WELLS — The Wells-Ogunquit Community School District held its annual Volunteer Appreciation event on June 12 with a barbecue in the Wells Elementary School gymnasium. Those who volunteered a combined total of 3,000 hours working at various tasks throughout the district’s three schools during the 2013-14 school year attended.

The highlight of the luncheon was the announcement of this year’s Exemplary Volunteer of the Year, Brody Johnson, who was selected based on his work with “terracycling” at Wells Elementary School. Terracycling is the “upcycling” of certain hard-to-recycle items such as empty yogurt containers, juice pouches and glue sticks.

Jen Royal is an aid to Johnson and volunteers time helping Johnson collect, sort, count and ship all the plastic items to TerraCycle, a recycling company.

“Without Brody helping with this project, we would not be participating,” said Community Resource Coordinator Maryanne Foley, who recruits and manages the district’s volunteers.

WES receives compensation to buy school items from the recycled plastic shipped to TerraCycle, Foley said.

Johnson, a 2011 graduate of WHS, has volunteered in the district for five years. At Wells Elementary, he has collected, shredded and prepared used paper for recycling and assisted students at lunchtime in sorting food to be composted.

Anyone interested in becoming involved in the WOCSD School Volunteer Program in the fall should contact Foley at 646-5953, ext. 4204 or mfoley@wocsd.org.