Every summer, the Hunger Coalition in Blaine County organizes Lunch Connections, a program that provides free hot lunch to kids in the valley who need or want a hot meal during the summer months. This year, the Environmental Resource Center teamed up with the Hunger Coalition to provide Wild Lunch, a free program offered during the lunch.

The traditional scarecrow, by nature, utilizes reusable materials in a functional way. This year, the Scarecrow Showdown at the Sawtooth Botanical Garden's annual Harvest Festival offered the perfect forum to dive even deeper into the idea of, "What makes a scarecrow?"

Tom Downey contacted us late spring wanting to brainstorm possible program ideas to commemorate their start to a new school year. His goal for the program was to instill a sense of community in the Upper School students, complimenting the Montessori standards of fostering independence, respect and creative learning. He wanted to weave team-building into experiential education, with the ERC as the guide. We pounced on this opportunity and set to work designing a lesson plan.

Our first annual Shooting Star Sleep-Out celebrated the end of summer with over 60 family members. Folks came from not only the Wood River Valley, but also Chicago, Seattle, Boise and Los Angeles. The evening was filled with nature exploration guided by local Master Naturalists and the opportunity to enjoy the very early beginnings of fall up at the Central Idaho 4-H Camp where the sleep-out was held. After the nature programs and a pizza dinner provided by McClain's Pizzeria, participants donned their cold-weather clothes and headed up to the campfire circle for evening programs.