NOTE: The St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station and the St. Louis Aquarium Foundation's Conservation & Education Center are temporarily closed to protect the health and safety of our guests, staff, and animals.
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Help bring the Aquarium to Underserved Students at Home!
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The Aquarium Foundation's H
2
0 Friends program - with the help of its distribution partner KidSmart - is providing free educational activity packets for underserved students in Pre-K to 2nd grade. With the help of Regions Bank, we provided 2,000 packets to Jennings and UCity School Districts last week. We'd like to expand that program further by reaching out to the remaining 12,000 students that KidSmart is serving with free school supplies.
Can you help provide these educational packets with a gift of $10 or more? Time is of the essence!
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Click below to view the activity packets that you can use at home with
your children or grandchildren.
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Through the generous support of donors like you, we are delighted to offer “Help to Our Friends” through our H
2
0 Friends program. This program provides free field trips and education classes/transportation to underserved schools in our region. Since our spring field trip program had to be postponed until Fall 2020, we are excited to instead bring the Aquarium to young students at home. Our goal is to provide over 20,000 free admissions (and now activity packets) in our first year!
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Mark your calendars for
May 7
th
to show your support to the St. Louis Aquarium Foundation and all your other favorite St. Louis area organizations! You can be a part of helping to provide free Aquarium field trips, education classes, and transportation
to underserved students, as well as educational activity
packets to kids who are at home and don't have access
to the internet, computer or a printer.
You can make your gift early, any time through May 6
th
!
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Volunteer Appreciation Month
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We are so honored to have over 180 wonderful volunteers! When you visit the Aquarium, you'll see volunteers stationed throughout both the Aquarium and the Foundation's Conservation & Education Center. Volunteers help in a
variety of ways, such as assisting visitors with questions and exhibits, presenting information on animals at artifact carts, and sharing information with visitors through conservation activities. Be sure to stop and say "hi" to our amazing volunteers next time you visit!
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Amelia Rodgers is the Education Curator for the St. Louis Aquarium Foundation. Each newsletter will feature an article from Amelia focusing
on an educational and/or conservation topic.
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While we, the humans, stay tucked away in our homes, Mother Nature is fast at work morphing into a beautiful spring landscape. Tulips, daffodils, redbud trees in full bloom, and warm days full of sunshine make it difficult to stay indoors. With the stay-at-home directives, many are limited to enjoying nature locally. Spring is blooming with new life - there is no better time to take note of the small miracles of Mother Nature in our own back yards!
Getting outside is good for your mental health (click here to read more:
Health Benefits of Nature
), and if you are one of the many households with children to homeschool, the outdoors can be a great hands-on learning environment. Here are some activities for kids and adults, perfect for your own back yard!
Stop, hey what’s that sound?
What insects, birds, or other animals frequent your backyard? Maybe you’ve never really taken a deep look. Ask your child to sit quietly (or as quietly as possible) outside and listen. What sounds do you hear? Bird noises? Squirrels chattering? Try to identify each sound and make a list of everything you hear.
You might choose to download a bird identification app on your phone, which lets you identify birds by their sounds and/or appearance (there are many free apps to choose from, one is “Smart Bird ID”).
Backyard Scavenger Hunt
You can also make a list, or even a BINGO sheet of animals for your child to search for in your back yard. Take a look in your back yard and see what your kids might find there – Wild violets? Clover? Wood sorrel? Dandelions? Bees? Birds? Be sure to include some smaller animals they are likely to see in your back yard, like ladybugs, rollie-polies, worms, butterflies, spiders, and ants. Remind your child to look but don’t touch – this keeps children safe and prevents harm to the animals.
Plant your food scraps!
Did you know that you can plant your carrot tops, potatoes, or garlic cloves to grow more? Gardening can be a fun family project; check out this link for more information:
Food Scraps You Can Regrow
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We look forward to opening our doors and seeing you and all our guests enjoy the Aquarium again, when it is safe to do so. In the meantime, we hope you are staying healthy and able to take some time to slow down and enjoy some of the natural beauty around us.
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Board of Directors
Steve O'Loughlin, Chair
George Bauer
Maxine Clark
L.B. Eckelkamp, Jr.
