We are pleased to share that Evergreen Audubon gave away thirty-five nestboxes over the past year, thanks to a generous donation from Evergreen photographer and author, Jacqueline Crivello.

Jackie, who loves nature and, of course, birds, came to us with a heartwarming dream — wouldn’t it be great if families in our area who couldn’t afford to purchase a nestbox could still have one? She wanted families from all backgrounds to be able to enjoy birds as much as she does.

It took some brainstorming and planning, but we were able to achieve Jackie’s wish. Board member, Tom Ryon, designed a plan to place vouchers at the Evergreen EChO food bank and Conifer’s Mountain Resource Center that could be exchanged for a nestbox or platform. While there, he gave a few boxes to lucky folks who couldn’t wait to get them home and installed. Over the past months, folks took their vouchers to the nature center to choose a box. Most opted for chickadee and bluebird nestboxes, but some went for the larger flicker boxes or smaller robin platforms. Families picking up their boxes had a chance to explore the Nature Center and learn a bit about our local birds, a win-win!

Carol Burdick, another board member, tracked the number of boxes given away against Jackie’s donation. When we got down to having enough funds for two more boxes, Jackie joined me, Carol, and Melissa, our president, at EChO for the final giveaways. It brought us all such pleasure to see the smiling faces of the excited recipients.

Jackie, who hopes to get more involved with Evergreen Audubon, is a gem in our community, an internationally published nature photographer, and author of award-winning books, including The Magic of the Forest, Fireball Fox Saves the Fores,t and her newest The Magic of Wings. She is also President of The Wooden Nest, Inc. and has owned a Wild Birds Unlimited store in Wisconsin for 35 years. To learn more about Jackie visit her website.