Environmental Challenge Grant from the Lumpkin Foundation to support Emiquon efforts

The Lumpkin Family Foundation of Mattoon, Illinois will match gifts that support education at the University of Illinois Springfield’s Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon. The dollar-for-dollar offer, up to a total of $5,000, lasts through November 30, 2012.

"We see in the Field Station a great opportunity for education that takes a learner out of the classroom and into the field, whether that learner is a child looking at microbes from a nearby lake, or an adult touring a wetlands restoration with an environmental scholar,” said Bruce Karmazin, executive director of the Lumpkin Foundation.

The Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon, under the direction of UIS professor Michael Lemke, takes advantage of the unique living laboratory for aquatic ecology related to The Nature Conservancy's floodplain restoration along the Illinois River. UIS students and community groups use the facility to learn about the environment.

To contribute, visit www.uis.edu/development or call the UIS Office of Development at 217/206-6058.

Educational activities for the community include the following:

• Monthly Second Sunday Science Series (4S), a program for the public, students, and others featuring Emiquon's scientific, historical, and future significance. Gifts would help bring regional and national experts on the environment to the series.
• Field trips for K-12 students, local clubs, and organizations, at which participants use microscopes, collect samples, create Winogradsky column to take home, complete a camera scavenger hunt, and much more. Gifts would help provide learning modules for new activities. 
• Environmental academies, at which high school students learn about careers in the environment and contribute as volunteers to restoration activities. Gifts would help provide new equipment and supplies. 

For more information, contact Sarah Jennings, Interim Associate Chancellor for Development and Interim Sr. VP University of Illinois Foundation at 217/206-6058 or sjenn02s@uis.edu.