Wow! What Were You Doing In High School?

Vince DiGennaro, Sean Waitkus &
Center Executive Director Catherine Timko

Two teen volunteers at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center secured a nearly $1,000 corporate donation to support our Bay Village nonprofit. North Olmsted High School Seniors Vince DiGennaro and Sean Waitkus went into the board room to compete for funds under the Farmers Insurance Future Leaders Development Program and presented the donation they earned to Executive Director Catherine Timko today.

Vince and Sean developed a 20-minute presentation to explain why the nonprofit charity of their choice should receive a financial donation. A panel of company leaders judged competing student pitches and based on communication, content, appearance and overall presentation. Sean and Vince worked "countless hours" on the presentation which included a PowerPoint and video synched to music.

Vince and Sean are both involved in North Olmsted High School’s SITES (Social Involvement Through Education and Service) Program, which partnered with Farmers to engage students in the competition. Sean has logged more than 1,500 volunteer hours at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center and won the Volunteer Service Award at his high school for three years running. He is an aspiring naturalist with plans to study wildlife at Hocking College.

Vince has accumulated more than 100 volunteer hours at the Center since September 2010. He plans to attend the University of Miami (Florida) to study meteorology and marine science.

Well done Sean and Vince! Thank you!

Unwrapping Your Year-end Gifts To Nature

 Amy LeMonds prepares to return a owl to the wild.

Just three weeks left in 2010! We hope you've included your favorite charities on your gift list. Year-end support is crucial to the good work of so many valuable nonprofit organizations like Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. 

Imagine in your mind's eye that 180,000 children and adults will be "unwrapping" your gift in 2011... with magical moments during free visits to our live animals and free advice and help for injured backyard animals through our respected Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation Program. Now, that's truly a gift that keeps on giving and puts warmth in your heart and a smile on your face all year long!

Give a gift today and start spreading the joy of nature and wildlife. Thanks for your support and Happy Holidays!

Center Wins CAC Grant for the First Time!

For the first time, Lake Erie Nature & Science Center has received a 2-year grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC), the community partnership and granting agency funded by revenues from a county-wide cigarette excise tax. Lake Erie Nature & Science Center is one of 67 organizations receiving a general operating grant in the 2011 funding cycle and one of only a handful of new recipients.


Our Executive Director, Catherine Timko, had this reaction to the news: “This is truly the result of a team effort involving many people on our staff and board. Most of all, this award is a reflection of the powerful impact of our mission on people across Northeast Ohio and beyond, and our staff members’ ability, skill and enthusiasm to educate and inspire.”

The CAC Board approved a grant of $99,095 for 2011 and 2012 to fund the mission of Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. Key factors in the rigorous application and panel review process included an assessment of cultural excellence, strength of management practices and strength of community engagement measured by both donor support and program participation.

Catherine says that news of the award “energizes Lake Erie Nature & Science Center in a number of ways including confirmation of the value of our mission and affirmation of our distinction as one of Cuyahoga County’s most effective organizations. We look forward to fulfilling the charge of the grant award – delivering meaningful and impactful learning experiences to our visitors and program participants while maintaining sound management – in 2011, 2012 and beyond.”

CAC is a sub-division of the State of Ohio, which collects a dedicated tax on cigarettes sold in Cuyahoga County, to fund local arts and culture organizations. Voters approved the 10-year tax on cigarettes to fund the CAC in November of 2006.

Jingle Bells Herald Gifts for the Animals

The sound of jingle bells heralded this week's arrival of gifts for the animals from the Frogs and Polliwogs classes (which, for the uninitiated, is a popular parent & tot program.) Many of our school-year classes collect items from our "Wish List" as a class holiday project.

Frogs & Polliwogs Instructor Andrea Schwartz and her students rang (take-home) bells and pulled a red wagon stuffed with gifts through the Center to the tree by our fireplace. The children unloaded their presents and placed them under the tree, with visions of chirps and hoots of delight from the animals that will benefit from them!

In-kind donations like the animal care products generously donated by these kids and parents will help feed and care for our wonderful exhibit and traveling educational animals, plus the ill and injured animals that treated in Wildlife Rehabilitation. In-kind donations make a huge difference to our non-profit work and we appreciate their support!

