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COMMUNITY EDUCATION <br /> z <br /> Coming to an Elementary School Near You: <br /> Community Service and Puppets! <br /> By Ben Fairbank <br /> "Welcome to Cape Cod, Buff!"exclaim the children of West Barnstable Elementary School in eager anticipation of <br /> meeting the famed traveling puppet, Buff and his partner Gumbo, the Parrot. "Sgwaaawk!"declares the outspoken <br /> bird, imploring Buff to tell the restless audience about"Zoe and the Green Ribbon." So begins the Green Ribbon <br /> Puppet Show put on by AmeriCorps Cape Cod members. It tells, the great odyssey of Zoe and her friend, Ben, trying <br /> to find Zoe's lost green ribbon,but instead discovering the fragile environment of"Gray Cod Beach."Along the <br /> way,AmeriCorps introduces students to Deputy Sea-Gull,the avian ranger patrolling the beach for polluters; Candy <br /> Popple-Fun, the littered soda can turned literate activist; Bo-Peepers, the stranded dolphin saved by Zoe and Ben; <br /> and The Good Sand-Witch, the subterranean entity whose purpose is to educate unknowing hikers of her fragile <br /> "hair", also known as beach grass. Fun for kids, educational for all, AmeriCorps Cape Cod's"Green Ribbon Puppet <br /> Show" is a story that many can share while learning about ways to protect Cape Cod's fragile environment. <br /> The Green Ribbon Puppet Show is also a lesson in community service as we teach about the group effort that is <br /> necessary to protect our environment. The story behind it dates all the way back to Year 1,when the puppets were <br /> mere dolls and members performed the skit behind a rickety curtain. Year after year, members were forced to <br /> stretch their performance abilities until Year 6 landed funding from the Jimmy Buffett Foundation for a whole new <br /> stage and curtain, sound recording, and state of the art `muppet'-style puppets. <br /> Members since then have been able to base their <br /> puppeteering on the recorded performance as the <br /> characters mentioned above of Year 7 members <br /> and Director Darlene Johnson-Morris, who <br /> recalled having to re-record every time Gumbo <br /> squawked because people could not stop laughing. <br /> It is hard to imagine a spectacle so entertaining <br /> could be so educational,but members pride <br /> themselves in applying their diverse talents while <br /> using these resources so that students take these <br /> really important lessons home with them and talk <br /> to their families about them. Perhaps some might <br /> be more distracted by the occasional puppet <br /> malfunction or sound failure because we all know <br /> how funny that can be. Ideally, a few out of the <br /> many will truly grasp the message we are trying to <br /> send,which is that we can protect Cape Cod's <br /> Members performing the Green • . . . <br /> environment through community service and <br /> n Puppet Show i: <br /> encouraging others to do the same. <br /> i <br /> 13 <br />