PITTSBORO - The Students For Sustainability Club (S4S) at Central Carolina Community College hosts a fun and educational Earth Day from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 22, at the college's Chatham County Campus, 764 West St. Pittsboro.

The free, family-friendly event includes exhibits, demonstrations, presentations, children's activities, and entertainment. Its purpose is to encourage and assist people in understanding the importance of and gaining skills to live sustainably.

Learn about green building and weatherization to reduce your home's energy usage. Participate in making compressed earth bricks and building a wall with them. Learn about composting, reuse and recycling, DIY household cleaning products, and how to create a carbon action plan.

Sustainability Technologies students are building a 512-square-foot green Chatham Cottage that will be open to visitors. The house has been dubbed the "Coffee Cake Cottage" in honor of Marianne Lewis. Every Friday, she brings freshly baked coffee cake and organic fair trade coffee to the builders from her family restaurant, Chef Warren's, in Southern Pines. More information and photos of the construction process are available at www.cccc.edu/thechathamcottage.

The S4S members are also participating in a project to sponsor a community garden in Africa. The project culminates on Earth Day, with a "10,000 African Gardens" Auction. The financial goal is $1,234 or more. All proceeds will be donated to the Slow Food Organization. The SFO is working to create 10,000 food gardens in Africa to ensure that schools and villages have a supply of fresh, healthy food, as well as to train leaders.

"This project encompasses many of the issues we study and offers a wholesome and responsible solution," said Rosemary Best, an S4S member who is earning a degree in Sustainability Technologies. "Of all the energy efficient, food choice, consumption habit, and environmental impact changes we may make in our daily lives here in the United States, I don't see how any of them can directly affect the level of hunger a child or community in Africa feels quite like sponsoring a garden can. This project shines with all the facets of sustainability from local advocacy to global interaction."

The Students For Sustainability Club is accepting donations of goods and services to be auctioned online for the gardens project. Monetary donations are also welcomed and encouraged. Among the items currently on the auction table are local goods and services, restaurant gift certificates, artwork, and biofuels.

To make a donation, contact Laura Lauffer, CCCC Sustainability coordinator and S4S Club advisor, at llauffer@cccc.edu or visit the Students for Sustainability African Garden charity auction website at http://s4safricangarden.eflea.ca. The online auction site is open and the close of bidding will coincide with CCCC's Earth Day celebration. Checks should be made out to "CCCC Foundation," with "S4S" written in the memo area so that the funds are earmarked for the club.

To learn more about the 10,000 African Gardens project visit: http://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/what-we-do/10-000-gardens-in-africa.