Bob Seawick wrote this piece after visiting the Children’s Eternal Rainforest in Costa Rica and wanted to share it with you. Enjoy!

If you like this and would like to support Bob, you can purchase the entire album here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bobseawick

Much appreciation is felt for the generosity of Bob and Margie Howe, who asked colleagues and friends to contribute to their favorite charities instead of having a retirement party. MCLUS was one of the organizations they chose, and we received a generous donation! Bob and Margie hope that their success will inspire others to raise funds for the forest in a similar way. They also encourage others to spread the word about the BEN, since many of their colleagues and friends had never heard of it. Bob has visited Monteverde 18 times, is currently teaching English there, and has been a long time friend of Carlos Munoz, former Executive Director of MCL. Bob and Margie hope to help bring electricity and other upgrades to the field stations.

Bob and Margie Howe (left) were honored with a lunch at the MCL office on November 18.

The Nature Quilt Project Completes Cross-Cultural Education Grant

The Nature Quilt Project submitted their final report this month to the Melinda Gray Ardia Environmental Foundation, who provided funds for students in Illinois and in La Tigra, Costa Rica to share in a water study. Students in Illinois visited a local outdoor environmental education center to practice the scientific method in investigating water quality. Meanwhile, students in La Tigra Costa Rica did the same, visiting a local stream in La Tigra and a stream at the Finca Steller Nature Center in the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. Both groups enjoyed the field trips immensely and learned a lot! It is hoped that more students in Costa Rica will have the opportunity to visit and spend time at the Finca Steller Nature Center, located on the Caribbean side of the BEN near the Pocosol field station. Rachel Crandell, former MCLUS President, invested much of her own labor and funds, to provide this educational facility for local children.

Fifth grade students from Industry, Illinois used nets to catch tadpoles, fish, and macroinvertebrates in a stream study in April (above). Students from La Tigra also captured and identified macroinvertebrates at a stream nearby their school (below), followed by a visit to a stream at the Finca Steller Nature Center (bottom).

Thank You All For Your Contributions to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest!

This beautiful poem captures what your contributions have accomplished, no matter how small or big.

The poem is published in the book Tertulia en el Bosque, a compilation of works by 5 international and 24 Costa Rican poets. The book was edited by Luissiana Naranjo and the poem featured below was written by her. It was translated by Allison Deines.

The Children’s Eternal Rainforest

I am relieved to know that
silence is found in every leaf on the trees
like that breath of air that we dream of,
always luminous.

To know that today
so many hands
are apprentice seeds,
and later,
they will be trunks to defy the moon
with their branches like mischievous children,
impetutous against the saw.

Because no tree wants to die
with its shadow naked,
cut down in its womb
like that last hearth
that gave warmth to some man.

And that this land is fertile witness
of his audacity,
to be a tree amongst so much lead and cement,
to lose its wild identity
because roots sometimes slip
and clouds tiredly move away from their ideals.

This forest is eternal
not only because it warmly preserves the bird or the plant,
the insect or the frog,
but also because it preserves the POET,
yes, it preserves that poetically green,
that life that is summed up in its essence,
that game of time that never is born, never grows, and never dies,
that innocent sprout for which everything is possible,
that pioneer wind that topples all,
that sensuous rain that multiplies all,
and the silence…that becomes more poetic in its silence.

I am relieved to know,
that this forest is eternal
just
because you and I
tossed a coin
to win its existence from our imagination.

Keep in mind the summer 2010 trip to the BEN. For more details visit http://mclus.org/eco-tourism/

For the forest,
Friends and Board of MCLUS

Monteverde Conservation League US is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All donations are tax deductible. Donate Now

To benefit The Monteverde Conservation League U.S., Inc. on behalf of El Bosque Eterno de los Ninos (Children’s Eternal Rainforest), Costa Rica

Join us for the inaugural fundraiser to launch the “Project Pacific” campaign of the Monteverde Conservation League U.S., Inc., the non-profit supporting the Children’s Eternal Rainforest in Monteverde, Costa Rica.

