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News of Note: The GoodGiving Guide Challenge
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By now you've noticed our e-newsletter side-banner and all our hype about the GoodGiving Guide Challenge. For those who don't know, the Challenge is an awesome, year-end online fundraising event sponsored by the Blue Grass Community Foundation and Smiley Pete Publishing. Every year, several local charities are invited to compete. This year, Central Kentucky Audubon Society has been chosen to participate! You can find all of the charities (including CKAS) profiled in the GoodGiving Guide, which will soon be freely available all over town, compliments of Smiley Pete Publications. During the six weeks of the Challenge, anyone can go online to BGGives.org and make donations to any of the participating charities. There will be several opportunities to have your donations matched and (though giving is it's own reward) donations of $50 or more can earn you great rewards from various local business sponsors. Last year, the Challenge raised over $1.67 million for 107 local charities. We hope this year's total is even bigger. To this end, we encourage you to give--not just to us, but to whichever charities you find worthy. Some folks would say that all of them are. So get ready! The giving starts at 9:00am November 3rd. All donations are fully tax deductible.
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Give Local! Help CKAS Get Fifty $25+ Donors
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If Central Kentucky Audubon Society can get fifty $25+ donors during the GoodGiving Guide Challenge, we can raise $1,250 or more to put toward helping birds in central Kentucky. That's quite a few Barn Owl and American Kestrel houses! Your $25 could really help us help, especially on some specific days when generous donors have volunteered to match Challenge donations. The first such day is November 13th, starting at 11:00am, and there are several more you can find in our events calendar. but be ready to donate at the buzzer -- the matching funds usually deplete quickly!
We don't pick $25 by chance -- it's the level of donation that gets donors between the ages of 21 and 36 entered into the Golden Ticket drawing this year. Each $25 donation generates one entry ($25 gets one entry, $50 gets two entries, etc.). What's the Golden Ticket? The Golden Ticket gets you everywhere; it's an All Access Pass with free admission for you and one guest to several shows at various Lexington entertainment venues. Last year's Golden Ticket got the winner in everywhere from Cosmic Charlie's to Keeneland. One lucky winner will be randomly chosen from eligible donors. What if you're not between the ages of 21 and 36? Donate anyway, but also tell all the Millennials you know about the Challenge and about CKAS. Maybe if they win, you can be their guest.
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Suzanne and Ramesh perfect the art of installing door hinges.
CKAS met last Sunday to assemble more Barn Owl boxes, this time constructed in the KDFWS Barn Owl Box for Buildings design. This design required we cut a large rectangular clean-out door in the middle of the board face. Nic and Tony's first efforts at cutting the doors with router bits and circular saws were comic in a little-bit-scary Three Stooges sort of way. But they prevailed! By day's end, the group was able to cut the pieces for and put together four complete Barn Owl boxes. We plan to donate three of the boxes to Kate Heyden's KDFWS Barn Owl project and hope to enlist Kate's assistance to mount the fourth at Equus Run Winery. We have already gotten permission from Equus' owners to erect a Barn Owl box at the winery, and aim to have it placed there before next year's roosting season.
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Upcoming CKAS (& Other) Events
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Oct. 24th (Fri.) 7:00pm+: Lucy Bakewell Audubon Anderson County Public Library 114 Main Street, Lawrenceburg. Join the Lawrenceburg Pierian Women's Club in welcoming Lucy Hopewell Audubon (a Kentucky Humanities Council Chautauqua presentation). Free and open to the public.
Oct. 25th (Sat.) 8:00am-2:00pm: Fall Seed Sale Southern States Co-Op 2570 Palumbo, Lexington. Missed us last week? Here's your second chance to stock up. You can take your stock with you or leave it at Southern States to pick up as you need. NOTE: All stored seed must be picked up within twelve months! A portion of the proceeds goes to supporting CKAS. We still need a few more volunteers for the 8-11 and 11-2 shifts; if you can help, e-mail here.
Oct. 26th (Sun.) 10:00am-3:00pm: Raven Run Trail Maintenance (Day 1) w/ Sierra Club Raven Run Nature Sanctuary 3885 Raven Run Way, Lexington. Help keep the trails in good shape! Volunteers needed to reshape areas to help with water flow and maybe even build some boardwalks. Dress for the weather, bring work gloves, water, and lunch. Tools provided.
Oct. 29nd (Wed.) 7:00pm-9:00pm: Business Meeting Good Foods Co-Op 455 Southland, Lexington. It's not all business so please attend! Planned topics: the GoodGiving Guide Challenge, Swift Tower and Barn Owl Box progress, Earth Day & Bluegrass Birding Festival 2015. All members and curious non-members are welcome. We'll probably go to dinner after the meeting, dining establishment TBD.
Nov. 1st (Sat.) 10:00am-3:00pm: Raven Run Trail Maintenance (Day 2) w/ Sierra Club Raven Run Nature Sanctuary 3885 Raven Run Way, Lexington. Help keep the trails in good shape! Volunteers needed to reshape areas to help with water flow and maybe even build some boardwalks. Dress for the weather, bring work gloves, water, and lunch. Tools provided.
