C.John Ralph, RRAS
Every year, for the past six years, the Northcoast Environmental Center (NEC) and Redwood Region Audubon Society (RRAS) have held a fundraiser in honor of Tim McKay. Tim was a great friend to the environment and Executive Director of the NEC for thirty years. While at the helm of that organization, Tim began holding annual Birdathons and splitting the funds raised with RRAS. Tim had the charisma to cajole many folks from the local birding community to participate, which involves forming teams of birders whose goal is to see, hear, and identify as many bird species as possible within a 24-hour period. The money is donated by team sponsors who pledge to contribute a set amount for every species observed. After Tim’s untimely death at the age of 59, the Birdathon lapsed for a while, but some of his old friends rejuvenated it as a way of remembering him.
The Birdathon funds are vital to these two largely volunteer organizations. The money is used to educate our community about the many challenges facing our local ecosystems, and to lobby for the wild animals and plants that have no voice.
To learn more about these organizations, please visit www.yournec.org and www.rras.org.
With much more than $10,000 in the bank accounts, a record was set in funds gathered for NEC and the Redwood Region Audubon in the annual Tim McKay bird-a-thon, honoring the long-time Director of NEC and avid birder. Two teams of counters went out in September to see how many species each team could count in a day. Team NEC with Gary Falxa and Gayle Garman, and the “Talliers” (profiled in a recent Sandpiper) of Gary Friedrichsen, Gary Bloomfield, Greg Chapman, and C.J. Ralph.
They gathered an amazing over 140 pledges, usually of a given amount per species, ranging from 10¢ to $5! In this time of shutdowns, having this as a much-needed fundraiser helps these organizations a great deal.
We thank the following folks who pledged and shared in the glory:
Gisele Albertine, Tom and Katy Allen, Elaine Allison, Jan Anderson, Leslie Scopes Anderson, Mark Andre, Mark and Patty Andrews, Bob and Karen Behrstock, Chris and Richard Beresford, Jamie Bettaso, John and Barbara Brimlow, Adam Brown, Ralph Bucher, Karen Burgesser, Christine and Gene Callahan, Sydney Carothers, Carl Carranza, Charles Chamberlin, Bart Chapman, Bob Chapman, Greg Chapman, Ryan Chapman, Serrina Chapman, Maia Cheli, Mike Cipra, Dale Clark, Les Chow, Elaine David, Nancy Dean, Tom and Amy Dewey, George Epperson, Gary Falxa, John Falxa, Maggie Fleming, Scott and Trude Frazer, Rich, Barbara, and Howie Friedman, Bob Friedrichsen, Gary and Jan Friedrichsen, Jim Froland, Pia Gabriel, Gayle Garman, Hal and Margot Genger, Dawn Goley, Eva Green, Dan and Laura Green, Michael and Jeanice Gross, Rocky and Kaye Gutierrez, Peter Haggard, Brett Harvey, Holly Harvey, Kate Harvey, Bridget Hass, Vicki Hawking, Ward and Jan Headstrom, Diane Higgins, Harriet Hill, Ken Hoffman, Irene and Hugh Holt, Dave Imper, Arne Jacobson, Larry Karstadt, Gail Kenny, Bruce Kessler, Chuck and Janet Krull, Dick and Kathy LaForge, Laurie Lawrence, Steve Leddy, Sue Lee, Peter Lehman, Tom and Sue Leskiw, Ann Lindsay, Robert and Adrienne Lockett, Allan Lowry, Amy Taylo, Rosada Martin , Lynn McCulloch, James McDermott, Tom and Catherine McNally, Carol McNeil, Suerie McNeil, Sherri Miller, Jim Moore, Peggy Moore, Ken and Kemset Moore, Sue Moore, Bob Morris, Archie Mossman, Cindy Moyer, Sherlyn Munger, Eric Nelson, Brian O’Donnell, Felicia Oldfather, Joann and Eric Olson, John and Kris Onstine, Scott Osborn, Neil Palmer, Pete and Gretchen Pederson, Karen Pope, Jude Power, Dennis and Carol Rael, C.J. and Carol Ralph, Duncan Ralph, Norbert Ralph, Peter Ralph, Nancy Reichard, Stephen Rice, Ann Richmond, Rich Ridenhour, Lynn Roberts, Terry and Erica Roelofs, Walter Sakai, Gilbert Saliba, Ric and Nancy Schlexer, Terry and Kimberly Pittman- Schultz, Bob Schultze, Dan Sealy, Bob Sizoo, Patricia Sundgren Smith, Jay Sooter, Alex Stillman, Kathleen Storey, Ron and Judy Strange, Joe Szewczak, Alberto Taylor, Jeff and Lynne Toderoff, Gina Treadman, Carl and Susan Tuck, Andrea Tuttle, Carol Vander Meer, Ann Wallace, Tom Wheeler, Arnold Whitridge, Jameson Wolfe-Martin, Joe Wolfe, Heidi Woog, and Jim Zoellick.