2010.02.06: Returned Peace Corps volunteers of South Florida sponsored an Everglades experience for needy youngsters
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2010.02.06: Returned Peace Corps volunteers of South Florida sponsored an Everglades experience for needy youngsters
Returned Peace Corps volunteers of South Florida sponsored an Everglades experience for needy youngsters
The former Peace Corps volunteers have sponsored an Everglades Outing for its members and invited children from disadvantaged communities for the last 12 years. ``For many of the homeless children who have never been outside Miami's urban areas, seeing the variety of wildlife up close -- and it's very close this time of year in the Everglades -- is something they will remember forever,'' said Emily Eisenhauer, president of the Peace Corps group in South Florida. After spending the morning learning about water conservation, endangered species and learning how to live a healthy life in balance with the South Florida ecosystem, the children took their pledge to defend the Everglades and practice what they had learned.
Returned Peace Corps volunteers of South Florida sponsored an Everglades experience for needy youngsters
Needy kids get chance to experience the Everglades
Returned Peace Corps volunteers of South Florida sponsored an Everglades experience for needy youngsters.
By HELENE B. DUDLEY
Special to The Miami Herald
PARK RANGERS: Above, The kids visiting the Everglades were sworn in as junior park rangers. Emily Eisenhauer and Kiki Mutis help with the swearing-in. Left, volunteers help prepare and serve lunch.
Most had never seen the rolling grasses of the Everglades. Neither a hawk nor an eagle soaring in the sky.
But now 133 homeless and migrant children are junior rangers at the Everglades National Park -- and enjoying nature after a Jan. 30 trip to the park's open vistas.
The children were sworn in as junior rangers at the park thanks to a collaborative effort of The National Park Service, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of South Florida and several South Florida environmental groups.
``For many of the homeless children who have never been outside Miami's urban areas, seeing the variety of wildlife up close -- and it's very close this time of year in the Everglades -- is something they will remember forever,'' said Emily Eisenhauer, president of the Peace Corps group in South Florida.
Proving her point, one of the youngest participants announced that he wants to be a ranger when he grows up.
To avoid congestion on the trails, the 133 visitors were deployed in stages, with rangers and naturalists assigned to small groups. Park rangers were stationed at key points along the trails.
After spending the morning learning about water conservation, endangered species and learning how to live a healthy life in balance with the South Florida ecosystem, the children took their pledge to defend the Everglades and practice what they had learned.
The former Peace Corps volunteers have sponsored an Everglades Outing for its members and invited children from disadvantaged communities for the last 12 years.
The outing has included low-income public school students taught by former Peace Corps volunteers, children from homeless shelters and supportive housing programs as well as children in the Big Brothers Big Sisters, Children' Home Society, Operation Greenleaves and Redlands Christian Migrants Association programs.
Participation has tripled In the last five years. The environmental education component of the trip has also grown dramatically.
Donations from the Biscayne Bay Kiwanis Club, Miami Coalition for the Homeless, Health Foundation of South Florida, Publix and BJ's Club provided lunch and T-shirts for the Junior Rangers and volunteer guides.
For the past two years, Park Rangers and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer guides have been joined by volunteers from Citizens for a Better South Florida, The Tropical Audubon Society, Friends of the Everglades, Biscayne Nature Center, Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Miami Dade College, Biscayne Bay Kiwanis Club and Master Gardeners of South Florida.
Other groups are encouraged to have their own Everglades Outing to introduce poor children to the Everglades.
There is a great need as interested children have to be turned away.
This year, the Biscayne Bay Kiwanis Club will sponsor a similar event on March 22 and the Redland Christian Migrant Association will soon begin its own collaboration with the National Park Service so that all of its children can experience the Everglades on a regular basis.
For more information on the former Peace Corps volunteers' efforts. go to www.rpcvsf.org.
Helene B. Dudley of Miami is a former Peace Corps volunteer who was stationed in Colombia and what is now Slovakia. She is on the board of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of South Florida.
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Headlines: February, 2010; Local Groups; Environment; Education; Service; Florida
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Story Source: Miami Herald
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