Animal & Nature Lovers Gift-giving Guide

Stumped on what to get the animal or nature lover on your gift list? Here are four ideas you can pick up right here at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center (some, you can order online or over the phone (at 440-871-2900) from the comfort of your easy chair!) Best of all, you'll feel great knowing your gift dollars are making a difference in your community!

Choose a "Go Wild" Animal Adoption and get a great adoption certificate, put your gift recipient's name on the exhibit and/or add a limited-edition "Go Wild" gift pack! Adopt-an-Animal online or stop in if you want to add a gift pack.

Give all the benefits of a Membership to Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, plus through the end of the year, get a free t-shirt! Join online.

Stuff their stockings with logo pencils or super-cool Smencils! These and other affordable logo items are available at the front desk every day 10 a.m. to 5 .m. and through 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve.


Make a donation in your loved one's name. It's a pure, green form of giving that pays dividends in your backyard! Plus, if your gift is new or increased over your 2008 contribution, our "Go Wild" match will double your donation! Donate online now and choose the radio button for "Tribute Gift," fill in your recipient's name and address and we'll send both of you an acknowledgment of your gift.

Thank you for supporting the non-profit Lake Erie Nature & Science Center with your gifts and Happy Holidays!

Three Weeks Left To Double Your Donation

We're in the final 3 weeks to “Go Wild” and double your money for Lake Erie Nature & Science Center! The Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust is matching all new or increased gifts to our year-end “Go Wild” campaign, up to $500 per donor and there's still time to have your gift matched!

Donations from people like you allow us to provide FREE admission and FREE wildlife rehab services 7 days a week. Please help us reach our year-end goal. If you and four friends each give a new gift of $10 and it's multiplied through our matching grant, that will =$100! What a difference that will make!

The chance to double your donation is only good until December 31, 2009, so please don't wait!
• Use our online donation form (select the Annual Fundraising Appeal radio button)
• Donate (and invite friends to support us) through our Facebook Causes page
• Mail a gift to Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, 28728 Wolf Road, Bay Village Ohio 44140
• Make a credit card contribution by phone at 440-871-2900

Your gift is fully tax deductible, too! Rally your friends for our non-profit cause today! Watch this "Go Wild" video link and pass it on!

All of us at your Lake Erie Nature & Science Center thank you for your support!

Christmas Carousel Holiday Festival

Get a jump on your holiday shopping and support our non-profit at the annual Christmas Carousel Holiday Festival this Saturday at Bay High School from 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. The festival features over 30 local artists, craftspeople and quality vendors, a great raffle with fabulous prizes and the oh-so enticing Carousel Café featuring home baked goods, lunch and refreshments.

This event is sponsored by Lake Erie Nature & Science Center’s Women’s Board and benefits our non-profit Center. The entry donation of $3 includes one free raffle ticket.
This event is held at Bay High School (29230 Wolf Road) to allow for plenty of vendor space and parking. There's also an easy access drop-off entrance. Hope to see you on Saturday!

Go Wild & Double Your Impact!

“Go Wild” and double your money for Lake Erie Nature & Science Center! If you haven't already heard, we have a great a foundation challenge grant this year that give you the opportunity to have your gift to our non-profit matched dollar for dollar! The Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust has pledged to match all new or increased gifts to our year-end “Go Wild” campaign up to $500 per donor – meaning your donation can pack an extra punch for our cause!

Support from folks like YOU allows us to provide FREE admission and FREE wildlife rehab services 7 days a week! Your gift can supply food and medical care for our animal ambassadors, help release wildlife rehab patients back to their natural homes or bring students here on a “wild” educational field trip.

The chance to double your donation is only good until December 31, 2009, so don't wait!

• Use our online donation form (select the Annual Fundraising Appeal radio button)
• Donate (and invite friends to support us) through our Facebook Causes page
• Mail a gift to Lake Erie Nature & Science Center, 28728 Wolf Road, Bay Village Ohio 44140
• Make a credit card contribution by phone at 440-871-2900

Because we’re a non-profit organization, your gift is fully tax deductible, too!

Please rally your friends for the cause! All of us at your Lake Erie Nature & Science Center – human and animal – are truly grateful for your support!

Good Eats For a Great Cause!

Giving has never been easier ... or more delicious! On Tuesday, October 20,  the Max & Erma's restaurant at 30105 Detroit Road in Westlake will be donating 20% of all lunch and dinner proceeds to Lake Erie Nature & Science Center! You MUST print and present this special flyer to your server in order to benefit our non-profit Center. Please print as many copies as you like and pass along to friends, but keep in mind that it's against the rules to hand out the flyer on site.
Some of us are already craving hot bowl of that cheesy tortilla soup! See you there. Don't forget to take your flyer!!

