President Joyce introduced Bev Cook:
Beverlie Cook enjoyed many camping trips to Presqu'ile park over the years. In fact, that's what brought her and husband Ted to Brighton. She firmly believes in giving back to the community she calls home, so after volunteering to prepare the Policies and Procedures for the Friends of Presqu'ile Park, she was extremely impressed with the work they do.
Thirty years experience in Association Management, working with both charitable and business associations, serves Bev well as a volunteer with the Friends of Presqu'ile Park. She also teaches Association Management to members or the Canadian Society of Association Executives who are seeking certification. Bev has written articles and educational materials on the subject.
For several years she's been consulting to various associations, primarily in the areas of strategic planning, project management, financial management, market research, and promotion. She offers her professional services to assist the Friends of Presqu'ile as they move forward with the many exciting initiatives they have planned.
It has been Bev's great pleasure to serve as the Chair of the Board for three years. Her past roles have included Corporate Secretary and Finance Director. She's also been a keen volunteer at Christmas at Presqu'ile. Today, Bev in her spare time enjoys pole walking, reading and traveling with Ted. They are the proud parents of two sons and enjoy spoiling their five grandchildren.
Ted joined us as tech support for Bev.
Presqu'ile Provincial Park is 100 years old this year. The Parks purpose is to preserve the natural beauty. It is a Big Park and top for annual visitors with 240,000 pre-covid and during Covid this number was exceeded.
The Parks annual revenue is about $2.4 million annually and is expected to self supporting. The Province sometimes provides extra support for capital upgrades. The Park is a major tourist attraction for the area.
There are 27 parks in the Province with 'Friends' organizations. The Friends of Presqu'ile was formed about 30 years ago, to help and support the park that otherwise lacks the resources to do. The Friends have to comply with Park Policies and rules.
The Friends are about 200 volunteers of all ages and walks of life and provide about 10,000 hours of work per year. The role of the Friends is promote the natural aspects of the Park and help educate both school children and the general public through outreach, school visits, natural centre staffing. About 2,000 kids participate annually. Activities were shut down during COVID and they are looking to start back up slowly this year.
During COVID they developed virtual tours and presentations, teaching materials and activities.
They look for strategic partnerships
The Nature Centre is a hub for learning through their Discovery Program. They have over 10,000 visitors during the summer.
There are natural heritage interpreters throughout the park to inspect and help visitors.
They have a bursary program for students for trades and post secondary programs. The public nominate the students who work in the park each year.
Environmental Initiatives include helping to remove invasive species from the park and plant native species. The park has a nursery to develop and grow native species from the park. In general, old or diseased trees are left to come down and decay naturally as long as they do not provide a danger. Labour day weekend they help band butterfly's. They also have a bird seed program.
They undertake projects to protect endangered species including the Common Tern and turtles. Turtle fencing and tunnels have done a lot to reduce the mortality of these creatures.
They do repairs and bridge extensions to the trails and replace picnic tables. They now have an accessible walkway to Beach 1.
The Friends have several fundraising events to support what they do in the Park including:
BBQ's
Grants and donations,
Memory tree program,
Membership,
Raffles,
Lighthouse gift shop,
Christmas in Presqu'ile
They are always looking for volunteers.
They typically have an annual budget of about $200,000.
Rotarian Daniel thanked Bev for her presentation.