Land pirates. Frog Princes. Buzzard Birders. If you’ve been a purveyor of Boxerwood’s summertime story series, you’ll know what I’m talking about. In brief, these are stories we’ve shared from twenty years of connecting children with nature through our educational program, Project NEST (Nurturing Environmental Stewardship Together).
The props may change (a trowel here, a hand puppet there), but the storyline is the same. The goal of Project NEST is to awaken the heart to the providence of nature and the capacity—within each of us—to step forth as Earth Stewards.
Today some of our first land pirates have grown up to become park rangers, marine biologists, groundwater technicians, earth advocates, meteorology majors, agronomists, and educators. Many more have become environmentally responsible citizens in their daily lives and in their communities. That’s impact.
These Earth Stewards hail not just from Lexington, but from Glasgow, Buena Vista, Goshen, Fairfield, Natural Bridge and everywhere in between. Project NEST’s county-wide focus is deliberate. Outdoor learning is a right for all children, regardless of income or background. This is not a new tenet to Boxerwood: it is fundamental.
That’s why this school year we humbly request your program donation be directed to the Boxerwood Educational Foundation (BEF). The BEF is an independent entity specifically created to fund programs for low-income school children and their families. Last year, donors large and small contributed more than $17,000 to the BEF, all of which went back into the Rockbridge community.
We don’t need to tell you this school year comes with big challenges. With regular programming (and revenue) suspended, we are forging new pathways. We’ll be leading a Girls Hiking Club for Buena Vista teens, piloting weekend STEM programs for Natural Bridge families, providing sustained outdoor programming for kids enrolled in the YMCA’s pop-up child care centers, and more. Your BEF contributions will support this work, plus enable us to immediately meet our schools in their post-pandemic needs.
In this topsy-turvy year, children need opportunities to root their lives in the steady, earth-world around them. And we have a need, as a society, to extend those opportunities to those who might benefit the most. That’s what a gift to the Boxerwood Educational Foundation will do. Thank you for being part of this just and healing work.
Yours for a thriving Earth,
Elise Sheffield
Boxerwood Education Director
P.S. Your gift to the BEF also helps us reap benefits from a new state-facilitated donor incentive program. The greater the total donations to BEF each year, the greater the number of state tax credits we can offer eligible donors the following year. In other words, it helps Boxerwood keep going and growing. Win-win-win.
