FLORIDA PANTHERS

AN EVENING WITH AUDUBON

OUR 33ND ANNUAL BANQUET & FUNDRAISER

Please join us on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at the Charlotte County Cultural Center for our annual banquet and fundraiser. Our guest speaker will be Dennis Giardina, an Everglades Region Biologist who works to preserve Florida Panthers. In addition to the guest speaker, the evening also includes a delicious dinner (choice of prime rib or mahi-mahi), a silent auction, and the results of the PRAS photo contest.

Proceeds from the silent auction will go to the Friends of Fakahatchee in order to help protect the panther's habitat here in south Florida and to the Charlotte Harbor Environmental Center for their envionmental educational programs. Tickets are $33 per person (until February 18th they are $30 per person) and the reservation deadline is March 4th. Tickets are not available at the door - so call today to make your reservations!

Please call Phyllis Cady ( 941.286.7638) for reservations or if you have any questions. We hope to see you there!

Our annual Birdathon will be on Saturday, March 27th this year so its time to start readying your teams and join this fun fundraiser. Get your old team together, join or form a new one and get ready to compete. If your feet hurt, or you've left your binos up north, fear not - you can still participate in the fun by sponsoring a team.

This fundraising event is reminiscent of a walkathon but instead of walking, participants will be birding or photographing birds. Click here for details.

CHARLOTTE COUNTY BUDGET CUTS AFFECT PENNINGTON PARK

Several months ago the PRAS Board was notified that as of October 1, 2009 the Charlotte County Parks and Recreation Department would stop assisting PRAS with maintenance of Audubon Pennington Park . As you may know, PRAS leases the park from the County and maintains this urban green space as hiking trails through natural areas. Every Wednesday a hardy group of volunteers get together for trial maintenance, litter pick up and exotic plant control. The Parks and Recreation Department had helped us by mowing the main trail, which is more like a grassy road, collecting trash, etc.

Board President Cathy Olson woite a letter to John Jackson, Director of Charlotte County Parks and Recreation, requesting that the County continue to assist PRAS with trash collection and mowing, however we received a letter from Mr. Jackson stating that they were unable to continue maintenance of the park. Our sincere thanks to Commissioner Starr for trying to make this happen! Audubon Pennington Park is an important neighborhood park, both for local wildlife and as a recreational place for people.

At this point we are not sure what will happen with mowing and trash collection but we will continue to do what we can. This park is a wonderful birding spot. We regularly see limpkin, great horned owls, red shouldered hawks, northern cardinals, northern mockingbirds, blue gray gnatcatchers as well as migrant warblers and others.

Please stop by to visit this lovely place soon - you may see some interesting migrants - and stop by any Wednesday morning at 8 AM to help the PRAS team maintain the park. The entrance is off Alton between Peachland and Midway Blvds - approx. 1 1/2 miles west of Kings Highway.

THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT

Our 32nd Annual Banquet and Fundraiser wouldn't have been possible without the help of our friends and local businesses. Extra special thanks to the businesses who believe in our efforts and who donated items to the silent auction. First and foremost we would like to thank Benedetto's who donated the facilities as well as three $20 gift certificates. Gift certificates, entrance passes and other items were graciously donated by: Babcock Wilderness Adventures, The Backyard
Bird Company, Bailey Shell Museum, Bobcat Trail Golf Club, Bok Tower Gardens, Busch Gardens, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Central Florida Zoo, Charlotte State Bank, Circus Sarasota, Edison and Ford Winter Estates, Grande Tours, GWIZ Science Museum, Fegers Health Foods, The Florida Aquarium, Florida Railroad Museum, Henderick's Food Vault, Imaginarium,
Jason's Deli, Kennedy Space Center and Delaware North Companies Parks and Resorts, Kingfisher Fleet, La Esperanza, Louie Desguin Cruises, Marie Selby Gardens, Outback Steakhouse, The Perfect Caper, Pineapple Press, Pinemoore Golf Club, Port Charlotte Natural Foods, Punta Gorda Historical Society, Riverwood Country Club, Sea World, Starbucks,
Sunnybreeze Golf Course, Sweet Scoops, Tijuana Flats, Total Wine,Wal-Mart, and The Wyvern Hotel.

Thank you for making our fundraising event such a success!

Pennington Park Workday

• Did you know that the Audubon Pennington Park in Port Charlotte is maintained by PRAS?
• Did you know that Brazilian pepper, carrotweed and air potatoes have been invading the beautiful habitat?
• Did you know that every Wednesday at 8AM our volunteers meet to maintain the park?
• Did you know that a special Saturday workday was held on January 24th and that 12 people helped to rid the park of exotic vegetation?

Well, if the above is news to you - you're missing out on a wonderful opportunity to enjoy birding AND make a diference in our community.

On January 24th, the volunteers had a great hour of briding before attacking the invasive species. They saw 27 species including a barred owl and a limkin sitting on a nest. Then, with tools in hand and lots of refuse bags, they spent the next hour or so spucing up the park. Bags and bags of nasty vegetation removed and a fun morning in the park - not a bad way to spend a Saturday morning in our beautiful area!

If you'd like to join in the fun, please meet at the park entrance on Wednesdays mornings at 8 AM. The entrance is off Alton between Peachland and Midway Blvds - approx. 1 1/2 miles west of Kings Highway.

Attend Meetings and Learn

PRAS College Scholarship Fund Established

Thanks to a generous $5,000 bequest by deceased member LaDonna Kennedy, the PRAS board has established the Peace River Audubon Society College Scholarship Fund. It is an endowed fund to support an advanced college undergraduate environmental studies major residing in Charlotte or Desoto Counties. Our April Birdathon fundraiser added another $1,400 to the fund, so now we are more than 20% of the way to our $30,000 goal for the fund. Once the goal is attained, the interest earned will support yearly scholarships. If you would like to donate to this fund please contact our Treasurer Walt Williams at 235-3352.

If you would like to take advantage of the tax benefits for planned giving options by leaving a legacy through a bequest in your Will or through a gift annuity in yours or someone else's memory please contact your attorney or financial advisor. Your gift will support our work while meeting your own personal needs for income, retirement planning, and tax savings.

PRAS Monthly Meetings

Our 2008-9 member meetings will be held on the 3rd Thursday of each month at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church 2565 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte (just south of Midway Blvd). This is the church where we used to have meetings before Hurricane Charley. We are very thankful to have been invited back. The hall has now been rebuilt and will be a wonderful place to meet. Our doors open at 6:30 PM for friendship, snacks, and sharing bird tips, etc -- meetings begin at 7 PM. See you at the next meeting!

Member Survey

Please take a few moments to help us improve our chapter. Your input is essential in helping us design our programs to your interests. Click here to download a pdf version that you can print and mail to us..