FLIPPIN, Ark. - The South Shore Foundation has, once again, approved a grant to place environmental study kits - Audubon Adventures - in area schools. South Shore Foundation's grant this year is $2,745 to the Audubon Society of North Central Arkansas to purchase kits for 61 classrooms of third, fourth, fifth and sixth graders in Flippin, Bruno-Pyatt, Bergman, Lead Hill, Omaha and Yellville-Summit schools. This is an increase of approximately $800 this year, which covers additional kits.

South Shore grant provides Audubon Adventures to schools

Each kit contains materials for 32 students on four specific topics, a classroom poster, a video and a teacher's guide for additional environmental study activities for the students.

Marg Bangert, vice president of the local chapter of the Audubon Society, said, "We appreciate the grant to be able to put these kits into the schools. It is very important to help children learn about the environment when they are young."

Speaking for the foundation, Trustee Phyllis Speer said, "One of the main goals of the foundation is to promote environmental education and provide an opportunity for the young folks of the community to learn about our natural world. We appreciate the opportunity to fund this project."

Through the efforts of the local chapter of the Audubon Society, elementary school and middle school students throughout the region will receive these kits, which are prepared for teachers and students by the National Audubon Society. Fund-raisers such as the Baxter County Fair booth and a Spring Open House, provide funding to place Audubon Adventures in Baxter and Fulton county schools.

Anyone interested in activities of the North Central Arkansas Audubon Society is invited to join the group which meets the second Monday of each month at 1 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran Church, Highway 5 North, Mountain Home. The chapter also sends students to Arkansas Audubon Ecology Camp each summer near Hot Springs. The stated goal of the parent organization nationally is, "To conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife, for the benefit of humanity and the earth's biological diversity." 

South Shore Foundation Trustee Phyllis Speer (at right) displays one of the Audubon Adventures classroom resource manuals that elementary and middle school students will be receiving for environmental studies. With her is Marg Bangert, vice president of the Audubon Society of North Central Arkansas. South Shore Foundation funds the kits for Marion and some Boone County schools, and the Audubon Society raises funds to place the kits in additional schools.

South Shore Foundation is the charitable foundation of Northern Arkansas Telephone Company of Flippin. The foundation makes grants to nonprofit agencies and communities to promote educational advancement, environmental preservation, community betterment and economic development. NATCO President Steven G. Sanders also chairs the board of trustees of the foundation. For more information or to receive a grant application, call 870-453-3333.