2255 Meadowlane Ave. W. Melbourne, FL 32904

2255 Meadowlane Ave.
W. Melbourne, FL 32904
(321) 729-0100
www.reusecenterbrevard.org
Creative use of reusable resources...
A community partnership benefiting local
schools, businesses and government
Where your adventure in creativity takes flight...
Visit the Reusable
Resources Adventure
Center
We’re located behind the Meadowlane
Elementary School. Take New Haven
(192) to Meadowlane Avenue and turn
south. Follow left curve behind the
school. We’re in a “reuse” portable
classroom with our sign out front.
To read about what we do and why we
do it, turn to page 4 of this newsletter.
Browse & Buy
Open Hours
The Reusable Resources Adventure
Center (RRAC) will be open two to
three Wednesday afternoons per
month through May 2006. It will be
open Saturday mornings once a month
in January through April. Please come
in, look over the reusable materials we
have available, and make your selections.
During the “Browse & Buy” hours, we
are busy assisting our patrons and
managing materials that have been
donated. For this reason, we would like
anyone donating reusable materials to
please call ahead and schedule an
appointment outside of the “Browse &
Buy” hours.
NOVEMBER
Wed., Nov. 9, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed., Nov. 16, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
DECEMBER
Wed., Dec. 7, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed., Dec. 14, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
JANUARY
Wed., Jan. 4, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed., Jan. 11, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed., Jan. 18, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Sat., Jan. 28, 9:00 AM to Noon
FEBRUARY
Wed., Feb.. 1, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed., Feb. 8, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed. Feb. 15, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Sat., Feb. 25, 9:00 AM to Noon
MARCH
Wed., March 1, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed., March 8, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed. March 15, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Sat., March 25, 9:00 AM to Noon
APRIL
Wed., April 5, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed., April 12, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed. April 19, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Sat., April. 22, 9:00 AM to Noon
MAY
Wed., May 3, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed., May 10, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Wed. May 17, 3:00 - 6:00 PM
Open House for
After-School Teachers
Thursday, January 26
9:00 AM to Noon
Brevard County Public
Schools Child Care Staff
Revisited Childhood
The RRAC presented a 3-hour workshop for
Brevard County Public Schools School Age
Child Care staff on September 20. The
workshop focused on the importance of
blocks and the incorporation of reusable
resources in this type of play. The workshop was a hands-on experience, allowing
them to revisit their childhood.
Ninety staff members of the before and
after school programs had a wonderful
time playing with Dr. Drew's Discovery
Blocks. They thoroughly enjoyed being creative and experienced how relaxing block
play can be. They were also introduced to
the limitless possibilities of creating with
reusable resources when you incorporate
these materials with the blocks.
“Actually experiencing this helped them to
understand the importance of open-ended
play and to realize the value of bringing this
type of activity into their programs.”
– By Marilyn Simon, Assistant District
Coordinator, School Age Child Care
Play is the heart of rejuvenation. It inspires the creative
spirit and helps us to relax and
to view things differently.
FALL 2005
2
Rockwell Collins
Materials Leader
Shares Her RRAC
Experience
RRAC Presented Workshop for Early
Childhood Association of Florida
tower. I added other materials and
found that, just when I thought it
was complete, I wanted to add
other things. I learned that it is
important for children and adults
to have the time to create and
embellish. The process is important
– the thought put into play – as
opposed to the product. I am
responsible for training teachers
and I found this hands-on activity
stimulating and thought provoking.
I will use these ideas in my train ing classes.”
Rena Williams of Rockwell Collins
described for us her experiences
related to recycling materials from
Rockwell for the Reusable
Resources Adventure Center.
“It gives me joy to know that I am
helping to develop creative minds.
At Rockwell, I sort items and put
them in boxes after we take the
parts out. I think it [RRAC]is a wonderful program, and Rockwell likes
to help. I havebeen working with
Rockwell for 24 years as the
Materials Leader in the stock room.
I have three children, four grandchildren, and a wonderful husband.”
Ridley’s Custom
Framing Donates
Discarded Framing
& Matting Materials
Tom Ridley, at Ridley’s Custom
Framing off Palm Bay Road, in Palm
Bay, has been donating reusable
materials for three years. According
to Tom, “We sought for years to find
organizations that would use our
mat board remnants, frame cutouts,
and discarded frames [resulting
from re-framing projects]. A few
private schools and organizations
would pick up a trunk load once or
twice a year. Then, we learned
about RRAC, and we are happy we
can contribute all our remaining
leftover materials, knowing they will
be used by children and organizations throughout the county.”
