You may not know that as a member supported organization, Pickering Creek Audubon Center's budget is based on direct charitable contributions and program revenues. Private contributions are not the icing on the cake here at Pickering Creek Audubon Center, they are the cake itself. To keep the cost of Audubon programs affordable for schools, students and families, we must generate two thirds of our budget from private contributions (e.g. we charge just $4.50 per school child to attend an Pickering Creek Audubon Center program, but the actual cost of educating each child is $14.00). With our programs expanding, your direct support of Audubon's work at Pickering becomes even more important. As you read about Pickering Creek Audubon Center's activities and plans, we hope you will consider supporting these programs by making a gift directly to Pickering Creek Audubon Center.

Membership payments and gifts sent to the National Audubon Society support vital work at the national and global level, but do not remain in Maryland or at Pickering to support local activities.

We realize that you receive many mailings from the National Audubon Society as well as the two requests this office sends out annually. If you want your dollars to remain at Pickering to support local activities, please make your check payable and send it to Pickering Creek Audubon Center. Your gift of $20 or more entitles you to all benefits of Audubon membership, including the award-winning Audubon magazine, the quarterly Pickering Creek Audubon Center newsletter, discounts on programs at any of Audubon Maryland-DC's centers and Summer Camps.

Your gifts to Pickering Creek Audubon Center help make possible the following:
Environmental Education
Audubon believes that caring for our natural environment requires engaging and educating the next generation of environmental leaders. Hands-on environmental education is at the core of Audubon's efforts to preserve and protect our natural heritage for the enjoyment and benefit of future generations. Our programs are designed to make it possible for a child to explore nature in our pre-school programs, advance to school field trips, spend their summers at day camp, and eventually attend our residential summer camps. Exploring nature hands-on, these kids build impressions that will last a lifetime and we hope, create a life-long love for our planet and a desire to become involved in its protection. Each year Pickering Creek Audubon Center's year-round education programs reach thousands of Marylanders of all ages to help guide them along the continuum from appreciation to understanding to stewardship of nature.