Nov. 1st (Sat.) 11:00am-12:00pm: Tracking Kentucky's Bald Eagles Presentation Wild Birds Unlimited 152 N. Locust Hill, Lexington. Kate Heyden (KDFWR Avian Non-game specialist) discusses Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons and the satellite transmitter tracking work that's being done to monitor and conserve these species in Kentucky. Colorful photos and a behind-the-scenes look at working with birds of prey.
Nov. 2nd (Sun.) 8:00am-2:00pm: Bird Walk & Barn Owl/Kestrel Box Cleaning Talon Winery 7086 Tates Creek, Lexington. Meet in the parking area near the silo. Walk first, cleaning second, probably wine tasting third. Remember the time change the night before. Bring lunch if you plan to stay for a tasting (no food at Talon).
Nov. 3rd (Mon.) 9am+: GoodGiving Guide Challenge! The GoodGiving Guide Challenge kicks off with the Quick Start Endowment Challenge, offering a bonus $7,500 to be added to the endowments of the first ten non-profits to raise $7,500 from fifty unique donors (must be sums of $25 or more and unique donors can only receive credit for up to $3,750).
Nov. 8th (Sat.) 9-10:30am: Mist Netting & Bird Banding Demonstration KDFWR 1 Sportsman's Lane, Frankfort. Join Kate Heyden (Avian Non-Game specialist) for a songbird mist netting and banding demonstration. Weather dependent: if raining or wind over 12mph, event will reschedule. Field clothes recommended if you wish to help check nets, not necessary to merely observe banding.
Nov. 13th (Thur.) 11:00am+: GoodGiving Guide Challenge! The Banker's Challenge starts at 11:00am. All GoodGiving Guide contributions will be matched fifty cents on the dollar until the match pool is exhausted. A GREAT DAY TO DONATE TO CKAS! This pool goes VERY quickly so be ready at the 11:00 a.m. buzzer.
Nov. 15th (Sat.) 10:00am: Birds of Prey McConnell Springs Park 416 Rebmann Lane, Lexington. Junior Naturalist event for youth K through 5th grade. Please call to register: 859-225-4073.
Nov. 16th (Sun.) 8:00am-1:00pm: Bird Walk (w/ASK) Hisle Park 3551 Briar Hill, Lexington. Meet in the main parking area.
Nov. 20th (Thur.) 9am+: GoodGiving Guide Challenge! The Endow the Bluegrass Challenge starts at 9:00am. All GoodGiving Guide contributions to charities with established endowments will be matched fifty cents on the dollar until the match pool is exhausted. A GREAT DAY TO DONATE TO THE CKAS ENDOWMENT FUND! This pool may go quickly so be ready.
Nov. 22nd (Sat.) 7:00pm: Movie: Free Birds. Village Host Pizza & Grill, 431 Old Vine, Lexington. Join us for dinner and a free viewing. Just in time for Thanksgiving, a cartoon about two turkeys traveling back in time to get turkey off the holiday menu.
Dec. 7th (Sun.) TBD: Owl House Dedication & Wine Tasting Keep the afternoon free for our official Barn Owl House dedication at Chrisman Mill Winery. Details in the December newsletter.
Dec. 11th (Thur.) 11:59am+: GoodGiving Guide Challenge! The Buzzer Beater Challenge starts at 11:59am. All $10 to $500 GoodGiving Guide contributions will be matched fifty cents on the dollar until the Mitchell Family Foundation's generous pledge of $100,000 is exhausted. A GREAT DAY TO DONATE TO CKAS! Last chance to have your donation matched! This pool goes quickly so be ready at the 11:59 a.m. buzzer.
Dec. 13th (Sat.) 11:00am+: Live Raptor Day Wild Birds Unlimited 152 N. Locust Hill, Lexington. Doris Mager, the "Eagle Lady" of S.O.A.R., brings live raptors and tells interesting facts about rehabbing Bald Eagles, Crested Caracaras, and other birds of prey.
Dec. 20th (Sat.) X-Mas Bird Count. Multiple groups, varied locations. Please contact David Lang to be assigned to a group.
Dec. 20th (Sat.) 10:00am: Winter Wildlife Treats McConnell Springs Park 416 Rebmann Lane, Lexington. Junior Naturalist event for youth K through 5th grade. Please call to register: 859-225-4073.
Jan. 1st (Thur.) 9:00am-11:30am+/-: Bird Walk (w/ASK) Lexington Cemetery 833 W. Main St., Lexington. Meet/park around the first right turn after coming in the gate. Do NOT park in the gatehouse spaces!
Jan. 1st (Thur.) 11:30am-3:00pm: Bird Walk (w/ASK) Maine Chance Farm (Spindletop) 2099 Newtown Pike, Lexington. At some point in the morning, the group from the Lexington Cemetery walk will migrate and regroup at the McDonald's at Newtown Pike & I-64 to continue birdwatching at Maine Chance. If 9:00 was too early for you but you'd like to catch this half of the morning's walk, please e-mail David before the walk so we can call you when we leave the cemetery and you can meet up with us in the McD's parking lot.
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