Our Annual Note of Gratitude
As the year winds down, most nonprofits express appreciation and understandably distribute their annual appeal. We choose to focus on our heartfelt thanks to our “family” of visitors, members, volunteers, and the CDRI Board.
Every day, your engagement brings us joy and gratitude for all you contribute to CDRI and its mission. Thank you! Daily, it’s a joyous privilege to greet visitors, members, and supporters and welcome them to this magical slice of the northern Chihuahuan Desert and Big Bend region.
A huge thanks to each and all of you who have so generously donated to CDRI in 2026. We realize it’s been a difficult year for many, and yet you’ve persisted in your support of CDRI’s nature center, botanical gardens, and educational programs.
To our dedicated CDRI membership, thank you! We know you like the friends that you are. We love seeing you each time you visit, and to those of you who live too far away for frequent visits, we especially appreciate your membership! You all are like family to us. We strive to know all 500 or so members, comprised of families, couples, and singles. As an aside, our 507-acre site has ample room for an even larger membership if you would like to join.
Additionally, our small team could not deliver the site, services, and programs we offer without our dedicated volunteers who assist in the garden, perform trail maintenance, and even help with site repairs. For example, consider the “behind the scenes” volunteers who help on a Friday setting up tents for the BBQ & Auction, attend the event on Saturday, and then return Sunday to take everything down and neatly store it away for next year’s event.
Two other volunteer examples are those folks who lead the various “learning stations” at each of our educational programs for Region 18 students, including The Earth Rocks, Herps Day, Bugs-Bugs-Bugs Day, Living Things, and Summer Shake Up. And how about the volunteers who serve as interpretive guides for the many adult and school tour groups visiting CDRI throughout the year? The guided tours are of such quality and engagement that many of those groups return annually.
Last, but not least, we appreciate our Board of Directors. They are a unique group—in that they are fun, energetic, engaged, and ardently committed to our mission —and, like us, understand that without all of you (the CDRI Family), we will have failed in our goals, objectives, and reason for existing.
With our sincere thanks and best wishes for Happy Holidays,
The CDRI Team (Lisa, Faith, Will, Matt, Kathryn, Nancy, and the Board)
