An important part of ABR’s mission is to educate people about black bears and how to coexist with them. ABR has volunteer educators who are trained to present this vital information (for example, how important it is to keep our distance from bears and to never feed them) to many groups – from civic organizations to gated or golf club communities, to schools in the area. We feel that schools are extremely important, because, by getting the message to children we know they will carry it home to their families. Here is a photo of Curator Coy presenting an ABR Powerpoint program to a Kiwanis Club meeting.
The next photo is of one of the education volunteers, Julie Kennedy, talking to a group of kindergarten children at Sam Houston Elementary in Maryville, TN. She is showing the display of “Good food for Bears.”
We offer an “Adopt a Cub” program to schools each fall. Children collect acorns and fruit for our bears. In addition, many classes make “bear banks” to earn money for additional bear food. We request that they earn the money by doing chores at home. Here is a photo of the creative banks from the children at Sam Houston Elementary.
We greatly appreciate our dedicated volunteers who get the ABR mesage out to the community!