Robert Guest, Secretary
Jim Lally
Bob O'Loughlin, Treasurer
Melissa Paz
Peggy Ritter
Thom Sehnert
Executive Director
Diane Bauhof, CFRE
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Thank you to
our donors!
*
Major Gifts
Enterprise Bank & Trust
Foundation
Nance Frost
Staenberg Family Foundation
& Michael Staenberg
Spectrum Brands
Global Waters Circle Members
Mr. & Mrs. W. L. Conley
Ted & Gayle Garrett
Karen & Lawrence Goering
The Holloway Family
John & Sandy Irace
Thom & Jane Sehnert
Douglas and Lynn Yaeger
Aquarium Friends Circle Members
Marjorie & Michael Anderson
Karen Bellville
Frank, Josephine, & Patricia
Bowolak
Kay Drey
Jim and Pat McAtee
Brian & Nora McMorrow
Manisha Patel
Scott Rothman
Stephen Shuman
Katie Sibbernsen
Bill and Darlene Skaggs
Jim & Beth Zak
Other Donations
Rachael Badell
Boggs & Grunwaldt
Michelle Brus
Dan and Marie Cornish
Dale and Sharon Fiehler Family
Fund
Florence Flick
Reese Forbes
Schuyler and Laura Halverson
Robyn Johnson
Patrick McDermott
Elizabeth Miller
Carl Muench
Stephanie Wiegers
*List includes gifts of $250 and more received between 1/1/2020 and 3/31/2020
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Become part of an important group of people who are helping provide free Aquarium visits and transportation to underserved schools, and water-based science exhibits and interactives in the free-admission Conservation & Education Center. Members receive a variety of benefits including Aquarium annual passes, a personalized commemorative fish, discounts, and invitations to exclusive events.
Click
here
for more information and to sign up!
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Support the St. Louis Aquarium Foundation just by shopping on Amazon! Visit
when you shop on Amazon, select the
“St. Louis Aquarium at Union Station Foundation
” as your charity, and Amazon will donate 0.5% of your sales to directly to us!
If you like to shop and help others, check out our Wish List
here
and donate items we can use in the Conservation & Education Center and our STEM Classroom!
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Volunteer Spotlight:
Carrie Young
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The St. Louis Aquarium Foundation is privileged to have volunteers with such diverse backgrounds and aquatic expertise. One of our volunteers, Carrie Young, recently participated in a week-long coral restoration project in Roatan, Honduras while working on her Master Diver certification.
The oceans and all that they contain have always been a lifelong passion for Carrie. Even though she lives in the Midwest and nowhere near the coast, she has always tried to involve herself in activities and projects which will allow her to stay connected with the ocean and do her part to ensure that our oceans remain healthy for future generations to come.
Coral reefs are home to more than 25% of marine life, making them one of the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet. However, coral reefs are being damaged at an alarming rate
due to changing water temperatures, ocean acidification, pollution, invasive species, changing weather patterns, and physical impacts from ship groundings and storms.
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Restoring coral involves both cleaning existing coral as well as planting new coral that has either fallen off existing coral or had been purposefully removed. These coral fragments are hung from "Coral Trees" (PVC pipes tethered to the ocean floor) and are typically grown in coral nurseries until they are big enough to be planted to existing reefs. Once they are big enough, the fragments are cleaned and attached to existing coral colonies using a marine epoxy. Eventually the new pieces grow into the existing coral and start growing their own colonies.
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In addition to planting new coral, Carrie also took care of cleaning and maintaining existing coral trees that were in the process of restoration. Her group scrubbed and scraped away algae, barnacles, and other growths from the coral and PVC pipes, which is important because the algae will destroy any new coral growth. The new, healthy coral will eventually protect coastlines from damage from tropical storms, provide habitats for numerous aquatic life that is being threatened, and provide essential nitrogen and other nutrients for marine life.
Each piece of new coral that is planted is tagged and recorded, so Carrie is looking forward to being able to go back in a few years and see how much her coral has grown. She says, "Coral restoration is a very rewarding and fulfilling thing to do. I feel like I’m giving back to the ocean and contributing to something that brings me and other divers joy and wonder each time we go diving! I would definitely recommend divers to experience this at least once!"
