Wondering about the future of the Maine Conservation School

I have been on the board of directors of the Maine Conservation School for several years and last spring became board president. In all of my time on the board the school has been barely financially solvent. Last winter we hired a new staff and I had great hopes for the future. Our programs were more successful than the last few years this summer but we are still struggling financially. Our staff works very hard and frequently goes far above and beyond what anyone would  consider a reasonable effort. Which brings me to the question are we providing a service that people value?

I have been making funding requests steadily over the last few months with no results. I have been told by one group that the funding was no problem only to still be waiting for the check months later. Others simply told me that the money for conservation education was not available. For some reason the current trend in conservation funding is the purchase of land, but I ask if we do not teach the coming generation about conservation who will be the stewards of all of this land we are setting aside.

Still after all of these years I wonder if we are providing a service of value. Should we give up now or continue to struggle on? I share the responsibility for all of this with a board made up of great folks who share my interest and will hopefully offer some creative solutions.  Maybe the conservation community will rally to help us even though we have not had a great deal of luck until now.

I wonder what the future will hold for the Maine Conservation School? Perhaps you could make a donation today?