Interesting wood wedges, frame
scraps, and matting board pieces
are always available at the RRAC’s
Browse & Buy open hours. You may
even find discarded frames, glass
and matting, you can use for framing your own creations.
“I started touching and
experiencing the materials. I even
smelled the wood. I started out
wanting to make a bridge but the
structure evolved from there into a
What do the Rialto
Place Sun Trust Bank,
Kiwanis Club of
Melbourne, and RRAC
have in common?
They work together to provide children
with unique learning opportunities and
conserve resources.
Cindi Forstall, outgoing President of
the Melbourne Kiwanis Club, and
George Leonard,[title], assisted Dr.
Walter Drew at the Annual Kiwanis
Conference Workshop in [Melbourne]
in [month]. At this workshop, they
[description of activities].
Cindi also is the Vice President Loan
– Quote from Lina Provencher of the
Early Learning Coalition of St. Lucie
County in Ft. Pierce, while at the ECA,
Early Childhood Association of Florida
annual conference workshop on
Friday, September 30, in Orlando, conducted with Rita Hewitt, Kindergarten
teacher and the Dr. Creel Elementary
School in Brevard County
Officer at Rialto Place, Sun Trust Bank,
and has arranged for Sun Trust to
donate its reusable materials to RRAC.
Examples of recent materials donated
include large rolls of commercial
grade textured wall paper, picture
frames, and sun screens for automobiles.
Thank you Cindi, George, the Rialto
Place Sun Trust Bank, and the Kiwanis
Club of Melbourne.
3
CoCoa Beach
Kiwanis Club Teams
with RRAC & AfterSchool Program
There is something about the way that
the Holy Spirit moves through me
when I create. That is; when I build,
draw, paint or write. I cannot describe
it but I know He is flooding my senses
with effervescence. Is it the same for
you? The struggle seems to be getting
in front of that blank canvas whether
paper, easel or sand box.
The Cocoa Beach Kiwanis Club is
teaming up with the Melbourne
Reusable Resource Adventure Center
(RRAC), Cocoa Beach High School and
the Roosevelt After-School Program to
supply materials and opportunity for
high school students to mentor elementary students. The activity will
encourage groups of elementary students to work together creating structures from the materials supplied by
the RRAC. High School students will
record and document the activity.
Photos and quotes will be compiled
Building Ocean and
Space Worlds
That was the title of an RRAC workshop at the Satellite Beach Recreation
Department last July. For 90 minutes,
12 children ages 7-14 explored and
played together using a variety of
open-ended reusable materials: foam
shapes, fabric scraps, plastic tubes,
tape, wooden blocks, colorful caps,
felt strips, oak tag paper, and other
odds and ends donated by our Brevard
County businesses.
The children worked together in
teams. As young explorers, inventors,
scientists and engineers, they focused
their minds, expressed their ideas,
solved problems cooperatively, and
experienced the joy of their own creativity.
and a book will be made for each student.
The purpose of the activity is multifaceted. We want to foster literacy and a
joy for writing and describing our
world, what we do and what we think.
We want to promote cooperative play
and communication. We want to
encourage older students to mentor
and to get involved with younger students. We want students to find simple
pleasure and joy in giving and in being
a part of an activity that helps others
and does not center around them. We
want to demonstrate the importance of
having an activity documented and to
have a final project that can be read
over and over again. We want to create a model activity for High School
students so that they can enter into
the worlds of their younger brothers
and sisters in a safe nurturing and
supportive way.
This collaboration is effortless
because the missions of the RRAC,
Kiwanis International and the Brevard
Public Schools overlap in this area of
caring for our children. The training for
the High School Key Club students will
The children created moon oceans,
astroblasters, shuttles and spaceships,
museums, tele-transporters, space
treasures, places for people to eat,
and even the White House. They constructed things no one had ever seen
before, and they invented the language
to describe it in a journal of their experience. Some of the joy they expressed
in their writing reflects authentic
excitement .
– Walter F. Drew, Ed.D., Reusable
Resources Adventure Center and
Louise Stevenson, Satellite Beach
Recreation Department
“This is Space Colony Ark 2.
It took about 29 minutes. It
was fun to make and hard.
It is in space. It looks like a
be held on
November
30th.The workshops at the
Roosevelt AfterSchool Program
will be in the
beginning of the
New Year.
Funding for the
activity is generously supplied by: Dr.
