Thanks Key Bank Volunteers

What a beautiful day to get out and do some yardwork and a great group of volunteers from Key Bank came, dressed in Key Bank red, to clean up the yard around Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. Our beautiful grounds are all spruced up and waiting for our visitors to enjoy. Our thanks to Key Bank!

New Alert Notification System

If you go to Lake Erie Nature & Science Center's homepage, (at least, today and tomorrow) you'll see a new feature in the upper left corner. It's our new Alert Notification box. Right now, this bright orange box is displaying a schedule change for Twinkle Tots (the program has been cancelled for Thursday, May 15, only.) You can check this same area of our homepage in the future for important scheduling reminders, weather cancellations or other late-breaking information about the Center and it's programs. It's just one more way we're using our website to keep our community informed.

Silent Auction Needs You!

It's still four months away, but we're receiving some great donations for our Annual Benefit & Silent Auction! Planning is well underway now for our Survivor Mexico–themed party and auction, which will take place on September 13. (Save the date! You’re invited to the fiesta!)

We also invite you to use your talents, your hobbies, your business, your connections to support our non-profit work. Make a unique gift to our 2008 Silent Auction. Here are some ideas:

Event or Season Ticket Holder? – Donate a set of tickets to a concert, play, Cleveland Browns, etc.
Vacation Club member or Timeshare owner? – Donate your week and write off as a tax deduction
Fishing Club or Country Club member? – Donate a day fishing at the club, or a round of golf
Artist or make jewelry? – Donate one of your fine works of art
In business? – Donate your services: tax preparation, landscaping (fall clean-up), dental services (teeth whitening), or dinner prepared by a chef.

Use your imagination! We’re open to new ideas.

If your talent is shopping, you can help our classroom parents build fun theme baskets. Please consider picking up an item or two now to donate to one of the following children's basket themes:

Crazy for Critters: Look for toys, games, art kits, books and other items with a wild animal theme. Who doesn’t love creatures?

Princess: Think pink! This basket will be 100% girly girl. Possibilities include dress-up items and playthings a princess would enjoy. We did this a few years ago and it was a popular with bidders.

Creepy Crawlies: Toy insects, spiders & snakes, butterfly net, magnifying glass, bug jar, books and other toys.

Donations can be dropped off at the front desk. Items will be auctioned at our event and donors will receive recognition in our event program guide. Give Barb Caskey a ring at (440) 871-2900 ext 207 or email barbc@lensc.org with questions.

Do You Have A Duck In the Race Yet?

Have you signed up to sponsor a yellow quacker in the Great Duck Race, yet? What are you waiting for? The 2:30 p.m. rubber ducky race down Porter Creek is one of the highlights of Family Fun Fest, Sunday, June 1, noon - 4 p.m. at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. If your duck crosses the finish line fast enough, you could take home cash or other great prizes including Indians tickets, certificates for ice cream from Mitchell's, Cold Stone Creamery and Dairy Queen, Rita's Italian Ice, Starbucks, Java Bay and the Copper Cup, CiCi’s and Donato's Pizza, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Subway and Quiznos, Bay Lanes and Diamond Indoor Sports, Pettiti Garden Centers, Portrait Innovations and Paul Green School of Rock Music.

You don't have to be present to win, but why miss Family Fun Fest, which also features planetarium and live animal shows, nature crafts, carnival games, bounce houses, casting lessons with the Division of Wildlife, Family Nature Discovery Hikes and dancing with Radio Disney.

You can sponsor a duck at $5 for one duck or 3 for $10. Corporate Underwriter Sponsorships start at $250 and include special recognition and other benefits. If you'd like to join our 2008 Corporate Sponsors, The Huntington National Bank and Hyland Software, call us at 440-871-2900 x207.

Fotops Photographer Larry Bennet captured this great shot of the 2007 Great Duck Race last year for WestLife News.

Full Dome Lasers To Light Up Planetarium

We're hearing a lot of good buzz about our all free Astronomy Day coming up this Saturday, May 10. Download a pdf schedule or check out details online and make plans to join us if you can.

Later in the month, we have a dazzling, new planetarium experience for our visitors! Lake Erie Nature & Science Center is excited to bring a limited run of award-winning, full-dome laser light shows to our Bay Village location in late May and June. The programs will feature Skylase laser technology, which combines animated lights, music and/or storytelling to create an experience that appeals to all ages.

Our public schedule of laser shows begins Saturday, May 24. You can visit the website page devoted to the Laser Lights for complete dates, times and details. You’ll note that our tickets will be priced very affordably compared to similar laser experiences available around the country.

One more FYI: if you're considering enrolling your K - 6 child in our June 17 - 20 Summer Space Camp, you're child will be happy to know that Skylase Lights will be on the roster of fun for that camp as well!

Baby Birds Babbling

The chirping sounds that fill the air this time of year are actually baby birds learning to "talk" ... just like human babies "babble" as they learn to communicate. That's the conclusion of new MIT research.
The study looked at the brains of baby zebra finches as they learned the unique song of their species by practicing or babbling almost non-stop. Enjoy the music of babbling baby birds this spring and remember Lake Erie Nature & Science Center is a resource if you have questions about baby wildlife in your backyard. Our most Frequently Asked Questions, including queries about nesting ducks and baby birds can be found on the Wildlife pages of our website.

Thanks for more than 7,000 volunteer hours!

Lake Erie Nature & Science Center benefits each and every day from the helping hands of a generous corps of volunteers. More than 260 individuals logged more than 7,000 hours last year serving in a variety of roles around the Center. On any given day, you can find volunteers doing the "dirty work" of cleaning cages and feeding the animals, planning and pulling off spectacular special events, assisting our education staff in classrooms and at camps and scouting events, acting as live animal docents, sprucing up the building and grounds, answering telephones, raising funds and collecting in-kind donations and much, much more.

Our Volunteer Coordinator, Julie Mistur, is planning a week to honor our volunteers, starting Tuesday, April 29. We hope all of our wonderful supporters who give us the precious gift of their time will stop in to pick up a treat and to let us express our gratitude in person.

Thank you Lake Erie Nature & Science Center volunteers!!! We couldn't do it without you!!!

Check Us Out On WJW Fox 8

Planetarium Director Jay Reynolds, Wildlife Director Dave Wolf and a variety of our wild animals were featured in a segment on That's Life today. Q104s Jen Toohey was focusing on cool, inexpensive stuff to do with the kids. We qualify on the cool and affordable fronts! You can watch the entire story online on the My Fox Cleveland website. Thanks to the very nice folks at Fox 8 for including us on their "best" list!