stephen’s and GBM’s accomplishments have been to date.

In addition Stephen went off script to deliver an inspiring hyper speed presentation to business leaders from around the world at the Social Innovation Summit in California.

Horyou Documentary

Horyou, the action-oriented social network for social good, has recently released a beautiful 7-minute film documenting GBM’s work.

Please check it out, share with your friends and family, and let us know what you think.

“Everyday there is an opportunity to do something great to change the world,” Stephen Ritz tells us. In order to do that, he and his wife Lizette created Green Bronx Machine, a non-profit organization based in New York which offers healthy alternatives to junk food for children and adults.

The Health, Wellness, and Learning Center at CS 55 is up and running! We have begun to fill the old library on the 4th floor with Tower Gardens, Growums kits, food education materials, alternative energy systems, and a variety of other science equipment. Though we are only just beginning, we are already seeing roughly 300 students per week in the center from grades pre-K through 5th. These students are learning about vegetables – how they are planted, what they need to grow healthy, how they are harvested and prepared, and especially how good each one tastes. Students are also learning about how energy is created, stored, and used on our bicycle generator system – they are pedaling to power blenders to make smoothies with the very vegetables they just grew!

WE ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING DONATIONS, EQUIPMENT AND SPONSORS – please contact us if interested. We need microscopes and technology including computers, tablets and interactive science equipment; gently used and refurbished functional equipment is welcome!

GBM in Social Media

GBM has a brand new student managed Instagram account! Follow us to see all the latest photos from our events, and to keep up with all the action in the Health, Wellness, and Learning Center. Watch for our new student blog – we believe in student voices! Please keep up with us Facebook and Twitter. HELP US SPREAD THE WORD and share with your friends and colleagues! Remember, together we can all prosper!

Where in the world is El Capitan?

Keeping up with our founder, Stephen Ritz, aka El Capitan, is a full-time job in and of itself. He has been speaking to motivate and help other organizations and schools create similar programs of their own. Of note recently was his trip to WOBI in Mexico City, where he shared the stage with Richard Branson, Peter Diamandis, and Rachel Gutter, amongst many other notable speakers. Everyone appreciated his “Si se puede – Mex-I-CAN” message! EL Capitan is proud to be working in Mexico, collaborating with Instituto Thomas Jefferson and in Medellin – dedicated to innovation and social justice / workforce-community development.

Later this month, El Capitan will take his energy and enthusiasm to California for the Social Innovation Summit, where he was invited to speak to leaders from around the world about his experience with GBM and have conversations about how to tackle the world’s biggest problems.