It’s not over, but we heard no shots the last couple days.
At the Bear Center, Tasha has energy. A Lily Fan caught that in this 5-minute video of her and her water tub. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNjghj8-GTg.
Cub with expression
A Lily Fan who is a teacher wrote a nice email about the Black Bear Boxes that she has used a lot. She knows the enthusiasm they can generate among students. She wrote:
“I am so excited that you put the bear boxes in your update. I feel they need lots of exposure and I’m sure you know I have thought it would be great to have “scholarships” for teachers. The items in the box are so hands on, nothing technology can offer. I don’t see them as money makers; I see them as teaching the truth! The materials in the boxes are not what a typical teacher has access to in their county. Again I appreciate the “advertisement”. I hope you will make it a monthly "commercial."
The “scholarships for teachers” she mentioned is the idea that we hope someday, through estate planning, major donations, and the like; that we will have an endowment fund that will generate enough interest income to offer the Black Bear Boxes for free and to give schools gas money to drive school buses to the Bear Center for wonderful programs and interactive learning. If we have the income, we can spread the message farther and in more ways. At this time, reaching students has to be mainly onsite or through distance learning that requires more bandwidth than we presently have. In talking with the head of a large museum, we should be able to spend 5% of the endowment fund per year and have it covered by the interest, dividends, and other income the fund generates. At present, I believe shipping is about $80 dollars each way, which is prohibitive for many schools.
We caught this cub with a strange expression.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center