Discover Annual Benefit

Organizers of Lake Erie Nature & Science Center's 2009 Annual Benefit pulled off a great party on Saturday night, with backyard ambiance and down home fun inviting everyone to "Discover the Universe in Your Backyard!" Guests drank beverages from signature Mason Jar mugs, enjoyed great barbecue, live music, bonfire, live and silent auctions, a Continental Airlines airfare raffle and much more.
Hundreds of twinkle lights provided starlight overhead, while red-checked table runners and vases of daisies dressed down the white linens on the tables inside the Center and out under the patio tent. Live animals, cornhole and the OSU-USC game on the planetarium dome provided additional entertainment.

Pictured here (L-R) are Decorations Committee Chair Amanda DiBenedetto, Event Co-chair Marianna Orro, Auction Chair Corryn Firis, Event Co-chair Alison Muth and Underwriting Chair Chris Herbruck who all worked closely with Center staff, including Julie Gordon to pull off a wonderful evening for more than 300 guests.

The event aimed to raised $50,000 in support for the Center's non-profit mission to inspire appreciation for the natural world. A lot more photos are posted in an album on our Facebook page and coming soon to our online newsroom media center.
Save the date! The September 11, 2010 Annual Benefit will invite you to Discover the Cosmos!

Old Cartridges, iPods & Cell Phones Add Up

Did you know that our non-profit organization can benefit from your old cell phones, PDAs, laptops, iPods and depleted HP and Dell printer cartridges? You can drop these items off at our front desk and we'll not only send them off for recycling/reuse, but we'll convert them into merchandise credits or cash donations for Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. Printer cartridges must be HP or Dell brand.

We'll also be collecting printer cartridges, mobile phones, iPods and laptops at our July 25 Shredding Day. Thanks for recycling and rethinking how easy it is to make a difference to a worthy cause!

Food for thought: more than 1.1 billion inkjet cartridges are used annually around the world - laid end to end this would be 129 times as long as the Great Wall of China!

Bay 6th Graders Add To Spring Challenge

More wonderful area students are fueling the 2009 Spring Appeal to benefit our non-profit organization. Students on the 6th Grade Student Council from the Bay Village Middle School, who raised funds through candy cane sales and "Penny Wars," voted to donate $240 to Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. The amount goes into the growing 2009 Spring Appeal fund kicked off by some other local students from Glenview School, who challenged everyone to follow their charitable example. In fact, this is the second year, the 6th Grade Council from Bay Middle School has donated to our Center.
Thanks to all these terrific young people for leading the way and giving back to their community!

Kids Making A Difference

Hats off to the "Purple Pandas!" That's the name of a group headed up by two hard-working and generous 4th graders from the Glenview Center for Childcare and Learning in Bay Village. These girls have been combining their creativity, entrepreneurial skills and philanthropy to make and market bead jewelry, etc. to classmates.
Most of the items on the sales table that they set up in the hallway sell for just .10 or .15 cents each, and yet they've managed to raise enough to "Adopt An Animal" at Lake Erie Nature & Science Center (they selected the Leopard Gecko) and have amassed another $50 (and counting) to give to charity.
It just shows that you're never too young to make a difference! Our non-profit mission thrives because people of all ages are willing to share their energy and resources. Thanks Purple Pandas!

Kiwanis Make Over the Critter Corner

Have you and your kids discovered the fun new items in Lake Erie Nature & Science Center's Critter Corner? This popular play area is sporting a whole new look thanks to the 2008 Bay Village Kiwanis Club. A generous donation from the club is funding the ongoing purchase of new, nature and wildlife themed toys and activities. The initial purchases include a “tree house” and a colorful puppet theatre stocked with animal puppets that mimic our collection of live animals including a fox, bald eagle and raccoon.

If you haven't discovered the Critter Corner yet, it's situated next to a cozy fireplace in the main Exhibit Hall and is a favorite spot for families who want to unwind and connect with friends after touring the indoor and outdoor live animal exhibits or attending a planetarium show. It’s also a no-cost escape in the cold of winter or the heat of summer. As an independent, non-profit organization, (nope, contrary to popular misconception, we're NOT funded by the Metroparks budget!) we couldn't have made these improvements to the free play area without donor support!
The Kiwanis Club of Bay Village is part of Kiwanis International, “a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one community and one child at a time.” The local group welcomes new members interested in performing community service and helping children in Bay Village. You can learn more about the club on their website at http://www.baykiwanis.org/.

