Missouri River Relief’s Post

We're excited to share our 2023 Annual Impact Report with all of you. It honestly took a bit longer than we wish to pull it together, but it's 100% online and a ton of fun to browse through. We hope you love it as much as we do. Here's the link - https://lnkd.in/guraBAV2 With the online version, we could include more stuff! More Results, More Photos, More Stories, More Gratitude.

We had such a blast in St. Joseph over the weekend for our first river cleanup there in 10 years! And got tons of good work done. KQ2 reporter Mary Grace Rice joined us for a couple days, producing a really great piece about the cleanup and a fun one about the trash scout the day before. Thanks MG! And thanks to all the fantastic volunteers and partners that made it happen! More results and photos to come! Cleanup Video - https://lnkd.in/gmWjD4Dk Trash Scout Video - https://lnkd.in/geQRm6pG

Own a cool piece of Missouri River bottoms history! Thanks to the generosity (and sweat equity) of a local business, there are 20 seedlings grown from acorns collected from the state champion McBaine Bur Oak tree available for a donation of $100 (limit 2 per person). These are available only for folks that can pick them up in person in Columbia (details will be emailed to donors). Check it out! https://lnkd.in/guAMNXyy

We are so proud that our Education Director Kristen Schulte was awarded the "Conservation Educator of the Year" by Conservation Federation of Missouri, one of the oldest conservation organizations in the state. We are her biggest fans but are so glad the broader community sees her impact. Here's what CFM shared about her work: "Kristen is one of the leading outdoor educators in the state of Missouri. She has been working since 2015 as the Education Director for Missouri River Relief (MRR). She is a quiet leader in the outdoor education community. Her innovative programs have been a model that she has shared with many other educators and organizations. Her leadership has helped build community among outdoor and conservation educators and showed an inspirational pathway for others through the pandemic. Her vision is pushing MRR to grow its impact in all parts of our community. When Kristen joined the MRR team, she took a step back to review the existing education programs, gathered a group of MRR education partners and volunteers, and proceeded to build on the strengths of existing programs while crafting completely new and innovative programs that have now impacted tens of thousands of students, teachers and community members. While she and her team certainly bring the river to people where they live, her goal is always to get people TO the river and ON the river for the kind of educational experience that only MRR can uniquely provide. One of the first things she did was craft an Education Philosophy for Missouri River Relief that has guided all of our work since then. “Missouri River Relief Education engages participants’ innate sense of wonder and natural curiosity to explore the Missouri River through place-based programs that are interdisciplinary in nature and experiential in character. We seek to build participants’ knowledge and understanding of the Missouri River through hands-on experiences that will deepen their connection and sense of responsibility for its care and stewardship.” Kristen is an inspiring community builder, place-based educator and skilled collaborator representing the best of Conservation Education in the state of Missouri." #moriverrelief #outdooreducation

Yesterday was our 19th Annual Old Plank & River Road Cleanup. The Columbia Missourian tagged along for this article and great pics of the cleanup. 75 volunteers cleaned up 40 bags of landfill trash and 31 bags of recyclables from about 8 miles of roads. https://lnkd.in/gwWjmH7t

We are so grateful to Melanie Cheney for 16 years of dedicated, thoughtful and transformative work at Missouri River Relief. Yesterday was Melanie’s last day as our Office Manager, and she has set us up for success. We wish her the best as she starts her new position at Columbia College next week. Mel has been a volunteer, AmeriCorps Stream Team Asst, Asst. Program Manager and the Office Manager! Jeff Barrow called her the “Reminder-in-chief” – so true! She’s been a writer, an artist, an educator, a social media maven, a boat operator, a bookkeeper, trash dispatcher, photographer, a graphic designer, a trailer-wrangler, a musician and more! We’ll miss you Mel! Thank you for being such an important part of this community and for all you’ve done to grow and support it. We hope we’ll see you at river programs forever.

New year, new chapter, new legacy! 2024 is a leap year, and you can leap into action by using your extra day to care for the people and causes you love! Our partners at FreeWill provide the tools so you can write the next chapter of your story and create a legacy gift that protects the future of Missouri River Relief’s work to connect people to the Missouri River — in 2024, and for years to come: frwill.link/mrr1

We hope you’ll join us at Ragtag Cinema on Thursday, January 25th at 7 PM for a free film screening and community discussion. END OF THE LINE: THE WOMEN OF STANDING ROCK focuses on a group of Indigenous women who unexpectedly became the leaders of the global movement against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Check out the event page for more details and to invite a friend: https://lnkd.in/gux2AHys

Good news for Mid-Missouri educators! Registration to check out our Missouri River Scientists Traveling Trunk is OPEN for 2024! Follow this link to register or learn more: bit.ly/mo-river-scientists The Missouri River Scientists curriculum consists of four lessons aimed at 4th grade learning standards that teach students about the endangered pallid sturgeon and bring place-based Missouri River education to your classroom. Each trunk contains a pallid sturgeon replica, real fossils from the Missouri River watershed, magnifying glasses, dam-building supplies, and much more. If you’re a Mid-Missouri educator within 30 miles of Columbia, you can sign up now to bring the Missouri River to your classroom!