River of Words

We are a small, established non-profit. We teach environmental literacy through poetry and art. Each year, in affiliation with The Library of Congress, we conduct a free poetry and art contest on the theme of watersheds. This year, over 20,000 children (K-12) from 45 states and 10 countries participated. For the last five years Southwest Airlines has flown our US winners and their families to the award ceremony at the Library of Congress. Southwest has changed their corporate giving policy to focus on medical emergencies and will not be giving us the 18 tickets we were counting on. The additional, unbudgeted expense is devasting for our organization. Anyone who might underwrite these travel expenses ($6000-$7000) would be giving a truly wonderful life-changing gift to a number of children, their schools and communities. We, of course, would be happy--thrilled--to thank you publicly at the cereomony, on our printed materials, at a press conference--whatever. Please visit our website to see some of the amazing and inspiring art and poetry of place created by our participating young people. A bit about our organization: River of Words: Connecting Kids to Their Watersheds & Their Imaginations Through Poetry & Art River of Words is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting literacy, creative expression, and community awareness of our most critical environmental concern: water. River of Words (ROW) was co-founded by U.S. Poet Laureate (1995-1997) Robert Hass and writer Pamela Michael to help young people make a personal and lasting connection to the environment. With its roots in The Library of Congress and its Center for the Book, ROW’s young “Watershed Explorers” are contributing to a legacy of nature-inspired art and poetry that will influence all of us. River of Words is internationally recognized for its unique watershed education model which integrates art and poetry in a place-based curriculum. Since 1995, River of Words has encouraged young people to explore and savor the watersheds where they live and trained educators to help them with inspiration and passion. Through educational services, traveling exhibits, publications and community programs, ROW reaches thousands of educators and young people, grades K-12, around the world. www.riverofwords.org