From left: Cole, Nik, Liam and Kaela

This article is adapted from Brenda Barger’s March 15, 2011, Around Davidson column.
First it was McDonald’s, now it’s chicken giant KFC. Davidson Elementary student Cole Rasenberger and his team recently traveled to Louisville as part of a campaign to get fast-food restaurants to use 100 percent recycled paper bags.

This young man is on a mission. With the help of good friend, fifth grader Nikoulaus Young of Lake Norman Charter School, fourth-grade classmate Liam Donoghue of Davidson Elementary and his sister, second-grader Kaela of Davidson Elementary School, Cole has been pushing for more use of recycled paper products to save our North Carolina Coastal forest.

You may remember our October article about Cole’s efforts and his success at McDonald’s Corp.

On the plane for Louisville, Ky., are Liam (left) and Cole

Using postcards with hand drawn art of wildlife in our coastal ecosystem, Cole mailed more than a thousand postcards to McDonald’s, resulting in their switching their bags to 100 percent recycled paper. For his successful efforts and enthusiasm, Cole, the son of Kerry and Ken Rasenberger, was awarded a $2,500 Gloria Barron Prize last September.

Printing new postcards (using recycled paper of course), Cole encouraged students to sign these cards and enlisted the help of his team, Liam, Nik and Kaela. With 7,000 signed postcards in hand, these four youngsters, accompanied by mom Kerry Rasenberger, boarded a US Airways flight on Thursday, March 3, bound for KFC headquarters in Louisville, Ky. – their newest “target” for using recycled paper products. (Cole used part of his Barron prize money to pay for the postcards and also for the flight to Louisville.)

In Kerry’s words, “KFC was wonderful to the children.” They were warmly greeted, toured the KFC museum, met with two KFC executives, hand delivered the 7,000 postcards and were made to feel very important with their project. KFC now uses some recycled containers, including the tops of their fried chicken buckets, but government regulations stipulate that the rest of the buckets cannot be recycled material.

It was a wonderful “field trip” for these four determined young students. (Be sure to read Liam’s assessment of the Louisville visit (PDF).) They were encouraged by their interview with KFC and delighted to explore Louisville touring the zoo, the Louisville Slugger Museum, a city park, book store and eating dinner at KFC (no doubt using the coupons provided by KFC). Future plans for Cole, Nik, Liam and Kaela are uncertain at the moment but give these four young people a few months to strategize and it is certain they will be working with new energy on another environmental issue. We are proud of them for their hard work.

– Brenda Barger

[NOTE: Cole’s mom, Kerry, is a DavidsonNews.net sales representative.]