December 2006

We Need Your Help!

Dear Friend:

I am writing to ask you for your support.  With the help from people like you, we influenced the purchase of 5000 acres of Burns Bog. That is the power of your gift.

Over the years, the financial help of people like you has educated more than 20,000 students about the Bog and its role in the well being of our environment--these are just the ones we know about.

This past year we increased the number of students on field trips by 10% and the number of children attending our summer day camps by 100%!

Keeping the public and politicians informed about the importance of Burns Bog is the best way to protect the environment and our health for future generations.

But today, we are in danger of closing our doors and I feel that it is important that you know some of the following.

• Your help right now will make a difference. That is why I am asking you for an extra gift of $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can give to help us overcome these challenging times.

• This could not be a worse time for us to close our doors. Rising concerns over global warming and what it means when our bogs disappear is just starting to be understood by the public.

• Delta residents look at their tax bill and see a fee for Burns Bog. They think we are receiving the money. We don’t. It goes towards the purchase of Burns Bog.

• Eighteen years ago, developers were not successful in turning Burns Bog into parking lots because teachers had made the Delta Nature Reserve (the edge of Burns Bog) into an outdoor classroom.

• Former students rose up and fought the development. And, the destruction of Burns Bog was stopped because student after student, teacher after teacher, and speaker after speaker raised their voices to protect our international treasure, Burns Bog.

• Right now as I write this letter, we are receiving phone calls from teachers asking for tours and students are calling for help with their projects. But there will be no one here to answer the phone without your help.

We need to continue telling and educating people about how important our Bog is to our quality of life. But we can’t without your help.
                                                                                     
Your gift will let us continue to give school tours and public tours, provide teachers with educational materials for their classrooms, gather research on your behalf and answer students’ questions.

Sticking to practices that don’t adapt to the needs of our environment is robbing our future to pay for the present.

If we close our doors, we can’t respond to your concerns and inquiries and give bog tours.  Our research library won’t be available for students, and we won’t be able to help teachers enrich their teaching programs for their students.

I hope you will find it in your heart to continue to support our work by making an extra gift of $25, $50 or $100 or more if you can at this critical time.

Please send what you can today. If you do your part, we promise you we will continue to do our part on your behalf.  Your gift will be your vote of confidence for the work we do.

You can give in several ways. The easiest is to go to www.CanadaHelps.org and click on the button and it will go directly to the Society. It is fast, safe and you will receive your charitable tax receipt in a few hours.

You can also send a cheque directly to the Society at:

Burns Bog Conservation Society
4-7953 120 Street
Delta, BC V4C 6P6

Sincerely,

Eliza Olson
President & Volunteer Executive Director
Earthday Canada’s Hometown Hero 2006
Delta’s Citizen of the Year 2006