My name is Kari Lleras. I am a second grade teacher at Frederick Douglass Elementary School in the Seaford School District. Our assistant principal has always been a "green man" and he inspired the school to go green.

We decided that we would start small. We recycle plastic water and soda bottles that the students and teachers use. We also sent home a note that told parents they could send in their plastic water and soda bottles.

Parents continue to send the bottles in. A parent of a kindergarten student picks up the bottles every Monday and takes them to the nearest recycling bins. The school got so into the recycling idea that we made a float made of all recyclable materials for the Homecoming parade (we have great pictures). Our assistant principal dressed up as Captain Planet and we played his theme music. We even made shirts that say "GO GREEN!" Parents contributed bottles, sod, lights, etc. We were the hit of the parade.

Senior Probation Officer Diana DeBenedictis with DE Dept. of Correction, Cherry Lane Office let us know about a recycling program that was started at her office by SPO Bonnie Stark. She writes: "Approximately one year ago, SPO Stark approached management and asked if recycling bins could be placed throughout the building. Management agreed and since that time paper, cardboard, bottles and cans have been collected. All paper is shredded. About once every week-ten days all the recyclable goods are transported to the DSWA plant off Rt. 9/Lambson Lane.

Since the program started in 2008, we have collected, shredded and recycled approximately 3,100 pounds of paper and cardboard. Between March and September of 2008 alone, we recycled 1,090 cans and 982 bottles.

SPO Stark needs to be recognized for starting and implementing this project. Our supervisor, Jessica Cline, has been very supportive of our efforts. Several staff members help me with the collecting, shredding, and transporting of everything that is placed in the bins. Hopefully, we can continue to make this project a success and also be an example for other offices.

Kirk Patti in DelDOT's IT Group reports: I'm responsible for introducing the VMware Infrastructure to DelDOT over a year ago. Since that time we have virtualized nearly 50 servers, saving by statistics given during the January 22nd DelNUG, $92,000 annually on energy cost.

Within the next few weeks we will be doubling the number of ESX host from four to eight, and most likely double the energy cost savings as well. DelDOT currently supports a couple hundred of physical servers, many of which can be virtualized in the future. Currently all request for new servers, must be considered first as a candidate for virtualization rather than physical hardware.