ENC Executive Director Bo Glover poses in front of the newly acquired property at 745 Dover Drive. Courtesy of the OC Register.
The Environmental Nature Center (ENC) has purchased the property at 745 Dover Drive! Our $10 million capital campaign to expand onto the adjacent 1.3 acre plot and build the community’s first nature preschool and nature play area is still in full swing.
No one has a better use for this parcel of land than the ENC. For this reason, we did whatever was in our power to secure it for future generations. We had a short time to raise the funding necessary to purchase before years end and needed to borrow from our reserves in order to complete the deal. Now we need to replenish our reserves and much more. We have done an amazing job raising 1.5 million during the campaign thus far, and I am certain the community will step up to help us raise the remaining 8.5 million we need to complete this project.
The expansion will increase the ENC’s natural habitat, where we have plans to develop a nature play area and construct the community’s first nature based pre-school. The ENC Nature Pre-school will offer children a high quality learning environment that meets their developmental needs while initiating them into a life-long, meaningful relationship with the natural world. The school will engage parents in active learning, serve as a model nature pre-school, provide a research forum on early childhood and environmental education and contribute financially to the ENC.
This is a terrific opportunity for the ENC to expand its role as an educator in the community. It will provide quality learning and nature exploration opportunities, and help local children develop into environmentally literate adults. For more information or to donate to the ENC’s Capital Campaign, visit www.encenter.org/capital-campaign or contact me at 949-645-8489 or bo@encenter.org. – Bo Glover, ENC Executive Director