Entrepreneur Boy Turns Passion For Recycling Into A Business
NewsDay:
A lot of people are worried about the effects of global warming. Hunter Gross, a middle school student from Dix Hills, decided to do something about it.
With his parents’ help, the West Hollow Middle School student started Project Kool Inc., a company that designs and sells reusable canvas lunch bags as part of Hunter’s campaign to eliminate plastic and paper lunch bags from elementary schools nationwide. He is the chief executive and his dad, Jeff, and mom, Stacy, are co-presidents.
The $5 bags come with recyclable markers for doodling. The company emphasizes that the markers are made in Hauppauge and are lead-free. Project Kool also makes canvas snack mats for small children as well as tote bags, both of which also come with markers. All the products are made in India and come in a natural color or tie-dye shades.
So far the 4-month-old company has sold 4,000 bags, primarily through PTA fundraising events, Jeff Gross said. PTAs have sold the bags at the Chestnut Hill, Sunquam and Forest Park elementary schools in the Half Hollow Hills School District and the Willits Elementary School in Syosset, Gross said. The bags also sell at some local specialty retail stores, such as Lester’s in Huntington, Greenvale and Manhattan.
Hunter, 12, began to obsess about global warming after a science class discussion about it in May, toward the end of the last school year. ‘He kept talking about it,’ his mom said. ‘The only way to stop him from talking about it was to sit down and come up with something that helps.’
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