Volunteer's Grant Results In UPS Donating $5,000 To Potter Park Zoo

By Billie Harris 

Lansing, MI - The Lansing Gateway volunteers from the local United Parcel Service Inc. branch applied for and received a $5,000 grant in honor of Lansing’s Potter Park Zoo from the national UPS Foundation, the charitable arm of UPS.

The funding will be used to support the zoo’s many educational programs. Such programs include the Zookambi summer school, VEZU (Vets, Education, Zoos and You) a new pilot program that teams zoo docents with MSU vet students to do educational programs in the classroom for grades K-12, The BIG Zoo Lesson a unique program that allows elementary classes in grades 2-6 to spend a full week at the zoo using it as their classroom, as well as many other exceptional programs.

Diane McNeil, Executive Director of the Potter Park Zoological Society, had the honor of meeting and thanking both shifts at the UPS facility near the Lansing Airport.

 “We are very grateful to all of the UPS volunteers for selecting the zoo as their location to support,” said McNeil. “Not only did these volunteers donate many hours of service to the zoo but they also recommended that the zoo be the recipient of a grant to further help support the zoo’s education and conservation goals.”

Elizabeth Lea from UPS organized all of the activities with the zoo including the 50 service hours worked by volunteers. Lea will also be in charge of distributing the funds to see to the needs of the Education Department of the Potter Park Zoo Society.

Each year over 35,000 children receive planned educational programming from the Potter Park Zoological Society. All of the zoo’s programming is provided by the Potter Park Zoo Society’s 103 docents who volunteer over 10,000 hours of their time each year.

“Without the help of wonderful volunteers like those at UPS the society would be unable to continue to provide such high quality education programs for the community,” said McNeil.

Founded in 1951, The UPS Foundation aims to provide support, through grant opportunities and initiatives, to programs that help improve the quality of life in communities where UPS employees live and work. In 2007, the UPS Foundation donated nearly $46 million to charitable organizations worldwide. 

Potter Park Zoo is located at 1301 S. Pennsylvania Ave. within Potter Park along the Red Cedar River in Lansing, Michigan. The zoo is open daily year-round, winter hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call (517) 483-4222 or visit www.potterparkzoo.org