Thank You Thursday – 11.1.12

If you’ve ever attended one of our events, you’ve benefited from the work of a cadre of staff and volunteers dedicated to FUN! Oh, and also to protecting our environment.

This past weekend, we pulled off two simultaneous events: Our annual Fishy Fest at Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and our first fall festival at WAYS park.

The aquarium staff would like to send a big thank you to special projects volunteers Ann and Ken Casebier who built our photo booth. Thanks to their efforts, the Aquarium was able to have a presence on top of the Pier throughout the Fishy Fest weekend, encouraging folks to mug for the camera with a marine-themed backdrop and publicize the fact we had many great activities going on in the Aquarium below.

We’d also like to thank Nili Hudson, a volunteer and donor who generously supports our work in many ways, and children’s author Dave Derrick for reading from his book during Story Time. 

For the fall festival at WAYS park, we appreciate the efforts of Steve Cancian and Jose Estrada. Both Steve and Jose have been involved with the project since its inception two years ago. In addition to running the community design meetings for the project, Steve helped plan the event and he ran the park’s information table, answering questions from the community. Jose, who works with ACUSLA (Association of United Communities of Southern Los Angeles) helped Stephen Mejia, our Urban Programs Coordinator, go door-to-door within the community to spread the word about the event.

More than 30 families attended, consuming 100 hot dogs, carving pumpkins and creating painted masks. Thank you, Jose and Steve! We look forward to counting on your support as we move forward with WAYS.

Last week we also re-launched our Lunch ‘n Learn field trip program at Duke’s Malibu on PCH. We are grateful to the staff at Duke’s who have renewed their commitment to hosting this educational effort. We love you, Duke’s (and not just for your Hula pie).