SACO —The Ecology School, a local environmental education nonprofit which teaches 12,000 students a year about coastal Maine ecosystems and sustainability, has been selected as a beneficiary of the Hannaford Cause Bag program.

The program has been designed to support local nonprofits like The Ecology School. For every Hannaford Helps reusable bag with the good karma message purchased at the Hannaford located in Saco, TES will receive a $1 donation toward its EcosySTEM™ program which teaches moe than 4,500 students from the Saco, Biddeford and Bonny Eagle Schools about the science of ecology and how to make sustainable choices.

It’s a pertinent opportunity seeing that the City of Saco now bans all single-use plastic bags.

“This is a really important program for our local students in Saco, Biddeford and Bonny Eagle; we are not only teaching them the importance of sustainability but raising money for their education using sustainable methods,” said The Ecology School Executive Director Drew Dumsch.

The Ecology school has a goal of raising $250 during the month of May, when the ban on plastic bags takes effect.

All funds will go toward its EcosySTEM™ program which provides multi-year environmental education to 4,500 local students from Saco, Biddeford and Bonny Eagle.

Learn more about TES by calling 207-283-9951 or visiting www.theecologyschool.org.

For more information on the Hannaford Cause Bag program, visit www.hannaford.bags4mycause.com or www.facebook.com/hhbagprogram