By: Charity Meier | Novi Note | Published December 7, 2022
NOVI — A young girl has started the roots of what she hopes will become a nonprofit for climate change one day.
Ellie Faysal, 9, started the Cans for Climate project in the summer of 2021 with the help of her parents and the support of her teacher.
Ellie, a fourth-grade student at Deerfield Elementary in Novi, said she was inspired to help the environment after reading about Greta Thunberg, a young environmental activist from Sweden.
“I was reading about (Thunberg), and she helped the environment, and I want to be like her and help the environment too, so I decided to start (Cans for Climate),” Ellie said.
Through her Cans for Climate project, Ellie collects and returns pop cans and then donates the money to the city of Novi to plant trees. So far, she has raised over $1,200, which is enough to plant three trees at $400 each. The price includes the city’s labor expenses to have a tree planted.
The Faysals decided to work with the city because it was the easiest way for them to get the trees planted and it enables them to keep the trees they plant in the area so that the children can see the rewards of their actions.
“Right now, it was the easiest way for Ellie to get the trees planted, because, personally, we don’t have experience with planting trees or where to plant them, and it seemed like an easy start,” said Ellie’s mother, Katie Faysal.
The first tree was planted on Earth Day, April 22, in Wildlife Woods Park, near 11 Mile and Wixom roads, with a plaque to commemorate the project’s efforts. The other two trees will be planted in the spring.
“I decided to (plant trees) because trees, like, take the carbon dioxide that we breathe out. It helps us get fresh air,” said Ellie.
Ellie has been able to recruit a group of her friends to assist her with the project. She said her friends and classmates Reina Kitsuda, 9, Olivia Taur, 9, and Clare Schallmo, 9, have been instrumental in her efforts to return the large quantities of pop cans, along with her siblings, Emma, 7, Audrey, 5, and Leah Faysal, 2.
She said that after she told her friends about the project, they started collecting and returning cans too and giving her the money to go toward the trees.
“I think they liked the idea and liked the idea of doing something together like this. So, they joined on and were very eager to help also,” said Katie Faysal. “They’ll collect cans in their section of the neighborhood, and sometimes we’ll return cans together.”
Ellie said that she is often joined by her third grade teacher, Danielle Birdyshaw, when she returns the hundreds of cans too.
“It gets to be a lot for the manpower to return that many cans, so it is good to have the extra hands,” said Katie Faysal.
Birdyshaw described Ellie as a "quiet learner" and said it took some time to discover that she is a "passionate and dedicated leader."
"Ellie rarely volunteered in class early in the year, and she would not typically initiate conversations, so I took note when one day she told me about a can-collecting project that she was starting. Ellie's face was a stunning mix of determination and optimism as she described her plan to collect cans and raise enough money to plant a tree. I had no doubt that Ellie would accomplish her goal."
"I'm not sure when in the journey I realized that I was getting to see something truly impactful from its inception. ... It is very difficult, however, to express what a gift Ellie was to our classroom and is to our community and myself," Birdyshaw said. "I support Ellie because doing so makes me a better person and her greatness in character is a pure joy to be around."
Ellie originally started by going door to door with flyers to collect cans, but then as the project expanded, her parents set up a Facebook page and email for the project. She said she decided to switch to promoting her project online because she could reach more people.
“It’s been nice to start very kid-local, collecting $5 worth of cans at a time and then trying to get more, where people are able to give large bags of cans at a time,” said Katie Faysal. “There’s been some people who have tried to get some cans from their work.”
Katie Faysal said they are looking into converting the project into a nonprofit organization in the future, as well as expanding their territory, but for now they like that the children are able to see their direct impact on their community. She said they wanted to test the project first and make sure they had a good concept going before making it into a nonprofit, but it is definitely in the future for Cans for Climate. Katie said they are also looking to get the cost of trees down, as it is expensive, and to find the right partner to make the “biggest difference.”
“I want to plant at least five to 10 trees and get more over in Novi and around Michigan, metro Detroit, and expand my area that I’m working in,” Ellie said of her goals for the project. “I also want to expand my (project), maybe get a website.”
She said her next goal is to try to find more areas where she can plant trees and try to have more events where people can learn about her project and to find more partners to help plant the trees. Katie Faysal said they are looking for a corporation that does larger returnables so they would be able to do more.
“That would be an exciting next step,” she said.
For more information on the project or to arrange to donate cans, visit the Cans for Climate Facebook page or email cansforclimate@gmail.com.