From "Latch-Keys" to "Discoveries"
Green Mountain Audubon designed an after-school environmental education program for children, and applied to WFD (formerly Work/Family Directions), a national consulting firm based in Boston, MA, for a grant to run the program. The chapter qualified for the grant by meeting the requirements for WFD's "Nature-Links Discoveries" program, which WFD designed in collaboration with IBM to address quality after-school programming in communities where IBM employees live and work. What a great set of solutions -- Audubon centers/chapters need involvement in schools (and money to run programs for kids); kids need something interesting and worthwhile to do after school; we as a society need environmentally-educated kids! For more information, visit Green Mountain Audubon's Web site, or WFD's Web site, or contact either directly (see article end).

Out of Sight!
When was the last time you closed your eyes and went outside -- to absorb the sounds, scents, and skin-sensations of the outdoor world? If you're reading this with your own eyes, you could join those wearing blindfolds and experience Green Mountain Audubon's outdoor Braille trail, using all your senses EXCEPT your sight. If instead, someone is reading this to you because you browse Braille with your fingertips, this trail was built especially for you! The chapter and the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired partnered with others in the community to create a 3/4-mile loop trail through forest, meadow, and shrubland edge habitats in this Audubon center's sanctuary. Funding assistance came from, well ... everywhere! The local community really became enthused about this project: financial backing and free labor flooded in from area Boy and Girl Scout troops, the Lions Club, area churches, and other community and chapter volunteers. Two hundred and forty rope-linked fence posts demarcate the trail, and 17 interpretive signs, each with both Braille and large print, provide natural history and navigational information about each site and about the trail. Trail visitors may also borrow headsets and taped recordings from the nature center for this trail. Almost all of the materials and labor for the trail were donated; Green Mountain Audubon did match some donations in-kind.

FOR MORE INFO, CONTACT:
Bill Howland
Green Mountain Audubon Society Nature Center
255 Sherman Hollow Rd.
Huntington, VT 05462
ph: 802/434-3068
email: audubonmtn@aol.com

OR, TO CONTACT WFD (Work/Family Directions):

930 Commonwealth Ave. W.
Boston, MA 02215
ph: 617/566-1800
email: http://www.wfd.com/