Audubon Society Receives Grant For School Materials

A feathered friend named Kenya, an African Gray parrot, joins Jodie Elizabeth Jeffrey of South Shore Foundation (left) and Marg Bangert of the Audubon Society of North Central Arkansas to mark the awarding of a $2,531 grant from the foundation to the Audubon Society. This is the 10th year the local Audubon Society has provided elementary school children with the ecology study materials called Audubon Adventures. South Shore Foundation has supported the project since 1998.

Students in Marion County schools and some Boone County schools will once again receive Audubon Adventures, ecology study kits, from the North Central Arkansas chapter of the Audubon Society. A grant of $2,531 was approved for the project by South Shore Foundation, the charitable arm of NATCO. The 2004-05 school year will be the 10th year the local Audubon Society chapter has brought the Audubon Adventures program into area schools, said Marg Bangert, project chairman.

Students in 61 classrooms in six schools will receive the environmental education program for the next school year. Classroom kits include individual student newspapers on four ecology topics and teaching materials such as posters and a leader’s guide. South Shore area schools receiving the materials are Flippin, Bruno-Pyatt, Yellville-Summit, Lead Hill, Omaha, and Bergman.

"Our foundation feels that teaching over 1,200 children an enjoyment of and respect for wildlife and the environment is of prime importance. Audubon Adventures in the classroom fills this need," said Jodie Elizabeth Jeffrey, South Shore Foundation Chairperson. Nationwide more than 600,000 children in grades three through six learn about ecology by using this kit, mostly through sponsorship of local chapters. The kits arrive at the beginning of the school year so teachers can incorporate the material to best fit their schedules.

Topics for the current year’s Audubon Adventures kits are: Grasslands, Nature in Your Neighborhood, Forests (coniferous), Water, Wildlife and People. The goal of Audubon Adventures is to develop in young people an appreciation, awareness, and understanding of the natural world, said the National Audubon Society in publicity materials.

For more information about the North Central Arkansas Chapter of the Audubon Society, interested persons may attend a regular meeting at 1 p.m. on the second Monday of each month at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 353 Hwy. 5 North, Mountain Home. The South Shore Foundation may be contacted at 1-888-774-6731 (888-SSHORE1).