#GivingTuesday

Here is a short-list of some organizations doing great work for wildlife and native places on Long Island:

http://www.starflowerexperiences.org/  - , these folks lost their education center in an arson fire last year, they reach out to our children, and to adults.  A number 1 in my eyes. They also have a tangible needs list at the bottom of the site.  If you cannot donate money, perhaps you can fill one of these requests:

We are looking for donations of:
      · a DVD player
      · berets (adult sized)
      · pitchers (for drinks)
      · cloth napkins
      · solid color table cloths for 8' tables
      · covered cake/cookie trays
      · someone to make a model of Manor Farm
      · a dark glass bottle with cork (large enough to put a note in)
      · some old stockings
      · old Ranger Rick magazines
      · gloves/mittens for winter
      · tree branches approximately 3" in diameter
      · trowels, garden rakes (not leaf rakes)
      · garden gloves
      · garden hoses
      · clippers and loppers for trimming trails
      · a data projector
      · binoculars
      · a small digital camera
      · a 10 x 10 'festival' tent
      · raincoats/ponchos to fit ages 10 through adult
      · a library-style step stool

http://www.northshorelandalliance.org/home.htm. 

Here are some of the organizations goals, as a native of Huntington, I can relate to several of them:

• We want to protect the natural rural feeling and open space of the North Shore.
  

• Fact: The natural rural feeling of the North Shore is rapidly disappearing as more and more houses are built. The next five years will make the difference in whether the North Shore retains some of its rural feeling or becomes a crowded suburb. 

• We want to protect the quality of life enjoyed in our communities.
  

• Fact: Excess development threatens the availability and purity of the water we drink.
   
• Fact: Excess development and "suburbanization" causes more traffic. More traffic causes more emissions which have been attributed to the high incidence of asthma among children.
   

• We want to keep the cost of municipal services and property taxes as low as possible.
  

• Fact: Housing development drives up the cost of municipal services much faster than it brings increased property tax revenue, thereby leading to increases in property tax rates. Open lands cost your government much less to keep than developed areas.

Our Audubon Societies

There are several in the distribution area, please feel free to add any I have overlooked! Also, the terrain of the North Shore is so different from that of the South;  I only *know* the North Shore. 

http://www.huntingtonaudubon.org/ 

http://www.fourharborsaudubon.org/ 

http://www.easternlongislandaudubonsociety.org/ 

http://www.northshoreaudubon.org/ 

http://www.gsbas.org/ 

As a Member-At-Large of http://www.wildones.org/, I will be donating to them as well by the end of the year.  Nothing would please me more than having a North Shore Chapter on Long Island, so if you are interested, please leave a comment here.

There is a whole other way to participate in "giving," which is to become a Citizen Scientist.  I will be writing more about that in the future.  Happy Giving and leave a comment !