Dear Friend of CEED,

If you can… take a moment, sit down, take a deep breath, rest your eyes, and think of a calming location for 30 seconds. What did you see? Most likely, it was the beach, the forest, or the wind gently blowing a field of native plants. CEED’s mission is to connect you and our community to nature and science with creative use of discovery, art, and education. And to ensure these natural places are available for everyone now and in the future.

A donation to CEED is a way to express your desire to make the world a better place. It will be one that helps your community immediately, and at the same time helps the world and all its people in the long-term.

Helping nature and people in our community today

This year, we had 175 children in our Summer Program, including 14 scholarships. We offered 50 events, workshops, and presentations at CEED and have even more planned for 2024. Our Northern Bobwhite Quail program has shown success in that our quail have successfully overwintered in Brookhaven/ Bellport which gives us hope of re-establishing a wild population in the area. If you hiked the trails, you noticed new trail signage in the preserve and a wider cleaner North Trail. Last year, we opened the Woodlands Hall and just recently opened the Marine Hall, giving us two rooms for public programs and meetings.

Helping the world and all its people long-term

All our art and nature programs help to connect people to nature, which builds community and political will to protect the global environment long-term. All our programs for young people are helping to develop adults who care about our local and global environment. Our programs help create long lasting healthy effects on lives, families, and our communities.

It is important to restore the Washington Lodge with waste-water treatment and sustainable electrical systems that create less impact on the planet and show others how it can be done.

This was an exciting year of growth in all our programs at CEED, and all of this happened because of supporters, volunteers, and program participants. You are an important part of our family, and crucial to our future success.

And at this time of year, when many people make their largest gifts to organizations they care about most, I hope you’ll agree that a gift to help CEED thrive and continue to grow in 2024 is a perfect donation. Your contribution will help people and nature in our community today, with the potential of helping the global environment for the benefit of all the world’s people far into the future.

Our goal is to raise $100,000 before the end of the year! This will get us off to a great start in 2024. Any gift you send will help move us forward. All gifts to CEED are tax-deductible and will be greatly appreciated. Will you help?

Thank you!  With gratitude,

Sally A.Wellinger, Executive Director