The mission of the Lake Erie Islands Nature & Wildlife Center is to promote conservation of and education about the flora, fauna, and lands of the Lake Erie Islands ecosystem.
‘Tis the season to be Giving! Giving Tuesday is coming up on December 1st and unfortunately due to Covid we will not be able to have an in-person event. However, we hope you will keep us in mind at this time. We are extremely excited that our beautiful building addition is finally finished! Thanks to our amazing donors for all of your support during this process! While we have some grant funding for our exciting new displays (live animals, geology, and a wildlife viewing window), we can still use some help with furnishings and other things to help us make our new space functional. Due to being closed this season, we can also still use help with operational costs. That’s why this year for #GivingTuesday we have 3 ways you can help: by purchasing an item for the Nature & Wildlife Center off our Amazon Wish List (don’t forget to shop through AmazonSmile and make the LEINWC your charity to give back with every purchase!), sponsoring a yearly expense, or making a monetary donation on Facebook or through PayPal. As an added bonus for monetary donations, because of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, you can deduct 100% of up to $300 in charitable contributions made by the end of the year. We greatly appreciate all the support from our wonderful community!
Fall Update from the LEINWC
Construction is complete for the building addition at the Nature and Wildlife Center!! Thanks to the immense support of our community and donors, we have finally completed the addition after almost a year of construction. The building addition will add valuable space, as our visitor numbers have been consistently increasing over the years. In the addition, we will have a new display area that will house a wildlife viewing window area, a geology display, and most exciting of all, a new live animal display. We will also add a much-needed office and library space. We are currently hard at work to pull together these displays and furnish the remodeled entryway and the new office space. We are very excited to show off the new and improved Nature & Wildlife Center next Spring when we reopen! We hope to see you then!
We always need donations to help support our educational programs. And we are still seeking donations to help with the new displays. If you would like to sponsor a specific display, please contact us at leinwc@gmail.com for more details. For other ways to help, click here. If you would like to donate online, you can do so through PayPal using a PayPal account or credit card.
About Us
The Lake Erie Islands Nature and Wildlife Center was formed by a collaboration between the Lake Erie Islands chapter of the Black Swamp Conservancy and the Lake Erie Islands Historical Society. In 2012 we became an independent non-profit organization.
Along with being in the middle of the walleye capital of the world, the islands are home to hundreds of species of birds and are the only place in the country where the federally threatened Lake Erie Watersnake can be found.
Utilizing our unique location we aim to provide a one of a kind ecological/educational experience for the 700,000+ visitors that come to South Bass Island each summer.
How to Help
We Need Your Help In These Uncertain Times
With all of the current uncertainties with the Covid-19 pandemic, we are asking for the help and support of the community. As many know, we rely heavily on our admissions and program income to cover our expenses throughout the year. With the current situation, we are working towards limiting our expenses as much as possible.
However, we still have base operating costs that include utilities, taxes, and payroll for our minimal staff. With all of our Spring programs already being cancelled and the uncertainty of when we will be able to open to the public, we must call on the community once again for help. For the past few years our fundraising efforts have gone towards our building addition, which is now fully funded (and those funds are specifically earmarked for construction costs so cannot be used for operating costs). We sincerely thank everyone who has helped us reach our building fund goal! We are now focusing fundraising efforts for our general fund to cover operating costs for the year and will be launching several online fundraisers for that purpose. We are also investigating grants and loans that are becoming available.
We know everyone is experiencing difficulties right now, and we hope to work with our community and be an educational resource during these times and always. Currently, we are working on developing resources to help families with fun activities to do while at home as well as educational resources for kids (and adults!). If there are any other ways we can be a helpful resource to the community, please contact us and let us know. If you want to volunteer to help the Nature & Wildlife Center, please reach out as we are always looking for help within the community. We sincerely appreciate any and all support you can provide, whether it’s donations, volunteering, or even just liking and sharing our social media pages and posts! Thank you to our amazing community, we appreciate all of you more than we can say!
