Friends of the environment have a unique opportunity to party on the wild side and support the advancement of the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center at Laredo Community College during Gator Aid V on Friday, April 28.
The fundraiser will offer dinner and music under the stars beginning at 7 p.m. on the grounds of the LBVE Science Center, located on the north side of the main campus.
The donation is $35 per person, and it includes a catered dinner, a tour of new exhibits and a one-day family pass to the LBVESC.
Tickets may be purchased in advance by calling 764-5701.
Proceeds from the benefit will finance the maintenance and help upgrade the center’s dioramas, which feature taxidermal specimens of the region donated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department.
The goal is to replace some of the specimens and add an audio recording system with information explaining the dioramas.
“The community is invited to celebrate the science center’s seventh anniversary and to help us raise funds to support the center’s operations,” LBVESC director Tom Miller said.
Gator Aid began in the center’s third year and is part of the center’s anniversary celebration.
Another planned event is an Earth Day Festival set for Saturday, April 22 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the science center grounds.
Co-sponsored by the LBVESC and the Keep Laredo Beautiful campaign of the city of Laredo, the activities will include a nature trail work day, games, environmental workshops, free lunch, prize giveaways, native plant sale and music. The festival is free and open to the community.
Located on the north side of the LCC campus in close proximity to the Rio Grande, the science center serves as a living laboratory for LCC students.
It also is an important center for science education for the region’s students from pre kindergarten to 12th grade.
“More than 70,000 students have visited the science center for it to become Laredo’s premier field trip destination. Gator Aid allows the center to grow,” Miller explained.
Through its educational curriculum and hands-on approach, the center promotes an understanding and respect for the relationship between man and environment.
The center features hands-on demonstrations, water areas for live specimens native to the Rio Grande ecosystem, growing areas for native vegetation, wildlife diorama displays, a wetlands demonstration project and the adjacent Paso del Indio Nature Trail, located along the Rio Grande river banks.
Tom Miller, director of the Lamar Bruni Vergara Environmental Science Center, pets Happy, the javalina, one of the many critters that reside at the center and benefit from the annual Gator Aid dinner. Tickets for the fundraiser are now on sale. Call 764-5701 for more details.
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