Located only 10 minutes from downtown St.Louis, Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park is an oasis for city dwellers. One of our Board members, Claudia Stallone Rhodes lives in Wildwood, where Babler is located, and she brought a project proposal to MSPF that our board has decided to support.
Babler Outdoor Adventure (BOA) is an educational program that strives to share the great outdoors with inner city school children.. Reaching almost 900 children each summer, BOA, and programs like it , are often the only opportunities inner city kids have to connect with a natural environment.
In Newark, New Jersey, for example, The Garden Story found that children’s homes, schools, and churches had no trees growing around them. The children had only empty, dangerous lots and vacant buildings in which to play. A new term has arisen for these circumstances. Coined by Richard Louv in his book Last Child in the Woods, “nature deficit disorder” refers to the trend for children to spend less and less time outdoors, resulting in a host of behavioral problems. Louv argues that children alienated from nature may suffer long term mental and spiritual health. A growing body of research links our mental, physical, and spiritual health directly to our association with nature in many positive ways. Nature experiences help children understand the natural landscape through first hand experiences. These experiences can also have a positive effect on teenagers’ sense of empowerment, self-control, independence, self-understanding, and decision-making skills. A connection with nature has also been found to enhance a child’s leadership skills.
With our help in fundraising, BOA would expand from the summer program to provide services for St. Louis school children throughout the year. Additional funds would also allow the park and the BOA to improve the existing materials and supplies, bring two more staff on board and help with maintenance for the stables, where many BOA activities take place.
If you have questions about this project, would like to volunteer or donate, please contact us. If you have specific questions about BOA, you can contact Hannah Rennard at Babler State Park. Her contact info is below. For more information about Babler Memorial State Park, go to http://www.mostateparks.com/babler.htm
Hannah Rennard
Interpretive Resource Specialist
Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park
800 Guy Park Drive
Wildwood, MO 63005
(636) 458-3813
hannah.rennard@dnr.mo.gov
