Students raise $3,500 for Stand for the Land

March 23, 2019 8:30 am
Margaret Coulter, a fifth-grader at The Island School, stands with Ray Victurine, land trust board president, Sinclair Ball, land trust community engagement associate, fifth-grade teacher Amanda Walker, as she presents a check to the Bainbridge Island Land Trust for its Stand for the Land fundraiser. (Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust)
Margaret Coulter, a fifth-grader at The Island School, stands with Ray Victurine, land trust board president, Sinclair Ball, land trust community engagement associate, fifth-grade teacher Amanda Walker, as she presents a check to the Bainbridge Island Land Trust for its Stand for the Land fundraiser. (Photo courtesy of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust)

Kids can make a difference.

When Margaret Coulter, a fifth-grade student at The Island School, drove around the Island with her parents she was struck by how green it was compared to other places. She began asking questions about how and why Bainbridge looks the way it does, and wanted to know what she could do to help.

Margaret and her mother met Bainbridge Island Land Trust staff in August to learn more about Stand for the Land and discuss an idea she had for a fundraiser at her school. After meeting with the head of school and her teacher, it was official: Margaret would organize a read-a-thon and math-a-thon for the second- through fifth-graders at The Island School.

The students began by collecting pledges from family and friends, and in February, they got to work reading chapters and solving math problems to cash in on those pledges.

Ray Victurine, board president for the land trust, and Sinclair Ball, the nonprofit’s community engagement associate, had the pleasure of visiting the students at the end of the month to celebrate their wonderful accomplishment and share more about the amazing natural areas and wildlife on Bainbridge. Margaret proudly presented a hand-drawn check for $3,502, which will be used to save even more forests, streams, shorelines, and wetlands. For everyone. Forever.

To date, Stand for the Land has secured three properties via down payment; the 14-acre Jablonko Preserve, the 15-acre Cougar Creek Preserve, and the 13-acre Miller-Kirkman Preserve.

Officials with the Bainbridge Island Land Trust said they are very grateful to Margaret, her family, the staff and students of The Island School, and all the donors for this incredible gift. The Bainbridge Island Land Trust is a local nonprofit founded in 1989 with the mission to preserve and steward the diverse natural environment of Bainbridge Island for the benefit of all. Learn more about Stand for the Land and sign up for a tour at www.bi-landtrust.org.

The Island School, founded in 1977, is a small, independent, nonprofit elementary school serving students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The faculty includes full-time, accredited teachers for each class, part-time assistants in most classes, and specialists for art, music, physical education, library and Spanish.