Kids from the International Rescue Committee Hiking at Lulwater Park

This great group of kids from IRC spent this past Saturday visiting the Fernbank Museum of Natural History.  They checked out the planetarium learning about the planets and constellations and watched a holiday musical.

A Visit to Fernbank Museum with Kids from Clarkston High School

On Saturday Dec 3, Atlanta ICO took a group of students from Clarkston High School to the Fernbank Museum.  Kids went on a hike and checked out the dinosaur exhibit.

Dresden Tutoring Group kids at Chattahoochee Bend State Park Birds of Prey Show

The kids took a hike along the river trail and then got to see a few birds of prey up close and personal

Kids from IRC Hike arabia Mountain

Here's a photo of the group from IRC hiking Arabia Mountain in early October.

Hiking at Sweetwater Creek State Park with kids from the Dresden Tutoring Group

This Saturday we took 8 kids from the Dresden Tutoring group on a hike around Sweetwater Creek State Park.  The kids had never been to the park before so they had a great time seeing the ruins and playing on the rocks.

We roamed around the visitor center for a while checking out the stuffed animals and then the snake exhibit.  The kids had never seen a real snake so up close and personal.

To the right is a volunteer explaining to the kids how snakes shed their skin.

We then hiked to the ruins and found a great spot to take a dunk in the creek.

The kids, and the adults, had a great time.

International Rescue Committee (IRC) Kids Trip to Collins Hill Park

We took 9 students from the DeKalb International Student Center IRC afterschool program to Collins Hill Park. We took a 3 mile hike around the lake, played in the lake, and played on the playground. While students were playing soccer, the staff and volunteers grilled meat and vegetables. Everyone enjoyed the lunch. The students played volleyball, soccer, and took lots of selfies.

There were three countries represented by the students - Nepal, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia. It was a great day.

Warren & Worley Brown Kids at Red Top Mountain

We took kids from both Warren and Worley Brown Boys & Girls Club to Red Top Mountain State park for a day of fun.  It seemed like a good idea to do stand up paddle board lessons.

We started the morning with a hike to check out the blacksmith who was on-site for the day.  He showed us how he often burns his hands.  We found a small turtle hanging out and enjoyed watching him for a few minutes before heading off into the woods.  We then came upon a set-up of musical instruments and Tee-Pees.  An educational exhibit that proved to be a big hit with the kids.

 We then spent a little over an hour teaching the kids to stand up paddle board.  The kids caught on pretty quickly and really enjoyed being out in the water.

We finished the day with an hour long hike along the Sweetgum trail.  It was a perfect day.

Visit to The Chattahoochee Nature Center with students from the Global Village Project

 Today Atlanta ICO had their first outing with students from the Global Village Project.  The school is designed specifically to equip recently arrived refugee girls with the academic and social knowledge needed for success in high school or equivalency program.  Some of the students have never had formal educational experiences before.  Today, we treated 49 students and volunteers to a visit to the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch, a short movie on how the Chattahoochee River affects our local communities, hikes around the lake, and a very cool Creature Feature presentation on gopher turtles.

Outing with the International Rescue Group at Island Ford Unit CRNRA

The Sierra Club Atlanta ICO group  took kids from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on an outing to Island Ford today.  We went on a hike along the Chattahoochee River and up in the hills, stopping many times to watch the river and the geese and people kayaking and fishing. During the hike we talked about the river as a source of water for the Atlanta metropolitan area and as a valued place to be outdoors.  (We were fortunate we had beautiful weather!) Then we had lunch next to the river.  The highlight of the trip was a an energetic soccer game on the field next to the river.  We had a great time playing in the game and watching. It was especially interesting that there was an American football game next to the soccer game and we could watch both at the same time.  Sometimes the two games got mixed together but continued to play.  

We normally fund our outings from fund-raisers and grants we receive.  Today, the outing was funded by the National Park Service.  We received a mini-grant from NPS-100 (National Park Service 100 years celebration) ‪#‎FindYourPark‬.
Thank you National Park Service.

Fundraising at BRIO Tuscan Grill at the Perimeter

BRIO Tuscan Grill in Dunwoody partnered with us to hold a Bocce Ball / Snooker Ball Fundraiser.  It was awesome sitting outside listening to the the live music of Wild Iris Rose.

Snookerball is a pool game but we played it soccer style.

Warren B&G Club Helping With Stream Monitoring

On March 12, youth and staff from the Warren-Holyfield Boys and Girls Club helped the Sierra Club volunteers who conduct periodic analysis of the chemical and biological status of the South Fork of Peachtree Creek (near Medlock Park in Decatur) as part of Georgia Adopt-A-Stream.  They helped measure the water chemistry and looked for macroinvertebrates living in the creek.  The finds included fresh-water clams and a large crayfish.  The Sierra Club survey team gave excellent explanations of how stream monitoring works, and recorded the findings for posting on the Adopt-A-Stream web site (http://georgiaadoptastream.com/db/Default.asp).

Warren Boys & Girls Club Trip to Sweetwater Creek State Park

Atlanta ICO volunteers and youth from the Club visited Sweetwater Creek State Park on a beautiful sunny Saturday.  An ICO Leader gave a tour of the Interpretive Center to explain why it has the highest possible rating as an environmentally responsible building with solar panels, “green” architecture, and recycled waste.  We hiked the wooded trail to the mill ruins, observing the leaves of the American Beech and other signs of winter along the way.  After lunch, the group took the Yellow trail that crosses the creek, ascends a steep ridge, then returns via the bottomlands paralleling the creek.  Despite the strenuousness of the trail, the youth set a lively pace that finished the hike early, leaving more time to look at the interesting displays in the Interpretive Center.

Arabia Mountain Hike with Kids From the International Rescue Committee

ICO volunteers and kids from IRC spent a cold Saturday afternoon hiking Arabia Mountain.  The sun was out but it was pretty cold and windy at the top.  We enjoyed a great lunch on the trail by the lake.  Afterwards, we took a tour of the AWARE center.  The kids really enjoyed the owl couple there.

Worley Brown Kids Playing at F.D. Roosevelt State Park

 Kids from the Worley Brown Boys and Girls club spent Saturday afternoon playing at F.D. Roosevelt State Park.  They helped a couple of Sierra Club meet-up members navigate a Orienteering meet beginner course.

The weather was great and there was a lot of fun things to do in the park.  The kids enjoyed spotting the orange and white course markers.  Thanks to Adriene and Sharise for figuring out how to get around the course.