Home Schools & Youth Dine at Benvenuto’s and help bring children to Cherokee Marsh

Dine at Benvenuto’s and help bring children to Cherokee Marsh

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Dine at Benvenuto’s and help bring children to Cherokee Marsh

By Anita Weier
Friends of Cherokee Marsh

Monday, Sept. 25, you will have a chance to support children’s environmental education while enjoying a tasty Italian meal.

Anyone who has lunch or dinner at the Northside Benvenuto’s on that day — or orders delivery, takeout or buys a gift card — will be helping children learn about nature on a trip to the Cherokee Marsh. But this money will flow only if you mention that you want your purchase to benefit the Friends of Cherokee Marsh.

The Friends group donates money every year to the Madison Metropolitan School District to fund bus trips by students to the Cherokee Marsh Conservation Park for guided, hands-on learning. The Friends strive to give more than $1,000 per year to the school district for transportation. Last year, more than 800 students visited the marsh, with the Friends donating most of the cost.

“I take my class to Cherokee Marsh nearly every year,” said Sheryl Rowe, a second-grade teacher at Franklin Elementary School. “It is a beautiful area that supports engaged learning and our science curriculum — specifically insect life cycles. The kids get the opportunity to scoop for aquatic critters and we usually find dragonfly and damselfly nymphs, mosquito larvae, scud, water striders, water boatmen, as well as tadpoles and small fish.”

She added that, depending on the guides and the paths taken, the students also learn about invasive species, bird calls, leaf identification (including poison ivy) and historical facts about the river and the area.

Benvenuto’s, located at 1849 Northport Dr. in the Northside TownCenter, will donate a generous 20 percent of purchases on Sept. 25 to the Friends, but only if customers mention they want the restaurant to do so.

If you can’t make it to Benvenuto’s on that date, just go to Cherokeemarsh.org to donate and specify that you want your donation to be spent on environmental education.