The Celebration benefits Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center’s core mission of inspiring people, especially children, to develop a lifelong practice of enjoying & protecting nature.
2020 Celebration of Children in Nature: Awards Ceremony & Dinner
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center invites you to join us for the 13th annual Celebration of Children in Nature.
We will honor three extraordinary leaders and an amazing cadre of public school teachers who are changing our community through their work with children and nature.
WHY WESTCAVE
Funds raised at the Celebration will benefit Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center’s core mission of inspiring people, especially children, to develop a lifelong practice of enjoying and protecting nature through discovery, exploration, and conservation of nature. We are asking for your support as we continue the work of Westcave’s “Children in Nature Collaborative” program, which now boasts over 60 regional partners in Austin and throughout Central Texas. Your investment in our success is vital to the future health and happiness of our community. Our children thrive and come alive when they spend time outdoors. Would you consider joining us as a partner in this important work?
Learn more about the award categories and watch the vignettes of previous award winners.
2020 Celebration of Children in Nature Press Release
Includes Westcave Membership!
10 tickets
Purchase a raffle ticket to win a YETI TUNDRA HAUL, the first ever Yeti cooler on wheels!
And (!!) filled with refreshments from our sponsors!!
Dimensions:
Holds:
45 cans
55 lbs of ice
Retail value $400 + refreshments included!
Support Conservation of our 76-acre Preserve & Beyond
Conservation is the intersection between humans and the natural world. It is the word that defines our relationship with nature as part of and responsible for it.
Support Ongoing Scientific Research
Our current research focuses on ongoing prairie restoration, endangered species studies, new trails and maps that will provide hearing, sight, and mobility impaired individuals with improved access to nature at our Preserve, and newly recorded caves in our canyon that will help inform our neighbors and protect this precious part of the Texas Hill Country in perpetuity.
Beyond Our Preserve - The Children in Nature Collaborative of Austin
The Children in Nature Collaborative of Austin is one Westcave’s two signature programs. Over the past decade, CiNCA has changed the nature of nature in Austin, resulting in the passage of the Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights, creation of new positions with governments and in school districts, brought new voices into the story of environmental stewardship, and led the charge to equitable access to play, discovery, exploration, and nature for children throughout Central Texas. Tonight’s fundraiser benefits the CiNCA, helps fund the positions that support ongoing programs and advocacy, amplifies the voice of each partner in the network, and shines a light on people who are doing the important work that are leading us to a better tomorrow.
New Programming: Storytelling Camp
In 2021, Westcave will host its first ever summer camp, giving children a chance to learn how to do field science and build their own stories around their experiences through their preferred methods of expressing themselves. A $500 gift this evening will help fund scholarships to Camp, and close the gap in order that all children have a chance for next-level experiences in nature, where they will build confidence, friendships, and vital skills as problem solvers and solutions-finders in the next generation.
Support the Green School Parks Initiative
Westcave’s work with CiNCA partners to develop a Green School Park at Pillow Elementary School has given us the chance to know the community and hear more about their summers and school experiences. A $250 gift this evening will help fund our efforts to provide these families with passes and transportation reimbursement to visit Westcave and other CiNCA partner-locations in Austin this year as we build on Baba Dioum’s wise words from so long ago...
“In the end, we will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.”
When kids spend time outside, they are HAPPIER, HEATHIER & SMARTER!
Let’s provide opportunities for kids to be kids. This last level is something we can all get behind. "Raise your paddle" if you remember the laughter of your first fish, the wonder of your first lightning bug, or the delicious dusty muck flavor of your first mud pie… We need kids to be kids, and tonight’s Celebration is all about insuring that sense of play is not lost on this next generation.