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When not working on the Coral Restoration Project, Carrie also went on a shark dive and took a class on spearfishing. In the area she was in, lionfish have become a very invasive species and are threatening the coral reefs and the animals that call the reefs home. After taking the spearfishing course, Carrie estimates she was able to spear around 15-20 lionfish (encouraged to lessen the lionfish population). A local chef prepared their catch when they got back to shore, and according to Carrie, lionfish are pretty tasty! On the shark dive, they brought a 5-gallon bucket of chum down to the bottom and watched the sharks take turns trying to get the lid off the bucket. She said the sharks were extremely ingenious with using their jaws and teeth to pry the lid off the bucket, and thankfully not at all aggressive with each other or with the divers.
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Carrie explained, "My experiences on the trip help positively impact my volunteering at the Aquarium because it allows me to better interact with the community and provide additional knowledge, which allows for a better understanding of aquatic life and therefore a much more meaningful visit. I'm able to discuss topics which will help visitors recognize and understand their role in helping to keep our oceans, and the marine life within, healthy and stable."
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Photos courtesy of Carrie Young
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Donor Spotlight:
Michael Staenberg and
the Staenberg Family Foundation
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Michael Staenberg is a name you likely recognize if you’ve lived in or are from the St. Louis area. His successful business career as co-founder of THF Realty and then later with The Staenberg Group has allowed Michael and his family to give back to the community through a variety of organizations and in very powerful ways. One noteworthy transformational gift was for the opening of the Staenberg Family Complex at the Jewish Community Center!
Michael believes that philanthropy makes St. Louis a better place. He enjoys supporting organizations that are important to him and his family, but he also encourages people to support local nonprofits they like because it is good for our community and for the entire region.
Michael explains, “Our philosophy is that giving has the effect of a stone being cast into a pond, creating ripples that reach outward. We need hundreds of handfuls of stones being constantly thrown into that pond and creating lots of ripples bouncing off of each other. Interacting with each other. Creating energy. Creating turbulence. Creating converging ripples. That energy – that ripple effect – has to come from each and every member of our community. We give where we live, and we are energized by the educational impact of this new aquarium.”
St. Louis Aquarium Foundation staff and Board are very grateful for the generous gift of $36,000 to the Aquarium Foundation from the Staenberg Family Foundation and Michael Staenberg.
Diane Bauhof, Executive Director of the Aquarium Foundation, expressed her appreciation of this gift that will be recognized on a catfish plaque on a donor monument outside the Aquarium entrance. “As a new nonprofit organization in St. Louis, we are beyond grateful for the Staenberg Family Foundation’s and Michael’s gifts to support our mission of providing Aquarium access and STEM education to underserved students in our region, as well as supporting the health of our local waterways. Michael’s decision to designate his giving to us is certainly more than a ripple for our organization.”
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Events and How to Get Involved:
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Aquarium Videos and
At-home Activities
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While under the stay-at-home order, we're bringing the Aquarium to you! Follow us on
Facebook
for live videos, at-home activities, and quizzes for you and your kids. View past videos and activities
here!
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(Virtual) Earth Day Festival
April 18-26
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The Earth Day Festival in Forest Park has been postponed, but they will be hosting a week-long virtual Earth Day Festival to celebrate! Visit
www.earthday-365.org
for live lectures on wildlife trafficking, live tours, classes, workshops, games, trivia, fantastic videos, and opportunities for activism!
Be sure to join us the morning of
Monday, April 20
th
as the Aquarium Foundation is a featured partner and will be presenting a special Earth Day themed YouTube Live (and Facebook Live) video!
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World Oceans Day
June 8, 2020
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World Oceans Day is coming up on
June 8! Stay tuned for the announcement of a fun virtual activity to celebrate this year! Be sure to follow us on
Facebook
and
Instagram
for more details.
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Making Waves
Inaugural Gala of the St. Louis Aquarium Foundation
Saturday, September 26, 2020
at St. Louis Union Station
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Help us
make waves
for education, access and water conservation through the mission of the St. Louis Aquarium Foundation at our inaugural gala. Mark your calendar for an event you won't want to miss!
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, we have not announced sponsorship levels or mailed sponsor information. Stay tuned for more information via email and on our website:
www.stlaquariumfoundation.org/events/
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St. Louis Aquarium Foundation
| 314.923.3926 | info@stlaquariumfoundation.org
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