The Gift of Conservation---Perfect for the Holidays

MCHF offers Conservation Gift Certificates

Would your loved ones like a hiking trail as a holiday gift? Or would they rather support a youth hunting event, wildlife habitat improvements, clean streams, or a nature center?

This holiday season, you can give heartfelt gifts of lasting impact by purchasing "Conservation Gift Certificates" for those on your list. Your loved ones can then choose to which area of conservation they want to direct their certificates---from natural community management, outdoor classrooms or kids' fishing events, to name just a few of many options.

Simply send us donations of any amount, along with the names and addresses of those receiving your gifts, and we will send giftees a "certificate," with acknowledgement of your gift to them and a list of conservation programs and projects to which they may direct your gift.

Send your donations to: Conservation Gift Certificates, Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, P.O. Box 366, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0366. Questions? Call or email us at 800-227-1488 or mchf@mochf.org.

MCHF offers a variety of other conservation giving opportunities to help you invest in your conservation legacy. MCHF also maintains a profile with the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation; donations may be made to MCHF by clicking on the graphic at left.

The novelist Stan Crader, from Marble Hill, Missouri, has published a second book, Paperboy. Mr. Crader donates net proceeds from his books to MCHF.

Missouri novelist Stan Crader has just published his second book, Paperboy. It continues the exploits of a boy growing up in a small Missouri town in the 1960s. Crader published his first novel, The Bridge, in 2008. Last year I read The Bridge and thoroughly enjoyed it. Then I gave it to my 85-year-old mother, who passed it along to several friends.  None were disappointed.

The Bridge chronicles small town life from the perspective of a 12- year-old boy who is both keenly observant and heartily engaged in his world. The book is nostalgic, humorous, sometimes poignant, but never sappy. The story itself is strong, and the characters are well developed. The Bridge is not, on the surface, about conservation. But the influence of the outdoors on the kids and their activities permeates the story, from the local river for swimming and fishing, to the farms and woods for camping and adventure. For those of us who grew up in that time and setting it brings back accurate memories of a formative time long past.

Mr. Crader cares about conservation, and donates net proceeds from his books to MCHF. To buy the books go to Stan's Web site, print out an order form, and check the donation box for MCHF. With Christmas on its way, I plan to order several copies of Paperboy. I expect his new book to rekindle memories of my own paper route, just as The Bridge took me back to my own little town in so many ways.

--Rick Thom, Executive Vice President of MCHF