TD helps Miner Foundation with $23,500 donation

By Mark Ribble

Back in the 1950s and 1960s, the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Sanctuary became one of the go-to places for school fields trips for students all across Ontario and part of Michigan.

Readers of a certain vintage will remember learning about the habits and habitat of migratory birds by visiting the large pond on the Miner grounds, or even filling the stadium out back alongside their classmates — watching the wild Canada Geese take off and land.

Times have changed since those days and the Jack Miner Migratory Bird Foundation is expanding their educational reach with innovative programs designed to help kids understand the environment and all of the creatures that live nearby.

It’s a bit of a shift from the old days when busloads of kids showed up and explored the grounds and museum, had lunch and got back on their buses.

Now, say Executive Director Tom Coke and Director of Education and Community Engagement Matthew Olewski, the educational portion is closely tied to school curriculum.

“We want to appreciate the history and tradition that this place holds, and at the same time, we want to focus on what Jack stood for,” says Coke. “He was a conservationist before conservation was cool.”

Coke says that he and Olewski share a vision of educating the kids on many aspects of conservation and they’ve developed programs that fit the current school curriculum of Grades K-8.

Olewski says that between May and June of this year, over 780 students have visited the new Jack Miner Learning Centre, housed in the old clubhouse behind the Miner residence.

The Learning Centre is the culmination of many hours of creative work and a vision shared between Olewski and Coke.

“I walked by one day last year and saw Matthew in there working,” says Coke. “When I asked him what he was doing, he told me he was thinking it should be turned into a place of learning about conservation. That’s when the wheels started turning.”

The Learning Centre currently houses several displays and activity tables, all of which haven’t cost the foundation a penny.

“Everything was either donated to us or we already had it here,” said Olewski.

The foundation owns a large collection of memorabilia and other artifacts — much of which is displayed inside the Miner museum. Much more of it still needs to be sorted and placed.

That’s another place where the students can help by assisting staff going through much of the artifacts already on the grounds, which also educates them as they go.

“Jack once said that if he could teach a kid to build a birdhouse, he could make a conservationist out of them,” said Olewski.

So as their educational focus shifts away from ‘just the goose’ and more toward curriculum driven education, they see the school classes returning, which gives them both a warm feeling.

And to that end, they applied last November for a TD Friends of the Environment grant and just received $23,500 to be used toward the learning centre.

On hand last Thursday were TD Kingsville Branch Manager Diane Taouil and TD Manager of Customer Experience Jennifer Vear. The pair received a tour of the grounds from Tom Coke and Matthew Olewski and they were able to see first-hand the difference that TD's contribution will make toward the learning centre.

The grounds and learning centre are open to everyone and are completely free to enter. The learning centre is open every Saturday and is open by chance on Sundays.

In closing, Tom Coke referred to Jack Miner's motto about everyone being welcome.

“Jack said that whether you had a dollar in your pocket, or a million dollars, you were welcome,” he said. “It’s a place for everybody".

Jack Miner Foundation Executive Director Tom Coke, left, and Director of Education and Community Engagement Matthew Olewski stand inside the Jack Miner Learning Centre with TD Kingsville Branch Manager Diane Taouil and TD Customer Experience