Monday, February 28, 2011

A Tour of Campus

11 hours and 7 minutes of daylight today
So far we have had 10.5 feet of snow this winter.  (We average 15 feet.)

Let me take you on a tour of our campus today.

Here is Au Sable Institute's Lodge today.  It contains an auditorium that will seat 70.  Also on campus are two classroom buildings, the Environmental Learning Center and Earth Hall.

This is Bracken House, one of our dorms.  It will house 12 students.  Two other dorms allow us to house a total of 40 students here on our wooded campus.

Au Sable has enough snowshoes to outfit two classes.  Our snowshoe trails meander through beautiful terrain.

This is part of our ski shop.  We can outfit fourth graders through adults.  We groom 9 miles of cross country ski trails. 
The recreation building houses our snowshoes and skis plus a lighted ice rink.  A favorite of winter guests is broom ball!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Good News!!

Sunrise 7:27 AM  Sunset 6:24 PM  10 hours and 57 minutes of daylight

We needed to raise $15,250 to cover all the environmental education program costs.  We have $3,000 yet to go!!

Teachers waiting to schedule for the spring:  We will begin scheduling nest week.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Making it happen... It takes a lot of us banding together

Even though our budget is modest, the student fee we charge does not cover all our expenses.  We must raise the money needed in order to offer our environmental education program.

For the 2010 / 2011 school year we must raise $15, 250 to cover all our expenses.

To date we are over half way to meet our goal.  We need $6,695 more in order to offer our spring session.

On the bar graph below, the red section represents the amount being supplied by           Au Sable’s environmental education endowment with the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation.  A big thank you to those who gave to establish this fund.  We take $1,250 of the available interest from this fund each year to support the environmental education program.  Your gifts continue to give each year!

If you are one of our Michigan supporters you may wish to give to this endowment fund for its tax advantages.  Michigan residents can take half their gift as a tax credit on their Michigan income tax return. (up to $100 for single filers and up to $200 for married filers).

The blue section of the bar graph represents the amount given by individual donors.  Thank you for your commitment to Au Sable and the environmental education program!  Included in this category are those who have joined the 100 Club. The 100 Club is comprised of those who have committed to give $100 each year for five years.

In 2008 Au Sable’s endowment was severely impacted.  It could no longer support our programs.  The 100 Club was established by our founder, Dr. Harold Snyder, to help us through the transition from a program heavily dependent on Au Sable’s endowment to a program that is self sustaining.

If you wish to support our environmental education program, checks can be sent to:
Au Sable Institute, 7526 Sunset Trail, NE, Mancelona, Michigan 49659.  Please make checks out to       “Au Sable Institute”.  Please put “EE program” in the memo line of your check.