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Support Us!
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By supporting us, you're offering much more than a simple donation!
You're helping us bring people closer to nature, by bringing them together for activities that help them discover their environment! Keep reading to understand our impact.
Discover a passion
Meet Timothée, 8 and a half years old. Originally from Brussels, he left his native Belgium just over a year ago to settle in Montreal with his family. Having grown up in an urban environment, the young boy had never really been interested in nature. In fact, as a perfect little city boy, he had always preferred playing in his room than in the park, and was unaware that, even in the city, he was surrounded by nature...
We met Timothée for the first time on one of our Insects in Action field trips, with his new class. It was a revelation for the schoolboy, now curious about nature! He has been fascinated by bugs ever since.
We had the opportunity to see Timothée twice during the summer. While strolling through a park near his home in the Rosemont borough, Timothée recognized our logo and insisted on stopping by one of our kiosks. Fascinated by our artifacts, the young boy proudly introduced his little sister and parents to us. His parents shared that, since his school outing with us, the child sees every walk outside as a real treasure hunt. We took the opportunity to tell them about the outdoor activities we offer. The following weekend, Timothée was able to try his hand at kayaking with his mom.
We had the pleasure of catching up with Timothée at day camp this summer, where he made new friends. The immersion in nature allowed him to make a wealth of discoveries and nurture his growing passion for biodiversity. In fact, when the issue of climate change was discussed with the youngsters, Timothée promised to do his best to be a "superhero" in the fight against greenhouse gases! In response to his enthusiasm, our naturalists introduced him to the educational tools available free of charge on our website. A few weeks later, we received an e-mail from his mother, in which she told us that the boy had started collecting our educational fact sheets. His new favorite game is to try and spot the species he’s discovered through these tools in their natural environment. The whole family also appreciates our blog posts, which they look forward to with anticipation!
Experience nature
Let us introduce you to 78-year-old Diane. Her two children and her grandchildren live outside Montreal and don't visit her often. Struggling to cope with loneliness following the death of her husband a few months ago, this dynamic, sociable woman's morale was declining rapidly. This led her to move into a seniors' residence in the Ahuntsic neighbourhood, although she still considers herself "a young woman at heart". When she first arrived, she knew little about her new surroundings, barely more about her new neighbours. But she quickly made friends, especially with two other residents, with whom she enjoys participating in all kinds of activities.
We met her at a discovery kiosk organized in the garden of her residence. Diane chatted at length with our naturalist, who explained in greater detail the range of activities we offer. A keen nature walker, she was delighted to learn that we also offer outdoor and interpretive activities.
Diane is a woman who doesn't shy away! Yet there's one activity she's never tried before, out of apprehension: cross-country skiing. After our visit to her home, she challenged herself and her friend Dorothée to give it a try; because, in her words, "there comes an age when you shouldn't be afraid of anything!” The two women joined one of our introductions, guided by a nature educator, and offered as part of the Fête de l'hiver at the Parcours Gouin welcome centre. In addition to realizing that getting around on skis is actually a lot less frightening than she thought, Diane rediscovered the trails of her local park through the expert eyes of their guide, to whom she could ask all her questions.
While Diane enjoyed her introduction to cross-country skiing, walking remains one of her favorite pastimes. And, with biodiversity specialists, it's even better! So as soon as our spring program was released, Diane and her friend Dorothée took advantage of our open house day at the Des Marais pavilion of the parc-nature de la Pointe-aux-Prairies to discover our free, permanent exhibition on birds. Guided by a nature educator, the two women took part in one of the hikes offered on this occasion. With their binoculars, they were like two children, amazed at being able to observe the birds so closely while learning more about them.
Since then, we've regularly met up with the two friends for guided hikes and other guided activities in different parks, both enjoying life and nature.
Much more than a simple donation!
Like Timothée and Diane, every day we meet people from all walks of life and accompany them into the outdoors to pass on our passion and raise awareness about the importance of biodiversity. This year, we offered more than 250 free outings and workshops to classes of all levels (from preschool to high school). We met more than 330 people at activities in seniors' residences. We offered almost 120 kiosks, about 100 nature interpretation activities, more than 100 free outdoor activities. In addition, almost 1 400 people took advantage of our seasonal activities. We also designed 6 educational fact sheets and wrote 32 articles to help you learn more about nature.
By supporting us, you allow many people, like Diane and Timothée, to enjoy free educational, interpretive and outdoor activities all year round! You help us to adapt our services for audiences with specific needs, and to make outdoor activities available to all in every season! You help us develop new content to enable as many people as possible to discover, understand and experience nature. By supporting us, you're offering much more than a simple donation! You're helping us bring people closer to nature, by bringing them together for activities that help them discover their environment!
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