Twenty years ago, a single classroom of elementary school children in Sweden began a fundraising drive to purchase endangered habitat in Costa Rica.

Their enthusiasm spread to forty-four nations, and that international children’s campaign resulted in the creation of the largest private reserve in Central America.

Now it’s time to extend this private reserve westward towards the Pacific coast and restore the rainforest for ourselves — and our children.

$150 donation required to attend (entire donation goes to MCLUS)

For additional information and to RSVP please e-mail sara@mclus.org

Photo Caption:
Endangered frog species population thought extinct rediscovered in Children’s Eternal Rainforest, located in Monteverde, Costa Rica, benefits from online social networking contest.
Download Full Size

ST. LOUIS, Missouri (January 10, 2008) — Online social networking site Facebook.com is hosting a contest in partnership with The Case Foundation — the Causes Giving Challenge — that will award $50,000 to the non-profit organization that attracts the most individual donors over a 50-day period ending February 1, 2008. Out of over 50,000 individual registered Causes, one has been recently getting a lot of attention — the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. Only days after joining the contest, this group has rapidly risen to become the only environmental organization represented in the top 50 contest leaders.

While every group in the contest has a story to tell, the supporters of the Children’s Eternal Rainforest are particularly passionate about the prospect of winning the $50,000 grand prize. A species of tropical frog feared extinct (Lithobates vibicarius) was recently rediscovered within the Children’s Eternal Rainforest in Monteverde, Costa Rica. By participating in this contest, supporters hope to ensure the continued survival of this very rare species and continue the fight against global warming.

Award-winning environmental children’s book author and illustrator Kristin Joy Pratt-Serafini entered the Cause into the contest, anticipating the release of her latest book, The Forever Forest: Kids Save a Tropical Treasure (Dawn Publications, 2008). This true story describes how, in 1987, one class of 2nd graders in Sweden started a movement that would eventually become the largest nature private reserve in Central America.

Kristin wrote and illustrated her first book, A Walk in the Rainforest (Dawn Publications, 1992), when she was a freshman in high school. “Concern for the Children’s Eternal Rainforest inspired me to make my first book. The rainforest was a big deal in the nineties. It should still be a big deal today,” Kristin says. “It seemed natural to join this contest, and try to inspire a new generation of environmental leaders. If the Children’s Eternal Rainforest has taught me anything, it is to never underestimate the power of motivated youth. Facebook just ‘Friended’ the forest.”

The rules of the contest are simple — Facebook members click a “Join” or “Donate” button to become supporters of the Cause and contribute to its chances for winning the grand prize. The group that gets the most individual donations wins $50,000. People who haven’t yet registered for the popular site can easily create a free account to participate in the contest and help their chosen cause.

Rachel Crandell is the founder and president of the Monteverde Conservation League, U.S.: the non-profit responsible for collecting contributions to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. “I’m very grateful for all the new donations that have been pouring in,” says Rachel. “Last year we collected just over $100,000, using traditional fundraising methods, to help preserve more rainforest and protect biodiversity. Winning the $50,000 in this online contest would be a huge help to ensure that the endangered animals endemic to the Children’s Eternal Rainforest will be protected forever.”

This contest is revealing a whole new generation of young and eager philanthropic givers who are willing to donate their time, money and attention to deserving causes such as the Children’s Eternal Rainforest. It demonstrates the power of social networking sites to make a real difference with their millions of motivated members.

The Causes Giving Challenge leader board can be found here:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/giving

The Children’s Eternal Rainforest Cause page can be viewed here:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/53587

About the Children’s Eternal Rainforest
Swedish school children started a worldwide effort in 1987 by sending money to Monteverde, Costa Rica to purchase rain forest and protect its priceless natural treasures forever. Today children from 44 nations have helped The Children’s Eternal Rainforest become the largest private reserve in Central America, 54,000 acres.

To learn more about the Children’s Eternal Rainforest, please visit http://www.mclus.org.

Contact: Rachel Crandell
Tel: (314) 878-8427
Email: info@mclus.org