March 2nd update on the Rotary Nature Center

A couple of things happened this week.

One was an ad-hoc meeting organized by Katie Noonan and Stephen Cochrane (Wed 3/28/2018). We met at the Bellevue Club and talked about a range of issues, and identified a few things to look into, and talked about arranging visits to other Nature Centers in the area. We also had a little bit of heads up on the new below.

Friday’s update from Karis Griffin at OPRYD had some exiting news (3/2/2018):

Dear Community Partners,

I’m excited to update you on the progress we are making on the Rotary Nature Center.

We have retained the consulting services of Alan Briskin, a resident of Oakland and a facilitator of multi sector collaborative initiatives. To prepare Alan for the work ahead, he will be meeting with a core group, I will also be included in this group. Our task is to develop a process for a shared vision and an initial community gathering.

One of the key challenges and opportunities will be creating a Center that addresses diverse needs and interests from scratch. We must have a shared vision to do this.

Although there is currently no dedicated funding for programming, we believe it is possible to invite individuals, volunteers, and organizations to sponsor programs based on cost recovery and creative funding initiatives.

This communication is sent on a weekly basis to keep you updated on the Rotary Nature Center project. We thank you for your continued patience and support.

We anticipate that we will need to move the community meeting towards the end of the month or the first week in April.

Again, thank you for your patience. We hope that all of you are as excited as we are.

Karis Griffin