Drew’s Toys and the Cocoa Beach
Kiwanis Club. If you have any questions please contact: Dr. Walter Drew,
Melbourne Reusable Resource
Adventure Center (321) 729-0100
– By Hugh J. Halsey, Financial Advisor
Raymond James Financial Services,
Inc., Cocoa Beach, Florida
Play is the heart of rejuvenation. It inspires the creative spirit and helps us to
relax and to view things
differently.
town if you just look at it.
Also it is very, very big. It
has a house and that’s
where people eat”
– Courtney, Anthony and Christa
4
What is the Reusable Resources Adventure Center?
RRAC is where discards
become discoveries.
The Reusable Resources Adventure
Center (RRAC) is a non-profit community
service of the Institute for Self Active
Education and a founding partner of the
Florida Network of Reuse Centers. The
continuing goal of the Center is to bring
resources, donated by local industries
and businesses, closer to Brevard
County classrooms, teachers, students
and parents through open house events
held at the Center. The Center is a place
where you will discover interesting
objects of many different sizes and
materials that can be used in creative
construction, art, play and learning
activities. We think of these materials as
being “open ended” because their
usage is only limited to the imagination
of the user.
We are dedicated to a high
purpose.
The RRAC exists to advocate interactive,
hands-on experiential learning for children using reusable resources. We provide training for teachers, parents, child
care providers, artists, youth of all ages
and the community at large in the creative use of discarded resources. We
assist the business community in the
environmentally responsible disposal of
unwanted materials (by-products, overruns and rejects) that are appropriate for
reuse in a learning environment. And, we
Florida’s Reuse
Resource Depots
A reuse resource center is acentral
location where quality, unwanted manufacturing by-products, overruns and
rejects, and other appropriate usable
items once destined for the landfill can
be distributed to school teachers as
needed resource materials.
There are currently 17 centers located
throughout the state which are net-
help establish additional in Reuse
Centers in Florida for the collection and
distribution of materials used to motivate
creative learning and thinking.
Creative Play Develops the
Mind and Spirit.
Children’s spontaneous, creative selfexpression increases their sense of
competence and well-being now and
into adulthood. Children extend and
deepen their understandings through
multiple, hands-on experiences with
diverse materials. Children’s play with
peers supports learning and a growing
sense of competence.
Reusable materials activate more than
the imagination. They stimulate the
development of creative language skills
and self-expression. They develop creativity, basic mathematics and science
skills through problem solving. They foster cooperation, sharing and positive
social iteraction. They create immediate,
successful learning experiences. They
revitalize the creative energy of the
teacher and involved parent. And, they
encourage a spirit of conservation and
thoughtful use of resources.
It’s easy to participate.
Memberships begin as low as $10 and
go up to $300 for an organization of 1000
or more members.
Donate materials! Let your imagination
be your guide. Many manufactured
objects are appropriate for children’s art
and construction projects, imaginative
play and learning activities. Highly
desired materials include wire, mylar,
plastics, fabrics, wood, foam, gaskets,
tools and paper. Does your business
have overruns, scraps, rejects, punchouts and/or outmoded parts? Give us a
call at (321) 729-0100, and we’ll explore
the possibilities with you.
Volunteer! We need volunteers to work
at the Center and to provide periodic
transportation of donated materials. Let
us know if you would like to present a
workshop and assist with special events.
Help fund the program! Your financial
donations may be targeted toward the
cost of transporting materials, printing
publications, teacher workshops and
special operational needs. You may
sponsor the membership of a school,
Scout troop, local community center, or
other organization of your choice.
Become a Member! Your annual support
fee gives you access to materials during
the Center’s “Browse & Buy Open
House” hours and the opportunity to participate in special Center activities.
Become a Strategic Partner by donating
storage, up to date office equipment,
meeting rooms. We need a trailer that
can be pulled by a car to transport materials to the Center.
worked through the Reusable Resources
Association, a 501(c)3, non-profit, tax
exempt Florida corporation The
Reusable Resources Adventure Center
of Melbourne, Florida is a program of
the local non-profit Institute for Self
Active Education. This center is a founding partner of the Florida Network of
Reuse Centers.
hands-on learning. The materials provided educate both students and teachers
about the importance of material reuse
and recycling. They help bring together
industry, government, the business sector and educators into a community dedicated to teaching children. They allow
the private sector to reduce their disposal costs, improving their bottom line.
And, They help conserve natural
resources and reduce the amount of
solid waste disposal.
These Centers provide instructional
resources for teachers to help children
develop creative intelligence through