![george-forbes-camp-orig[1]](https://ioby.org/sites/default/files/styles/gallery_large/public/george-forbes-camp_orig%5B1%5D.jpg?itok=WYQgaLKs)
- project leader
- Cody A
- location
-
25440 Harvard Road(Cleveland-East side and suburbs)
- latest update rss
- Continuing with Camp Forbes...
the project
Arbor Day is a day to not only celebrate and plant trees, but to learn about and connect to nature! Camp Forbes has been helping children from the Cleveland area connect with nature for decades! The work they do, as well as our passion for educating children through exploration, became the inspiration for this Arbor Day program. Through hands on learning and discovery, we aim to inspire a dedication to nature and science while also tackling some environmental issues.
We will be going on a light nature walk, led by an actual arborist and assisted by one of our local plant experts, learning about the trees of Ohio along the way. Each child will receive Ohio Tree ID cards to assist their learning. Upon returning from the walk, we will have a few interactive experiments and touch exhibits to learn about trees how drink, breathe, and make food, as well as their anatomy. After having so much fun exploring and learning, we will need to refuel! During the bagged-lunch break, kids will have the chance to pick our arborist's brain on trees, what being an arborist is like, and about the importance of education. After lunch, we'll head back outside to learn how to measure the age of a tree, and what some of the changes in tree growth mean before wrapping up the arbor day celebration.
We believe that a lot of childhood learning and inspiration take place outside of school and extracurricular programs. With that in mind, each child will be going home with a junior arborist kit that includes some of the materials they receive during the program, plus some new ones to get inspired by and learn with at home. Don't forget, it is an Arbor Day celebration! What better way to inspire potential future arborists than to give them their very own tree to plant and watch grow? Each child will receive a tree seedling of an Ohio species to take home and plant somewhere special.
the steps
Our plan of action to make this program a resounding success are as follows:
-
-Spread the word!
Our team has built an incredible network over years of hard work and dedication to our causes like ours. We will get word out about this program through our personal and social networks, business networks, social media and related networks, and good some good ol' fashion grassroots informational campaigning.
-
-Garner support
While spreading the word about this program, we will also be helping to build support for it from the local communities. In fact, we are already working on this step!
-
-Register participants
As it stands, the materials and personnel for this program are set to accommodate 30-35 children. In order to ensure that we don't become over encumbered with participants and not have enough materials to go around, we will open registration for this program around a month before Arbor Day.
-
-Acquire supplies and materials
Approximately three weeks before the program, we will begin ordering and picking up the materials needed for this program, so as to ensure enough of a time buffer should something not go as planned.
-
-Practice makes perfect!
The volunteers running and assisting in this Arbor Day celebration will do a "rehearsal" of sorts, so as to ensure that everyone knows the plan, and can deliver the best possible experience for the children.
-
-Execution is key
On the day of the program, we will have all displays, experiments, kits, and exploration ready to go long before participants arrive. Thanks to thorough planning and an incredible team, we will deliver an exceptional educational experience for the children.
-
-Follow up and improvement
After the event, we hope to stay in contact with all of the children and their families. Through follow up contact and conversation the families, we will identify what (if anything) could have made the program better for the children participating in it, and continue inspiring a passion for nature and science.
why we're doing it
As we said, Arbor Day is a day to not only celebrate and plant trees, but to learn about and connect to nature! Access to natural settings and environmental education can be rather limited throughout the Cleveland area. With continued development of land and the expansion of suburban sprawl outside of the city, this access continues to become even more limited. We recognize how important it is for children to develop not only a connection to nature, but a understanding of the sciences of the natural world. Time with nature can provide a wide range of amazing benefits for a child's mental health and aid in the development of crucial social skills. A better understanding of the natural world and the scientific studies applied to it can help to build a strong base on which children can create a successful future for themselves, both academically and beyond.
