Pictured top: Kids find aquatic creatures in basin of river waterBottom: John Peterson of Ruskin proudly wears the backpack he won, one of several larger prizes given away to participants through a free raffle.
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Today's Back to School- Back to Nature event was a fun morning of nature activities with free school supplies. Visitors were waiting for the Center to open at 9am and in just 3 hours, 165 children plus their parents had the opportunity to: learn how to work a GPS, make butterfly rings, find out what an ant lion is, discover their inner artist and more! Plus they got a head start on gathering needed school supplies after every activity.
Thanks to these organizations that helped make it happen:
RCDF, Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation & Conservation, Publix Supermarkets, Tampa Bay Rays, Walmart, South Shore Regional and Ruskin Libraries, South Shore Arts Council, Family Resource Center, Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful, Florida Department of Forestry, and all our Camp Bayou and Paleo Preserve volunteers- Jeri, Diane, Fred, Daniel, Herb, Sharon, Mark, Becki, Mac, Trixley, Scott, and Frank !
This event is part of a 'Summer of Learning' and follows the 'No Child Left Inside' initiative. It is also inspired by 'Get Outdoors Florida!' and NWF's Green Hour.
Camp Bayou is a public- private partnership between the non-profit Ruskin Community Development Foundation, Inc. (RCDF) and Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation. Camp Bayou is located 3 miles south of SR674 at the end of 24th St SE in Ruskin.
Camp Bayou is nether a campground nor a summer camp. It was an RV park before the County's ELAPP program purchased the land but it is now open for day use only, open to the general public. Through volunteers, donations, membership and grants, the RCDF offers pre-scheduled programs to schools, youth groups, adult groups and families plus it's open from Thursday- Saturday from 9am-2pm for passive recreational pursuits such as wildlife watching. More information is on the web at http://www.campbayou.org/ .
Camp Bayou is nether a campground nor a summer camp. It was an RV park before the County's ELAPP program purchased the land but it is now open for day use only, open to the general public. Through volunteers, donations, membership and grants, the RCDF offers pre-scheduled programs to schools, youth groups, adult groups and families plus it's open from Thursday- Saturday from 9am-2pm for passive recreational pursuits such as wildlife watching. More information is on the web at http://www.campbayou.org/ .
Coverage in the South Shore News 8/12/09:
http://southshore2.tbo.com/content/2009/aug/12/ss-back-to-school-and-nature/news
I had a great time helping at this Aug. 1 event. The many green bags were especially good to watch; thanks to those who provided them along with all those school supplies!
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