Come visit intern Kersey at the CREW table at the 3rd annual Florida Panther Festival today 10 to 4.
CREW Trust Unveils New Logos
CREW volunteer and graphic artist, Mary Ann Webster of Spoonbill Designs, has created several new logos for the CREW Land & Water Trust. You can see them on our website, Facebook, and Twitter accounts today. Mary does a fabulous job and has worked hard with the CREW staff to create these new images. She tried to capture the essence of our mission to preserve and protect land and water resources of the watershed. We think she did a great job. What do you think?
2014 marks the 25th anniversary of the CREW Trust so we are celebrating with a special “25 years” logo which you will see on all of our publications and media beginning in January 2014.
Gulfshore Life Magazine Highlights CREW Volunteer George Luther
Back in May, we told you CREW volunteer, George Luther had received a Paradise Coast/Collier County Tourism Award for his Nature’s Peace at CREW program for Alzheimer patients and their caregivers.
Now – in its July issue – Gulfshore Life Magazine has published an article entitled Here & Now: Heroes without Headlines highlighting some of those winners, and George is featured in the article and on their website. So pick up a copy and read all about him and this amazing program he designed.
Congratulations again, George! Thanks for all you do for CREW.
CREW Volunteer, George Luther, Honored as Collier Tourism Star
On Wednesday, May 8th, 2013, CREW Volunteer George Luther was selected as the winner in the “Best Innovative Idea” category at the Collier County/Paradise Coast Tourism Awards ceremony. George was nominated by CREW staff for his Nature’s Peace at CREW program for Alzheimer patients and their caregivers. His nomination beat out 18 others submitted for the same category.
Here is George’s nomination description:
“George Luther came to us at the CREW Land and Water Trust in the fall of 2011 with the idea of leading hikes at the newly opened CREW Bird Rookery Swamp Trail off Immokalee Road in Naples. After several months of successful hikes, and a chance encounter with an Alzheimer patient and her husband on one of those hikes, George came up with the idea to design a special guided walk for early-onset Alzheimer patients and their caregivers. He presented the idea to CREW staff and later to the Alzheimer Support Network in Naples. With the approval of that network and the CREW Trust, “Nature’s Peace at CREW” was born.
George designed the walk, planned the activities, and began connecting Alzheimer patients with nature. The guided walk consists of a very slow-paced stroll along the path of hard-packed crushed shell/limestone and the boardwalk at Bird Rookery Swamp. Along the walk, George stimulates the patients’ senses of touch, sight, smell and hearing by helping them observe natural objects that include plants, flowers, trees, water features, birds, mammals, reptiles, and butterflies. The accompanying caretakers get a brief respite from their daily duties of patient care while enjoying their loved one’s interaction with nature. George’s plan also incorporates the use of other CREW volunteers so patients have a more personalized experience. George welcomes each patient, designs and makes a special name tag necklace for each patient to wear, and provides them with walking sticks.
Brenda Brooks, CREW’s Executive Director is eager to have these special visitors at CREW. “Hikers, photographers, mountain bikers and birders are just a few of the groups that enjoy CREW. Now, these guided walks will allow Alzheimer patients to benefit as well. Research has shown that Alzheimer patients benefit greatly when interacting with nature, and we’re thrilled to offer the opportunity for these patients to engage in healing walks at CREW”.
The first two walks in October and November demonstrated the power of the experiences. Patients who arrived with heads down, silent and closed off, left laughing and joking and happy. Caregivers thanked George for giving their loved ones a chance to remember their childhoods and enjoy a day of peace in nature.This program exposes a new user group to an often overlooked Collier County resource – the Bird Rookery Swamp Trails – which are free public lands and open to the public year round.This innovative program is the only one of its kind in southwest Florida – bringing Alzheimer’s patients into the wild to help awaken memories and calm the mind and spirit. George is modest about his role, but the program never would have begun without his inspiration, dedication, and leadership.”
We are proud of George and very happy to have him on board as a volunteer for CREW. His presence at Bird Rookery Swamp helps all the visitors more fully enjoy their experience there.
See a News-Press article mentioning George’s award here.
Congratulations, George, and thank you for your dedication and passion for CREW and the community!
New Marsh Trail Hikes added to CREW schedule
Due to popular demand, we have added three more guided hikes led by our fabulous volunteer Master Naturalist, Dr. David Cooper. These hikes are general natural history and interpretive hikes that stroll approximately 3 miles through pine flatwoods, oak hammock, popash slough and sawgrass marsh. Hikes run from 9 AM to noon.
In addition to his usual 3rd Tuesday hikes, the new hike dates are:
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Saturday March 17, 2012
and Saturday, April 21, 2012.