The Cranbrook Boys and Girls Club will be recognized as the national winner of Earth Day Canada's Great EcoKids Challenge junior category on Friday June 3.

The children are being honoured for their great YouthWise Solar Greenhouse.

"I am very impressed with the creativity and passion that the Cranbrook Boys and Girls Club harnessed to build their solar green house," said Jed Goldberg, President of Earth Day Canada. "Their leadership and ability to engage the greater community around environmental solutions is a great example of what can be done if the will is there."

The kids the Cranbrook Boys and Girls Club identified the need to reduce our carbon footprint on the Earth by building a sustainable solar green house, in which they will grow their own vegetables.

"We started on spring break, worked on it after school, and finished up by the end of April," said Laurie McNeill, with the Boys & Girls Club.

The kids worked together to design and build the solar greenhouse from the ground up, chose the right foods to grow and at what times of the year, set up a schedule for care, and determined the most sustainable ways to maintain their garden.

The food grown will be shared among the three programs the Club runs. Leftover vegetables will be taken home to the kids' families.

 For their efforts, Sony of Canada Ltd., a proud sponsor of The Great EcoKids Challenge, awarded the students with Sony W-Series Walkman MP3 Players and the co-ordinating teacher received a Sony Cybershot Digitial Camera. 

The ceremony will take place Friday, June 3, at 2 p.m., followed by a celebration barbeque for all of the kids and their families and local sponsors. The event will be taking place at the Club's YouthWise centre: 120 7th Ave. S, Cranbrook, BC.