Youth-LINC 2012 - Day Three

It may be safe to say that our drought is over, with as many days that it has rained this week.

But our campers spirits were high, as you can see campers Naielli Hidalgo, Blanca Garcia, and Alma Garcia turned breaking camp into the rain as another chance to giggle, as they're pictured trying to squeeze as much water as they can out of their tent in the middle of a rainstorm. We left Cagle wet, but we still left on time. Mike Ross (USFS Fleet Manager) gave a very relevant safety meeting on the dangers of flooding, warning us to stay out of creek bottoms even if the rain has ceased. After filling our ice chests with ice and water, we traveled to Houston.

Naielli, Alma, Blanca, and Enelidad drying out their tent
with love at Cagle Recreation Area.

Many of the campers grew up in Houston suburbs, and 4 of them went Youth-LINC's destination on Wednesday, to Stephen F. Austin High School. Lantrip Elementary, Jackson Middle School, and Austin High School are official Project Learning Tree Greenschools! due to the efforts of FNFGT, the school administration, and most importantly, the student body itself. Youth-LINC campers Naielli Hidalgo and Blanca Garcia performed a Greenschools! investigation that led to the installation of a 300 gallon rainwater catchment system. Duy Tran and Derek Morrison, biological engineers from Texas A&M University, assisted in the project's design.

Duy Tran (foreground left) and Derek Morrison
(foreground right)  explain the rainwater
catchment system at Stephen F. Austin High School 

Austin High earned its Green School status via its commitment to the environment and its decades old school garden/park area on campus. Youth-LINC showed its commitment by installing a sign commemorating the formation of the Greenschools! "Grapevine", weeded part of the garden, and installed smaller signs labeling the plants there.

Lantrip Elementary, Jackson Middle School, and Austin High
school are all on the Greenschool "Grapevine". The
Youth-LINC campers painted and installed this sign. 

After Austin High, we traveled to the Stephen F. Austin State park. Everyone carefully laid their belongings out to dry on clotheslines they hung themselves. Julio, Alberto, Andre, Franco Gonzales, and Blanca competed against eachother in a chili eating contest, using chiles harvested from the Austin High garden. The results were hilarious, and will be posted on FNFGT's Facebook page.

Alberto Gomez, Andre Saenz, Julio Bedolla, and Franco Gonzales before their faces were soaked in tears from their Chili-Eating contest. Blanca Garcia also participated. Watch the battle on our Facebook page! 

After dinner, the Campers puzzled out the sailor's knot, a leadership exercise that teaches interdependence and perseverance. The campers were tied together in a knot that looked impossible to get out of, but if they thought outside the box and worked together, they could slip out.

We also celebrated the birthday of one of our long time Amigoes, Lyndi Long. Lyndi had been with us since 2008, and led students at Youth-LINC last year. We are all very happy for her, and hope to have many more years of her enthusiasm and education ability.

Tomorrow, we will be tour Stephen F. Austin State park and a recycling plant in Houston, among a tornado of other activities.

"Like" the Sam Houston National Forest? Then donate for free.

If your reading our blog, we already know that you like nature. More than likely, one could even say you love it! Now, through BMW of North America, showing your love on social media is as good as showing your love with a donation, and strangely enough, it costs you nothing!

1 "Like" on Facebook = $1 for Nature!

BMW of North America has given us at FNFGT a unique opportunity to find funding to support our efforts to get more people outside, just by clicking "Like" on Facebook! Starting this Monday, we posted pictures of BMW's new car, the X1, shining in the sun at the shores of Double Lake Campground in the Sam Houston National Forest, part of the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas that FNFGT is all about. For every "Like" on this link, X1RTOSamHoustonnationalForest.com, BMW will donate a dollar to support the Sam Houston National Forest.

Our partner, the U.S. Forest Service has asked FNFGT to administer this grant and leverage the funds towards programs that help us with programs like, Youth-LINC, Prescriptions For Nature (NatureRx), Forest for Every Classroom, GreenSchools, TFS NatureLIVE!, The Children's Forest in Texas, and more! So, every "Like" directly goes to bringing more people, especially the little people, outdoors to enjoy the wonders of nature.

We are well on our way to our goal of $10,000 but we need your help! As of September 7th 2012, 11:54 pm CDT, we've got 4596 likes from 4596 loyal nature lovers! Add to our good progress by sharing this blog post! E-mail it, plus it on Google+, Facebook it, Tweet it! Everyone who reads has an opportunity to get more kids out there in the sunshine!

Getting kids up a going can be as simple as showing them how much you love getting out there. It can also be as simple as the press of a button!