Thanks to the generous support of our friends and members, and a last minute generous donation at our drawing, we were able to exceed our goal of $5,000.

Many thanks to the team members and sponsors of Birdathon 2010. We would like to thank our generous donors for the sponsorship and team prizes: Paul and Robin Vermylen, who very generously underwrote the $500 cash prize, Meopta Optics (who donated a pair of Meopro 8x42 binoculars worth $450), Fiddleheads Restaurant ($100 gift certificate), Sage Bistro Restaurant ($50 gift certificate), Sage Bistro manager AJ (who contributed $50 to the Sage Bistro certificate, bringing its value up to $100) , Wild Honey Restaurant ($100 gift certificate), Ginger Mahoney (beautiful handcrafted pottery, created in her own studio), David Bathie (a gorgeous hand carved wooden shorebird) and Stella Miller, who solicited the prizes and organized the fundraising. Of course, thanks go to the team members who birded for the event (sometimes around the clock!): Ginger Mahoney, Stella Miller, Charlotte Miska, Douglas Caracapa, Bill Reeves, Joe Viglietta, Vinnie Schiappa, Brent Bomkamp, Brendan Fogarty, Brent Bomkamp Sr. and Mike Givant.

The lucky winners of the raffle were: Regina Pellegrino ($500 cash), Greg Barber (the gift certificates to Sage Bistro and Fiddleheads Restaurants) and Helen Wermelinger (the Wild Honey gift certificate).

The folks sponsoring the team members were not the only ones who had a chance to win prizes. Team members competed to see who could bring in the most donations. Ginger Mahoney came in third, but very generously withdrew from winning her own pottery (again!) and handed her prize over to Robert Benjamin (who had made a last minute donation to bring us to $5,000). Second prize was the carving and Bill Reeves was the winner in that category, adding to his Birdathon shorebird carving collection! Stella Miller raised over $2,100 and took home the Meopta binoculars.

Everyone’s efforts were much appreciated and we look forward to Birdathon 2011!