Look no further than the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County for one-of-a-kind gift ideas for Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving on Dec. 2 to kick off the holiday giving season.
For the first year, The Friends of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County is participating in Giving Tuesday as part of a “Friends Funding the Future” campaign to fund several priority projects. The campaign’s goal is to have 100 donors help fund District projects as it celebrates its centennial year of connecting people to nature in 2015.
Priority projects in need of funding include:
● Courtyard restoration at Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook. Help fund $500,000 in restoration work to the rear courtyard and outside envelope of the Estate to address extensive deterioration.
● Horse Trough Fountain Restoration, St. James Farm Forest Preserve in Warrenville. Severely marred by weather, the granite, marble and copper piece by artist Marcia Weese requires $24,000 in restoration work to return it to its original beauty.
● Handicapped-Accessible Piers at Blackwell and Herrick Lake forest preserves, Warrenville and Naperville. Help fund installation of ADA-accessible floating docks at the rental areas at Blackwell and Herrick Lake forest preserves so that kayakers of all abilities can experience this activity.
● Programming Trailer. Help fund the purchase of a trailer that can be equipped with recreational equipment and educational tools for forest preserve programs, clinics and workshops.
Learn more about the Friends and projects and dupageforest.org/Friends.
Giving Tuesday was launched three years ago by the United Nations Foundation as a follow-up to Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Last year, more than 10,000 organizations in 40 countries participated.
The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County owns and manages 25,000 acres of prairies, woodlands and wetlands. Each year its 60 forest preserves, 145 miles of trails, five education centers and scores of programs welcome over 4 million visitors. For information, call 630-933-7200 or visit dupageforest.org, where you can also link to the District’s e-newsletter, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube pages.