While our main focus of this program is the children, we are also taking action against climate change. Cleveland is a city of creation, innovation, and development. Of course, with so much going on, we produce quite of bit of CO2 as a result. In fact, we produced an average of about 23 tons of CO2e per person in 2005. While that number has fluctuated in the time since then, northeast Ohioans are still putting out higher carbon emissions than the national average. Trees act as a natural carbon sink, absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and using it in the process of photosynthesis. While it would take an outrageous number of trees to offset the CO2 produced here, all good things must start somewhere. With each tree a child takes home to plant in their community, they are helping to offset their carbon footprint and inspire change within their own neighborhoods. Each tree planted represents a step towards better health, better environments, a better understanding of nature, and a sustainable future for the children involved and their communities.
budget
Disbursed Budget
Original Budget
Leaf Rubbing Activity
- Loose Leaf Drawing Paper-$6.00
Plant a Tree for Arbor Day
- Bulk Native Tree Seedlings-$50.00
Young Arborist Kits
- Tape Measures-$30.00
- Magnifying Glasses-$48.00
- Wood Rounds-$15.00
- Notebooks-$50.00
- Crayons-$12.00
- Half Pencils-$8.00
- Ohio Tree ID Field Cards-$210.00
Bagged Lunch
- Fresh Fruits-$18.00
- Juice Boxes-$12.00
| Subtotal = | $450 |
| ioby Platform Fee | waived |
| ioby Fiscal Sponsorship Fee (5%) | $23 |
| ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) | $14 |
| Total to raise = | $486 |
updates
Continuing with Camp Forbes...
Posted 06/05/2018 - 11:40am
As we mentioned in the last update, our initial program had a relatively small turnout for what we had planned. Because of this, we ended up with some leftover materials and funds. Just because Arbor Day is over doesn't mean this program is, though! Starting THIS COMING MONDAY, we will be running a two hour program each week with the children attending the Great Campout summer camp at Camp Forbes to help them learn about trees, how to identify trees in our area, plant more trees around NEO, and connect with nature in a city where natural areas are few and far between. This continued program will be just like our Arbor Day program, just without the focus on Arbor Day.
Once again, we'd like to thank the donors who have funded this educational experience. Without you guys, none of this would be happening! We'd also like to thank those who helped spread the word about this program, as well as those who have contributed support to this program.
We will be updating weekly throughout the summer on the goings-on of the program.
We learned about and planted trees for Arbor Day, now it's time to do it through the summer!
Posted 05/15/2018 - 11:28am
Sadly, we had a relatively small turnout for our Arbor Day event. However, the children that attended had tons of fun and learned so much about trees, forest relationships, plants, and the ewnvironment! The arborists did an amazing job of relating their personal experience to the children and their families, as well as the importance and science of trees. We saw a lot of smiles, heard a lot of questions being asked, and felt these children genuinely connect to their environment.
The inspiration these children gained from this event warmed our hearts, as well as the hearts of the management at Camp Forbes, and we all wished to see such inspiration continue, especially for these children that don't have much experience with nature outside of the city. As a result, we will be visiting Camp Forbes throughout their summer camp program to bring a (slightly) trimmed down version of this program to even more children in Cleveland!
Again, a massive thank you to all of our donors, those that visited and shared our page, and everyone involved in this program now and going forward! We couldn't do any of this without you!
Arborist on board, meetings.
Posted 03/20/2018 - 10:27am
Two good news updates to share with you guys about this project:
First, we have found a local arborist to join us in this adventure! He's an area native with decades of experience, hailing from a few generations of arborists. Even better, he has thrown a few ideas at us to help improve the program! There may be a few more surprises waiting for the kids!
Second, the organizers of this event have held (near) weekly meetings to discuss the plan of action for the day of the event, scheduling, and ways to improve on the program and the supplies sent home with the children. We have also set weekly goals for each of the organizers, with almost all of the goals (aside from raising funds) met!
We are working hard to make this program work. Thank you for your help and for checking in on this update!
photos
This is where photos will go once we build flickr integrationdonors
-
Cora S.
-
Debra K.
-
Anonymous
-
Anonymous
-
darlene t.
-
Bryan Estrate
-
Anonymous
-
AlgeriArts DA Community
-
Olesia Pochynok-Butano
-
CleTree Hugger
-
Anonymous
-
Aunt Kitty
-
Robin&Donna
-
Anonymous
-
Anonymous
