Sixty Shades of Nature

What better way for the Rye Nature Center to begin celebrating its 60^th anniversary, than with a garden party! The evening of May 17 guests sipped, supped, listened to the night song of backyard birds, and gave generously to the Center’s Nature Access Fund, ensuring the continued expansion of its outreach to Westchester communities, schools, and organizations.

Everyone toasted Friends of Rye Nature Center leaders, staff, and board for the remarkable job they do in nurturing a sense of wonder about nature. Not just in Rye preschoolers, but in developmentally-disabled adults and teens, inner-city kids who attend FRNC’s summer camp, and senior citizens from the Carver Center. Through their new NatureStation mobile classroom, the Friends has almost tripled the number of environmental education opportunities for underserved families.

Sixty years after it was founded, through the vision of Edith Read and the support of the City of Rye to create more open space, the Nature Center continues to ensure that no one is left inside.

Photos by Anja Porto