There are many amazing national parks with incredible natural features to inspire wonder and awe. Yet most of us live out our daily lives away from soaring mountain peaks, sparkling rivers, and majestic open spaces. We dwell within the ordinary spaces of cities, suburbs, and urbanizing edges. Whiskeytown Environmental School, located within Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, captures the middle ground, providing easy access to a diverse and vibrant ecology for hundreds of thousands of people living in and around Redding, California’s largest city north of Sacramento. Whiskeytown Environmental School (WES) is accessible to our student population not only physically but also philosophically. The WES science curriculum encourages curiosity, grows compassion, and plants the seeds of commitment to and love for the outdoors. All children are welcome no matter their background, economic status, or ability. These are among the many things that I cherish most about WES.
Grow Back Stronger is a fundraising campaign sponsored by Whiskeytown Environmental School Community. We are the official philanthropic partner of the National Park Service committed to raising money to rebuild the buildings and infrastructure damaged by the Carr Fire. Since 2011, WES Community has supported the hands-on science education at WES by raising donations and community awareness. The destruction wrought by the Carr Fire propelled us into a new role to build the campus back stronger to serve the community for the next one hundred years. We are united with four entities—two public agencies and two nonprofits—to return children to the beloved week-long residential camp that has become a rite-of-passage for many 5th and 6th grade students across a five-county region. WES Community stands with the National Park Service, the land stewards of the site; the Shasta County Office of Education, the providers of hands-on science instruction; and the Friends of Whiskeytown, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to recreation at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. All four organizations support the vision to bring children back to WES. All believe in the value of getting children back outdoors relating to nature and each other.
I invite you to partner with us by donating to Whiskeytown Environmental School Community, so we can achieve together the immediate goal of bringing children back to WES. Attendance at camp is a life-changing rite-of-passage for many children who otherwise cannot afford to attend an overnight “away camp” experience. For many children, it is their first time away from their home and families. Students are challenged to learn outside of a traditional classroom environment, which builds confidence and instills resiliency. They establish friendships with peers that can last a lifetime. Along the way, they can become awed by nature and see themselves as part of a larger web of life, whether by engaging with invertebrates that inhabit Clear Creek or gazing at the millions of twinkling stars above their heads during a night hike. These experiences are precious in that they build stronger individuals who see themselves as part of society and the natural world. ~Melinda Kashuba, PhD, Whiskeytown Environmental School Community President
To see how you can help WES reach their goal, please visit their website, WES Community.
