Help Support the Rainforest Biosphere
Why We Need Your Support
The John C. Vanderburg Rainforest Biosphere Foundation is a non-profit group. In order for the Biosphere to remain open, we must pay for the costs incurred to keep it operational. Some of these costs are the energy costs to maintain the correct atmosphere within the biosphere, transportation costs for students in Clark County to visit the Biosphere, administrative and custodial staff, food for the animals who live in the Biosphere, and other incidental costs.
Even though the Biosphere is located at John C. Vanderburg Elementary School, neither the school nor the Clark County School District contribute any money towards running the Biosphere. With the exception of our Executive Director and our Biologist, all other positions at the Biosphere are volunteers. Please use the links on the right to find the best way for you to support the John C. Vanderburg Rainforest Biosphere.
Our main fundraiser is our annual 5K "Run for the Rainforest". This run is held every fall in October. For the 2004 event we were fortunate to have one of Las Vegas' premeire entertainers, Danny Gans, as our official co-sponsor. Danny has graciously agreed to sponsor the "Danny Gans Run for the Rainforest" for our 2005 5K run. The run is held early in the morning, and is followed by a community BBQ, small concert, and plenty of raffle prizes for participants. Look for registration information to appear on home page every August.
The Last of My Kind is children's book written by William Gilluly, a teacher at Vanderburg Elementary School. All of the illustrations in the book, including the cover shown above, were created by students at Vanderburg. To see more of the book, to hear a portion read aloud, and to purchase a copy, please click here.
Artworks is an upcoming program that Mrs. Badik, the current Art Specialist at Vanderburg Elementary School. Students will create artwork to be placed on various objects, such as calendars, mouse pads, coffee mugs, etc. Check back soon to see the colorful creations by currrent Vanderburg students.
The John C. Vanderburg Rainforest Foundation is currently developing a plan that will allow individual and corporate sponsors to "purchase" a tile on the Mayan Temple floor. Purchase of tile will allow the sponsor to have the tile engraved with a dedication phrase of the donor's choosing.
The John C. Vanderburg Rainforest Foundation is current researching the feasibility and legal issues of creating a donation link on the site where internet users with a PaypalTM account can make a direct donation on-line.
The John C. Vanderburg Rainforest Foundation can always use local helpers for a wide variety of tasks. Currently we have enough students at Vanderburg Elementary to act as docents during field trips to the Biosphere. However, as more and more students begin taking field trips to the Biosphere, we will not always be able to take students out of class during their instructional time. We are looking for adults in the community who are will to commit to a one day training class and one day a month to act as docents. If you are interested in becoming an adult docent, or you would like to find out other ways you can volunteer, please click here to send an e-mail to our Executive Director, who will send you information about our next volunteer training day.