IAS Takes Booth to Earth Day Indiana

The Earth Day table
Bill Cummings and Any Wilms

What do you get when you take several IAS pamphlets, membership brochures, a poster with Indiana bird photos, and a few bird nests?

A wonderful day filled with meeting thousands of adults and children interested in what the Indiana Audubon Society is all about! This year on April 26th, I had the honor of setting up a booth in downtown Indianapolis for Earth Day Indiana with my mom Terri Cochran, Becky Lewis, Bill Cummings, and three of his delightful children. Over 20,000 folks attended the event to learn more about the environment and conservation concerns in our state. It was quite amazing for our organization to be a part of such a large event.

As families walked by, you could see eyes light up when they noticed the display of bird nests on our table. We fielded hundreds of questions and heard so many stories about the five little displays. Two women within a few moments of each other pointed to one of our nests to explain that each year they hung the same nest on their Christmas tree. It was obvious that this was a special part of their holiday. When I pointed to an American Robin's nest and asked the younger children if they could guess what kind of bird lived in this home, the most popular answer was an Eagle! (Wow! Do we have a lot of work to do?)

The Earth Day table

We handed out hundreds of brochures, plastic snakes and bug boxes to the kids, and talked to a lot of curious folks about the birds in Indiana and the importance of conservation. As I look back, I get excited to think that thousands of Hoosiers learned about our great organization and we were a part of a great event in Indiana.

I would like to thank our IAS members who helped make this event possible: Dick Patterson for sending photographs and labels for the poster, Bill Cummings and family for sending digital pictures and taking the time to stop by, Becky Lewis for staying the whole day and helping tear down the displays, and finally my mom, Terri Cochran, for getting up early and lending a hand when needed.

Next year will be even bigger and better!

Submitted by Amy Wilms