{"id":2238,"date":"2021-08-19T19:17:54","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T19:17:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=2238"},"modified":"2021-08-20T15:45:58","modified_gmt":"2021-08-20T15:45:58","slug":"siu-credit-union-donates-500k-to-sius-touch-of-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=2238","title":{"rendered":"SIU Credit Union donates $500K to SIU\u2019s Touch of Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chancellor Austin Lane discusses the impact of the $500,000 donation made by SIU Credit Union to construct an event center at Touch of Nature Environmental Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SIU Foundation Media Services<\/strong><\/p>\n

CARBONDALE \u2013 The SIU Credit Union<\/a> presented a $500,000 check to SIU\u2019s Touch of Nature Environmental Center<\/a> at an event Thursday morning in the office of SIU Chancellor Austin Lane.<\/p>\n

\u201cTouch of Nature is a pride and joy of SIU. We have our own oasis right there,\u201d Chancellor Lane said. \u201cThis partnership with SIU Credit Union is magnificent. This gift will provide the credit union with great visibility among our students and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The funds will be used to build the SIU Credit Union Event Center at Touch of Nature, which is located at 1206 Touch of Nature Road in Makanda, just a few miles from campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity to give back to our community and to help it grow was a proposition that couldn\u2019t be passed up. The Touch of Nature Event Center will showcase more of the beauty and fun of Southern Illinois, and we liked being able to help make a project like this happen,\u201d said Mike Lantrip, CEO of SIU Credit Union. \u201cSIU is the economic engine of our region, and this facility can be instrumental in helping our tourism industry. Similar projects have been proven in other regions to be a quality-of-life enhancement and have a great impact on the local economy. We don\u2019t see why this can\u2019t have the same impact on our area.\u201d<\/p>\n

The SIU Credit Union has a long history of supporting the university, including major donations during the annual SIU Day of Giving. In recent years, the credit union has supported SIU\u2019s New Student Programs, Saluki Food Pantry, and Touch of Nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had a great partnership with SIU Credit Union over the years,\u201d said JD Tanner, director of Touch of Nature Environmental Center. \u201cThis gift speaks volumes about how they value the quality of our environment and community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touch of Nature is a full-service outdoor education center that serves SIU, the region, and the nation. It provides opportunities for team building, environmental education, zip lining, rock climbing, canoeing, kayaking, overnight camps, and more. Nationally recognized for its therapeutic recreation camp, Camp Little Giant, Touch of Nature has provided camps and programs for people with disabilities since 1952. Touch of Nature is an ACA-accredited facility, a National Environmental Education Landmark, and soon to be home to an IMBA -designed Mountain Bike Park.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have sponsored and helped with a number of camps, events and other programs at this unique facility, and this seemed like a perfect fit to continue and grow in that capacity,\u201d Lantrip said. \u201cMountain biking is growing in popularity, and we thought helping establish a facility such as this would be an asset to all parties involved. In addition to being a family-friendly destination, it will also help with student, faculty, and executive recruitment, bolster an already-strong forestry program within SIU, and cultivate our growing tourism identity. These are all things that will help our region, our members, and our local businesses prosper.\u201d<\/p>\n

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From left: Mark Dynis, SIU Credit Union vice president of marketing, Sara Bond, SIU Foundation director of development, JD Tanner, Touch of Nature Environmental Center director, Kim Babington, SIU Credit Union vice president of community outreach, Mike Lantrip, SIU Credit Union CEO, Chancellor Austin Lane, Leah Weil, SIU Credit Union marketing assistant, and Matt Kupec, SIU Foundation CEO, pose for a photo with the $500,000 check the credit union donated to Touch of Nature Environmental Center.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SIU Foundation Media Services CARBONDALE \u2013 The SIU Credit Union presented a $500,000 check to SIU\u2019s Touch of Nature Environmental Center at an event Thursday morning in the office of SIU Chancellor Austin Lane. \u201cTouch of Nature is a pride and joy of SIU. We have our own oasis right there,\u201d Chancellor Lane said. \u201cThis … Continue reading SIU Credit Union donates $500K to SIU\u2019s Touch of Nature<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donor-stories","category-higher-education","category-illinois-higher-education","category-siu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2238"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2244,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions\/2244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}