South Carolina Caribbean Culture and Heritage Inc. proudly announces the 4th Annual Charleston Carifest, which will take place from June 11 - 13, 2009. For more info go to Charleston Carifest

Celebrate the splendor of the Caribbean at our Cultural Caribbean Festival and Carnival Street Parade.  Stay tuned for costume launch. We invite you to join in our Carnival Street Parade.

The Charleston Carifest is one of many programs promoted by the South Carolina Caribbean Culture and Heritage, Inc.

The featured country for this year’s festival is St. Lucia.

Performers

• Ben Hazel Primary School of Hampton County
• Brunson Elementary of Hampton County SteelBand
• Buen Aché Dance Company
• CAJ-1
• Carifest Caribbean Dancers
• Slice International Reggae/Soca Band
• Whale Branch Middle School of Beaufort County SteelBand

Hi all

This has been another busy week for LEEP. Ian has taken Oakbrook Elementary from Ladson to Folly Beach for a class. Our LEEP bus transported the students to the beach.  There were 50 students enjoying the beautiful day. The students learned team building skill on the beach and were able to get wet and play in the water. Afterwards, Ian took them on a hike to the lighthouse and talked about flora and fauna. They discussed the habitat and their environment. The students ate their lunches on the beach, then enjoyed smores for dessert. The students made the smores and they were cooked on a homemade solar cooker.

We are moving forward with the Halle Lipov event coming up in August.  LEEP will be assisting Halle’s event by holding a beach/park clean with the group. The LEEP bus will be transporting this group to the park. We are working with the Park Services to help with recycled materials. The Park will be assisting with gloves, bags and bins for the garbage.

Halle has created her own website for her great event, this can be seen at Halle Lipov’s Bat Mitzvah Check it out!

Don’t forget we still have LEEP Green Scene Coupon books available. For a 20.00 donation you will get over 400.00 worth of savings as well as a FREE Green Map! Just go to LEEP’s Website and click on the Green Scene picture.

In early May LEEP took 18 Students from Burke High School Marine Science class  to Folly Beach and Brittlebank Park to learn about Barrier Island ecology and Estuaries. We also participated in the Noisette Creek Day held annually at Noisette. The LEEP bus picked up students from Academic Magnet HS and took them to the event.

On May 22, we participated in the annual Earth Force Youth Summit Day held at River Front Park in North Charleston. The LEEP booth had live alligators, crocodiles, and hog nosed snake. We would like to thank to Magnolia Gardens zoo keeper Chris Smith for bringing his animals to the event. We would also like to thank our volunteer Caitlin Campbell for helping out at the event.

On May 27th LEEP’s No Child Left Inside collaborated with Grassroots Call To Action Group for a success event at James Island Elementary Schools “By The Sea Day”.  Shea Onofrey and Jennifer Johnson provided the various classes with garden growing tips and how to be sustainable in growing gardens. LEEP/No Child Left Inside along with Shea and Jennifer will be providing more classes with the kindergarten grade this coming fall.

Ian had a meeting this week with Kristin Newman of Kristin Newman Designs. At this meeting he met a wonderful 12 year old girl named Halle Lipov. Halle will use her Bat Mitzvah to raise environmental awareness. LEEP will be working with Halle and her family to organize a clean up of Brittlebank Park in early August.

Today, the LEEP bus made its way up to Columbia for an event with Canoeing for Kids. The bus will be taking kids back and forth from the Saluda River back to the base camp in Lexington.  Diana met Richard to show him the way through Columbia. The event will go on until 7pm tonight.

LEEP has a few more events coming up this month. If you are interested in volunteering please call us at 800.732.9625! Please see dates below for more information.

• Saturday April 25th 10am to 3pm: Whole Foods Market Earth Celebration LEEP will be there providing children with activities
• Sunday April 26th 1100am to 330pm: Whole Foods Market Earth Celebration. LEEP will be there providing children with activities.
• Tuesday April 28th 11am to 2pm: LEEP will be at MUSC Horseshoe for MUSC Green Day Event providing information on LEEP.
• Saturday May 2nd 4pm to 9pm: LEEP will be at United Artist Hope For Hope, Music and Art Festival. This is an event to help with Project Okaruse at the Old Navy Base. Please click here for more information.

A broken down bus, Cumulus clouds and high winds could not stop the 3rd graders from the ALERT program in Columbia. They made it to Charleston! The students were able to tour the harbor with Sandlapper tours and collected shells on Folly Beach. The students also made some great s’mores in the solar cookers they made from pizza boxes! The students left Charleston with a full stomach, a bag of goodies and a new perspective.
We are getting ready for another big week. On Wednesday, Ian and the LEEP bus will be taking CYP on a tour of Noisette. This Thursday WOW (Web of Water) will be aired on ETV’s Southern Lens at 10pm! Be sure and watch as Ian and his team come down the Heritage Corridor.
Friday, we have a huge day. Another great group of students will be here from Columbia. Then Friday night we will be at the Blackbaud Stadium to watch the Charleston Battery take on Minnesota Thunder!! This is a part of Charleston Battery Go Green Night, so get the family together and go have some fun!! The events begins at 630pm.
Saturday and Sunday LEEP will be at Whole Foods Earth Day Event. Come on out and see what we have planned for the kids! We will also be working with Trident United Way’s Youth Service Day. The LEEP bus will be picking up volunteers at North Charleston High around 830am. They will be heading to Brittlebank Park for a clean up of the park and river!

Today LEEP stayed busy all day. Ian was at Upward Bound at the College of Charleston. This was his last class with the students. Ian surprised the students with a visit from the Djole Dance Troop.  These students performed their music using African drums as they danced.

LEEP was also at the Park Circle Earth Day Festival. Here LEEP helped plant over 400 vegetable seeds with children as they passed by the booth. The students from James Island Middle School MGAP program also helped out by providing games that they designed for the children. The MGAP students also performed a skit they wrote and directed. The skit involved a short play as well as a song written by one of the students.  This program revolved around energy and recycling. Celeste Monette, the students teacher from James Island drove the LEEP bus to the event with the students aboard. The students did a wonderful job with their skit!!

To end this huge day, the LEEP bus transported people going to Kulture Klash which was being held at the Old Navy Base at Noisette.

We would like to thank all the volunteers who made this day a huge success!!