Thanks Bay Kiwanis!!!

Holiday Wish List

Even if you're belt tightening this holiday season, you can afford something from our "wish list." We have items both small and large on our list and they all help us carry out our mission to "educate and inspire each of us to understand, appreciate and take responsiblity for the natural universe." So pick up some baby food or pine shavings for the wildlife in our care or puzzles and blocks for the children in our classrooms and drop them off at the front desk. You can access the complete in-kind donation "wish list" here. Thanks for including us in your giving. Happy Holidays!

We need you!

There's been a barrage of unsettling headlines recently about the struggling economy and its impact on all of us-- jobs, nest eggs and yes, philanthropy! Like other worthy non-profit organizations, Lake Erie Nature & Science Center relies on the generosity of people like you – not tax dollars – to provide the crucial funding for our mission.
In spite of the turbulent times, if you are able, we hope you will take time in this busy season to make a year-end gift to the children, families and animals that rely on us. We are only able to provide free admission seven days a week, wildlife rehab at no charge and so many other valued programs and services with the strong financial backing of donors like you.
You can make a 2008 year-end gift to us in one of three ways: call 440-871-2900, mail your donation to 28728 Wolf Road, Bay Village, OH 44140 or follow this link right now to donate online.
To those of you who have already made a contribution, thanks for your support!
To each of you, forget about the economy for a bit and come visit the animals, catch a star show or just sit by our fireplace and relax. Hope to see you soon!

Shredding Day Thank You!

The first-ever Shredding Day sponsored by Lake Erie Nature & Science Center on Saturday enabled more than 150 area families to safely dispose of old confidential documents without worrying about identity theft or landfill waste.
The Shredding Network of Wickliffe donated the use of their state-of-the-art mobile shredding truck for the morning, so 100% of the donations for the service went to our non-profit organization.
The best part is that all those bags and boxes of paper (4.6 tons worth!) are now shredded, bailed and on their way to a paper mill to make new paper products! Shredding Network estimates that by recycling 4.6 tons of paper, we saved 78.2 trees and 13.8 cubic yards of landfill!

A win-win morning for everyone involved! Thanks to Dana Mueller and the Shredding Network who hope to make this an annual event in Bay Village. Keep recycling!

Thank You for Supporting Survivor Mexico!

We're still totaling up the numbers, but by every measure so far, this year's Survivor Mexico Annual Benefit was a smashing success! Pictures from our South-of-the-border party and auction are posted here as well as in this week's WestLife and West Shore Sun newspapers. Check out even more photos in the Sun's online party photo album. Look for additional coverage in upcoming issues of West Shore Magazine and Currents. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the event, especially our Co-Chairs, Martha West, Marianna Orro and Alyssa Kamm, pictured with the mariachi trio and all of our generous donors and underwriters!

Girl Scouts Give Back

Junior Girl Scout Troop 057 of Lorain decided to make the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center the focus of their Bronze Award Project. The Girl Scout Bronze Award is known to be the highest award a Junior Girl Scout can earn, as it stands to prove that they have made a promise to help others, improve their community and world, and become the best they can be.
The girls of Troop 057 felt they could best show their support for the Center and the community by collecting materials for both the resident animals and the many preschool classes the Center conducts year-round. The photo shows Jondelia, Hayley, Theresa and co-leaders Anna and Linda delivering the supplies. Three other girls, Anastashia, Tatyana and Aleea helped out but aren't pictured. We thank them for their support in providing our Center with the supplies necessary to maintain our status as a valuable resource in our community!

Center Blooming Thanks To Heinen's

Color suddenly abounds all around Lake Erie Nature & Science Center thanks to a generous donation from Heinen's. Stores in Bay Village and Rocky River gave us flats, pots, planters and hanging baskets to brighten up the Center. We also plan to use some bright geraniums at our Girl Scout Back to Nature Camp and if your family enjoyed the flower pot project at Family Fun Fest, you can thank Heinen's for the beautiful blooms that went in your child's creation.
We are fortunate to have community partners who support our mission. Thanks Heinen's!