As I write this, the leaves are slowly drifting down from the trees and the sun is shining at a different angle than it was a month ago. The seasonal shift is readily apparent; the wheel of the year is turning. In our busy lives, sometimes it can seem like we’re on a never ending treadmill. While it might feel we’re following a linear path and chasing some far off benchmark of success, nature knows we operate on cycles. Inherently, we know this and teach it to students in the form of the life cycle or the water cycle.
At Friends of the Fox River (FOTFR) we’ve come to rely on the seasonality of many of our programs and our strategic calendar reminds us of how our events and programs roll out year after year. Taking time to pause, assess, recalibrate, or even rest before the next turn of the wheel is essential to recognizing successes and identifying areas for growth and improvement. The end of the year is a common reflection period, but FOTFR is working to implement this throughout the year and, in addition, communicate to you, our Friends, how your support keeps our wheel turning.
Each turn of the wheel has the same foundation, but we build upon previous successes and partnerships. Here’s how your investment in FOTFR has helped keep the wheel turning.
Starting with our Giving Tuesday request last year, generous Friends stepped up to provide funding for a new van to transport gear, students, paddlers and more. Quite literally, you kept our wheels turning! (To see why we needed new wheels, check out last year’s video here.) Your generosity, in turn, provided the opportunity for a donor to swoop in with a professional design and application of FOTFR branded van wrap. Now we are easily recognizable. Unveiling coming soon. Stop and say “hi” if you see us around the watershed!
Last fall was also the start of a partnership with the Wong Center for Education to deliver after school STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs to East Aurora elementary and middle schools. Although the majority of the program is generously funded by a grant from The Dunham Foundation, your support helps with program development and continuous refinement of our delivery and engagement methods. We were recently notified that the program was funded for a second year so we are hard at work building upon last year’s successes and challenges as we evaluate and develop more hands-on STEM programming to connect our local students to their watershed. This year’s programming will focus on freshwater mussels and we hope to eventually make it available to broader audiences.
Historically, winter and early spring months have been considered the off-season for FOTFR, but STEM programming kept us busy until our usual spring field season kicked off in April. Just as we meet our Friends where they are, we operate on much the same spectrum for our educational programs. Your support keeps boots in the stream regardless of whether schools or other organizations are able to compensate us for our work. We never deny educational services. Likewise, our summer campers pay a registration fee, but it doesn’t cover the full cost of development, delivery and additional materials required to pull off our immersive and hands-on camp. Your support fills in the gaps, allowing us to focus on delivering meaningful watershed education experiences.
A major addition to our yearly wheel was the EL CARDUNAL paddle celebrating the newly created free flowing section of the Fox River between Algonquin and Dundee. This was an all hands on deck event, and every one of the paddlers, business sponsors, municipalities, fire, police, and public works departments, volunteers, board members and staff were essential in pulling it off. The event, billed as a fun paddle, had even greater significance. It drew a regional group of paddlers and connected them to a re-birthed section of the river and embodied a pillar of our mission to connect people to nature in order to preserve, restore, and protect the Fox River. Truly a bit of “river magic” as it was later described.
River magic carried us through to a night in August where program attendees gathered at the Carpenter Dam site to see how the river is healing post dam removal. Your support helps deliver free programs like these to you and your watershed neighbors so we all better understand the ecology and the beauty of a freely-flowing Fox River.
Speaking of free programs, a lot of planning goes into our free Second Sundays speaker series held at Schweitzer Environmental Center. Throughout the year we host experts on a variety of topics from native plant gardening to photography to astronomy. Donations are welcome, but in order to reduce financial barriers, we do not charge admission fees. Your support helps ensure that we can continue to offer programs like these to our community. Support comes in all forms, if you’re an expert or know of one who wants to share knowledge, contact us about upcoming speaker opportunities!
Fall brought us back to our roots with students in the stream. We hit all the age groups this year, from college students at McHenry County College, to high school students at South Elgin High School and elementary students from Otter Creek and more! Your support increases their environmental literacy, gives them hands-on water quality assessment experience, and introduces them to local land use pressure in our watershed, all of which make them more informed residents and future decision makers.
Finally, the few seconds it took to vote for Friends of the Fox River to help us win the World Rivers Day Impact Award gave us global recognition for our local watershed efforts! Voting for us was an act that did not require time or financial contribution, but it has had remarkable meaning for us and is a good reminder that all forms of support are valuable. This award validates that the investment you make in FOTFR produces a significant impact.
As we do our best to assess our progress, improve upon the previous season, and celebrate our growth, we hope that you can see that your investments are an essential part of what keeps our wheel turning. Together, we keep on fixin the Fox!
