Since its inception, The Gates Rogers Foundation has been educating and inspiring...

Partners in Conservation

The Gates Rogers Foundation has partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife to assist in developing the South Fork Nature Center at Choctaw. The US Fish and Wildlife granted the foundation $6,000 for 2007 and pledged $7,000 for the 2008 year to help develop trails and the outdoor classroom. A 100 year-old cabin was moved to the site in the fall to be used as a meeting place. An open house is planned in the spring. The South Fork Nature Center is the only similar site in this part of the state. This educational center will assist teachers, students and the public by giving public access to walking trails and the opportunity to learn about native plants and wildlife.

December 2006 Christmas Present Giveaway - The Big Brown Bear

The Gates Rogers Green Shop thought it would be fun to give away a great big brown teddy bear for Christmas…and it was. Nicknamed Chancy by the GRF staff, he won a home. Cathy Bayne was the lucky entrant who now has a fuzzy, overly large bear to feed, groom and send to college. Gates Rogers, our local environmental and preservationist foundation, will be keeping watch.

Gates Rogers Foundation Goes Back to School, Nov 2006

More than the promise of snow created a diversion in Elena Petroukhina’s Clinton High School eighth-period art class on Thursday, November 30. The class had been busy making paper – from scratch. Well, from scraps, actually; scraps blended back to a plant fiber base, then reconstructed into extraordinarily beautiful handmade papers.

The Gates Rogers Foundation’s Cynthia Dusenberry and colleague Shirley Holland were invited to join the class to show the students some possibilities for enhancing handmade paper and even for turning their creations into art pieces or greeting cards. Mrs. Dusenberry makes the “It’s A Duse’y!” greeting cards for the Foundation’s Green Shop and South Fork Nature Center.

Students were shown how to create embellishments using a variety of natural and “found” materials, from mica (or isinglass), leaf and cactus “skeletons,” seeds, dried flowers, and grapevine tendrils, to insect wings, hummingbird feathers, shed snake skins, and paper-wasp and hornet’s nests. The Gates Rogers duo, committed to the preservation of species and natural habitats, emphasized that rule one in “art gathering” is to do no harm. Every item scavenged from a generous Mother Nature must indeed be found, not snared, netted, plucked, nor otherwise coerced into becoming art.

The Gates Rogers’ representatives invited the students to stop in at the Green Shop, 652 Main Street in Clinton, for further hints on how to gather even man-made discards that can be turned into art, and how to raid hardware stores, flea markets, thrift shops, junk mail, a seamstress’s wastebasket, and even Mom’s spice cabinet to find unique ways to ornament handmade papers and cards. Such exercises reopen one’s eyes to beauty in unusual places and guises, and serve an innate need to join trash to vision to create something unexpectedly beautiful.

Gates Rogers Foundation...Fairly FREE, Oct. 13, 2006

Once upon a time, a darling little girl was wandering among the booths at the Van Buren County Fair, curiously looking at all the exhibits. She happened upon the Gates Rogers Foundation, Inc., display and found a magic bottle. It said: Sign up here for a drawing for a FREE book at The Green Shop. And she did.

Katy Jankovsky was one of several children who filled out entries in the Gates Rogers give-away, and hers was one of the two names drawn from the “under 15” group. October 13, was indeed her lucky Friday. She and her Mom came to The Green Shop to play among the books. . . great books, nature books, pop-up books, picture books, story books, books, books, books. And what went home with Katy? A delightful pop-up: The Not So Itsy Bitsy Spider, whose feelings are hurt when his predatory ways cost him an invitation to a party. The unfolding art of the fireflies and the web-bound spider is extraordinary.

And all the rest of you? Well, yes, you’ll have to pay, but these are very special books: books to spend an afternoon with, books to take on vacation, books to give away as special presents, books to love and to pass along to children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren . . . . All of our books center on nature, and each has been chosen to teach us something as it entertains us. After all, that is the goal of the Gates Rogers Foundation’s envisioned South Fork Nature Center. We are merely getting you in the mood for that wonderful eventuality. Come by The Green Shop, 652 Main Street in Clinton, and play in our books.

Mary Alice was recognized for her work with rare plants and her conservation efforts to protect all things natural. In addition to the award Mary Alice received a check for $1,000.00 to help her continue her conservation efforts. 

Friday night, May 5th, was an evening of viewing beautiful native plants and nature scenes at the grand opening of the Gates Rogers Foundation, Inc. new location at 652 Main Street.

All photos on canvas scenes were taken at the South Fork Nature Center in Choctaw during an inventory and assessment of the site by botanists by Theo Witsell and Brent Baker.

Botanist’s Witsell and Baker’s photos on canvas were on display along with specimens from the herbarium. Raymond Creasy provided live music and some new friendships were developed among the youngest visitors.
 

The Gates Rogers Foundation was at the Main Street Clinton Garden & Flower Show May 1st, 2005 with information and giving away seed packets.