Dyrell Williams and Brian Clay with Foundation President Shelley A. Davis. Foundation board member Eleanor Grumman hosted a gathering at her North Shore home recently to showcase the Forest Preserves’ impact on the Chicago region — and how experiences in the Preserves can change the lives of young people like Dyrell Williams and Brian Clay. The 30 or so guests heard […]
Attorney Jeff Gray joins Foundation’s board
After hearing about the Foundation from a client, Jeff Gray decided to take a look at its website. He saw a familiar name, Tom Livingston, who is the current board chair, and “I connected the dots,” he recalls. “I said this sounds like an interesting organization.” Some time later Jeff was put on a mailing […]
Kerri Daniels, business development director, joins Foundation’s board
Kerri Daniels, director of business development for DLZ Last fall, Kerri Daniels received an invitation from board member Claire Williams to attend the Foundation’s second Friendraiser. Kerri, the director of business development for the Illinois office of DLZ, an architecture and civil engineering firm, had supported the Conservation Cup in the past, but saw the […]
She found her passion and her calling in the Forest Preserves
Bria Foster As a 10 year old, Bria Foster found her passion for the outdoors through the Fishin’ Buddies program at Beaubien Woods on Chicago’s Far South Side. There she learned about the Forest Preserves of Cook County, the joys of nature and the importance of conservation. Then as a high school student, she became […]
5 reasons this season to give a gift that gives back
Ted Stone Forest Preserve on a sunny October day in 2017. As we count down to midnight on Dec. 31 and 2017 comes to an end, we are happy to savor the good memories as we look ahead. This is a time for us to reflect on the ways the Forest Preserve Foundation has had […]
Summer of 2017 Conservation Corps group the biggest yet
Conservation Corps crew members work in Dan Ryan Woods. 2017 Conservation Corps group the biggest yet From all over south Cook County they came. Calumet Heights. Hyde Park. Morgan Park. Ashburn. Beverly. They rose early on summer weekdays, arriving at their designated pick-up locations before 7:30 a.m. to be on site and ready to begin […]
SCA crew doing restoration work in Dan Ryan Woods includes some seasoned members
SCA crew doing restoration work in Dan Ryan Woods includes some seasoned members Among the Student Conservation Association (SCA) crew working in the Dan Ryan Woods this summer are several seasoned veterans. There’s Joi Funches, 17, a rising senior from the south suburbs. She speaks with the confidence that comes from experience, easily rattling off […]
Spears Woods Leadership Corps members learn, train for a lifetime
In the dead of winter, when it’s bone-chilling cold, the ground is frozen and wildlife are burrowed away, that’s when restoration crews are hard at work deep in the Forest Preserves of Cook County. On a recent morning in Spears Woods, a five-person Forest Preserve Leadership Corps crew took turns tossing freshly cut armloads of brush […]
Foundation, Allstate support 2016 Conservation Corps crew
A member of the Conservation Corps crew assigned to the Ted Stone Preserve. Alexa Molina, a Curie Metro High School senior, is spending six weeks of her summer mulching trails, removing invasive buckthorns and securing logs to create a check dam that will control water runoff in the Ted Stone Forest Preserve. Before she started […]
Chicago Teens Enjoy their First Camping Experience
Mujeres Latinas en Accion’s Proyecto Juventud teen youth program participated in its first program-wide overnight camping trip at Camp Sullivan in Oak Forest this summer. Supported by Forest Preserve Foundation grants, 49 teens and their mentors experienced the joys (and hardships) of camping, many for their first time – 78 percent of the teens had […]