Woodbine helps bring the great outdoors to kids at North Kipling

Woodbine helps bring the great outdoors to kids at North Kipling. Linus the Harris Hawk looks on as (centre) Jane Holmes, VP for Corporate Affairs at Woodbine Entertainment Group, presents a cheque for $10,000 to (left) Darryl Gray, senior manager of education for the TRCA, and (right) Amy Cross of Earth Rangers. The money will go towards providing environmental education to five local schools as part of the Kids in Nature Corporate Challenge. Courtesy photo

The challenge was launched late last year by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and Earth Rangers through Partners in Project Green to help give local students the opportunity to experience wildlife both inside and outside the classroom. First in Etobicoke to rise to it was Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG).

On Friday morning, Jane Holmes, VP of WEG's Corporate Affairs, presented a cheque for $10,000 towards the Kids in Nature Corporate Challenge - enough for five local schools, North Kipling among them, to participate.

"We were asked if we would step up to the Corporate Challenge and to throw the challenge back out to all the other businesses in the area, and we are more than thrilled to be able to do that," she said Friday in the North Kipling JMS gym, where close to 600 students from Kindergarten to Grade 6 watched the Earth Rangers show in awe. "We think it's important that the youth become more aware because they influence their parents so much in terms of green initiatives and they are our future. It's great, too, to see the wonder in their faces."

Through the Earth Rangers' Bring Back the Wild live animal show - which features Crimson, Linus and Echo - the program brings wildlife wonders inside school walls to help educate students about the importance of protecting biodiversity and adopting more sustainable behaviours.

Through the Kids in Nature Corporate Challenge, a per school sponsorship fee of $2,000 provides a full-day field trip to the Kortright Centre for a Grade 6 class (including all teaching, transportation and games); a school visit from the Earth Rangers Bring Back the Wild Program; and teacher resources and classroom activities. These are costs that, for many schools in priority neighbourhoods such as North Kipling, could otherwise prove prohibitive.

In a recent survey by the TRCA, 81 per cent of teacher respondents identified cost or funding as a significant barrier to student participation in field trips. The goal of the Kids in Nature Corporate Challenge is to remove that barrier in 50 schools in and around the Pearson Eco-Business Zone - a 12,000-hectares parcel of industrial and commercial land surrounding the airport - through sponsorships from local companies like WEG.

"This funding goes to under-served communities. We bring the Earth Rangers show into schools that wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity," explained Amy Cross, media relations for Earth Rangers. "It gives kids a close encounter with wildlife, which unfortunately because of urbanization, kids don't often get to see as much of these days...even in the wild, you don't get to see animals this close."

For second grader Krish Goswami, 7, the highlight of the Earth Rangers show was just that - getting an up-close look at creatures he's only before seen in books and on TV.

"My favourite part was when Linus the hawk was flying," he said after the show, a smile plastered across his face.

The review of the show was equally rave from principal Lesa Semcesen, who said North Kipling is proud of its strong science curriculum and belief that the classroom extends beyond four walls and into the great outdoors.

"It's a huge benefit to schools to have corporate sponsorships (like this one)," she said, noting that it opens doors. "Having this extra funding most definitely helps - and look at the kids right now, they're mesmerized. Where else would they be able to see a hawk up close?"