Environmental Education Program

Great Lakes

Newsletter: Rustlings
Volume 12, No.1
2002
Our 25th School Year

Help! We need help!

The fees we charge our local students do not cover all the cost. In fact the student fees only cover a third of our actual cost. After receiving an Au Sable Trust Fund grant of one third, we are dependent on gifts and grants to cover the remaining third.

Ways you can help:

Friends of Au Sable
For an annual fee of $35 you will become part of a supportive group of individuals, families, churches, and businesses. The $35 annual fee will help to underwrite almost five students participating in our environmental education program. As a thank you to our "Friends", you will receive an invitation to use Au Sable trails including nine miles of groomed cross country ski trails and a marked self-guided snowshoe trail.

Some may wish to give more than $35.00. Simply make your check out to Au Sable Institute and write "Community School Program" on the memo line of your check. Au Sable is a 501(c) 3 educational organization. All gifts are tax deductible.

A gift to the Au Sable - Great Lakes Community Schools Programs Endowment Fund in the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation.
As a way to build our capacity to serve our region more fully, we have set up an endowment fund within the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation. Checks should be made out to the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation. Put "Au Sable-Great Lakes Community Schools Programs" on the memo line of your check.

Giving to Au Sable through the Community Foundation entitles you to a substantial tax credit on your Michigan income tax. On line 21a of your MI-1040 form, enter your contribution. On line 21b enter your credit which is 50% of your gift with a maximum credit of $100 for a single tax payer and $200 for married tax payers. In addition, your gift will reduce your Federal taxes.

Spartan Store Card
This is a way to give to the program without costing you anything. At a regional Spartan Grocery Store such as Glens Markets you can sign up for a card. The code on your card is scanned every time you purchase something at a participating store. The non-profit agency you designate on your application will receive 2% of the amount of your purchase. If you wish to designate Au Sable Institute-Community School Program, our number is #34918.

Children MI 10 bottle donation
We encourage students to sort their trash from lunch for recycling. Some students leave their pop cans and bottles with the MI 10 code for us to return for the 10-cent deposit. All these dimes add up. We use the money to purchase the sunflower seeds and corn for our bird feeders.

Orion Subscription
Orion is a magazine that explores the proper place of humans in the natural world. It presents writers and poets who are seeking healing for the fractured relationship between people and creation. Writers such as Wendell Berry, Jane Goodall, Pattiann Rogers, David Ehrenfeld, and Mary Oliver will be encountered in Orion's pages. A Subscription is $30.00. If you subscribe and designate Au Sable Institute, Orion will send us $10.00 of your subscription fee. If you are interested in this let us know. We will send you a brochure. Or see their website at www.orionsociety.org

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