The Lacawac Education Endowed Fund |
Imagine the Future of Lacawac Sanctuary - We rarely stop to consider what the world will look like beyond our own lifetimes. Will future generations have access to high-quality environmental education? Will children experience the same opportunities to explore and connect with nature as we have? While we can’t predict the future, we can help shape it—by investing in Lacawac’s Education Endowed Fund.
A gift to the Education Endowed Fund ensures that Lacawac continues to inspire, educate, and empower the environmental stewards of tomorrow. Your support provides sustainable, long-term funding for transformative learning experiences, ensuring that students today—and for generations to come—have the opportunity to discover, learn, and protect the natural world. Together, we can create a future where environmental education is accessible, nature is preserved, and young minds are empowered to make a difference. Every gift makes a lasting impact. 🌿📚✨ |
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Michael "Jake" Burkhardt Memorial Student Leadership Fund |
Michael Jacob "Jake" Burkhardt passed away on January 25, 2016 at Geisinger CMC in Scranton, following injuries sustained from an automobile accident. Born on November 16, 1996 in Honesdale, he is the son of Michael F. and Carol A. Short Burkhardt of Waymart. He graduated with honors from Western Wayne High School, class of 2015. In high school, he was a member of the National Honor Society and a member of the FBLA, Future Business Leaders of America. His high school project received first place in the Pennsylvania State Junior Academy of Science with the research he did at Lacawac Sanctuary. Jake was currently a freshman at Keystone College where he quickly became involved in many student clubs. He was also employed part-time at Ray's Shursave in Waymart and was a member of the Prompton United Methodist Church. An active young man, Jake enjoyed hiking, campfires, listening to music and spending time with his friends. Jake will be remembered as a kind and happy person with a great smile. He always knew when someone needed help and was always there to help.
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Jonathan D. Krist Field Trip Transportation Fund |
Jonathan Krist's life was totally wrapped up in music…a friend once observed that he was “an old jazzman at heart.” He played guitar, upright bass, and trumpet in school orchestras as well as in his own band. He was a student at Oberlin College in Ohio. Whether it was performing, working in the bookstore, out on the Frisbee field, or conducting student council, he was a friend to many. He had strong opinions about government and encouraged other students, in both high school and college, to stand behind their own ideas.
When he and his bandmates were only 14, their jamband, the Urban Funk Monkeys, were heard at a local gig by a NY producer, and became the youngest band to ever perform at two legendary New York City rock venues, the Wetlands and the Knitting Factory. While working as a sound engineer for Bob Miles “Miles of Music”, Jon met a variety of jazz greats like Pat Martino and Jimmy Bruno, who had a strong influence on his music. During the last two years of his life, Jonathan played regularly in a jazz combo. He loved the outdoors, enjoying what was right in his backyard; canoeing on the Delaware River and hiking at the wildflower preserve. He spent a semester at the Outdoor Academy in Pisgah Forest, N.C., in a program that coordinates academics and nature studies in the wilderness. With his brother, Jonathan planned a six-week hike on the Appalachian Trail in 2006, but died the night before he was to leave in a car accident. He was 19. Jonathan’s parents, Bob and Peggy, and his two older brothers, Matthew and Brian established the fund to support scholarships to cover the cost of transportation so underserved students can get to Lacawac and experience nature and participate in hands-on learning. |
Robert Estabrook Moeller Memorial Endowment |
Dr. Robert E. Moeller, a long-time friend and supporter of Lacawac Sanctuary passed away in late May, 2011 at the age of 62. Robert was a limnologist, a researcher who studied the structure and function of lakes and the organisms that live in them. He was always generous in giving his time to help students and colleagues with their research. Robert’s love of limnology and devotion to research led his work to be the centerpiece of his life. His breadth of understanding in limnology was impressive and ranged from aquatic botany and paleolimnology to the contemporary ecology of phytoplankton and zooplankton. His focus in more recent years was on the ecology of ultraviolet radiation and its effects on zooplankton-phytoplankton interactions.
Robert was born in Chicago in 1949 and grew up roaming the hills and fields of western Pennsylvania. He went to high school at Shadyside Academy in Fox Chapel PA and did his undergraduate work at Dartmouth College. He earned his PhD from Cornell University in Aquatic Ecology, followed by postdoctoral work in Paleolimnology at the University of Minnesota and in Aquatic Ecology at Michigan State. His career involved positions at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, Lehigh University, and most recently Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Many years of his life were dedicated to work on Lake Lacawac and other lakes in the Poconos of northeastern Pennsylvania. Robert was a quiet man, reserved, and quite private. However, if one were lucky enough to spend time with him, a wry and wicked sense of humor was revealed. It came with a wonderful laugh that was absolutely worth working for. Robert preferred to work late at night; anyone who joined him then was treated to his collection of classical music and perhaps a cup of fine tea. From his earliest childhood Robert spent each day in active pursuit of knowledge. His unquenchable and wide ranging curiosity about matters from reptiles and bugs to fossils and rocketry as a child, through nature, history, music, culture, politics, literature, languages, and geography made asking him a question its own reward. It is the intention of the Robert Estabrook Moeller Memorial Fund to support promising young scholars in limnology with bright, inquisitive minds who will perpetuate this search for knowledge. Robert’s generosity extended to his establishing an endowed fund which will support Robert Estabrook Moeller Research Fellow awards to college and university students and faculty to do limnological research on Lake Lacawac and other Pocono region lakes. |
Friends of the Lodge Preservation Fund
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Built in the heralded “Adirondack Great Camp” style of architecture, Watres Lodge is a priceless historic Pocono landmark and a cornerstone of Lacawac Sanctuary programming and facilities. This “first” true summer home in the Pocono Mountains is recognized on the National Historic Register and provides our region with a rich and priceless learning and cultural resource. But protecting and maintaining such a treasure is only possible with help and support from our friends, neighbors and volunteers. It is a very costly undertaking. Your donation will provide Lacawac with the help it needs to keep the Friends-of-the-Lodge Endowment Fund growing and viable. This fund provides the vital assistance Lacawac volunteers need to keep the building in good shape, historically accurate and open for public visits as well as retreat and workshop lodging for educational and non-profit groups.
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Dr. Susan S. Kilham Science and Research Fund |
Dr. Susan S. Kilham was born in Duluth MN and grew up in Florida where she became fascinated with oceans and the organisms that live in them. She earned a BS in biology at Eckerd College and a Ph.D. in marine science at Duke University. She made many important discoveries about marine and freshwater biology including the calcification of deep-sea clams (1 inch long and 300 years old!), biological processes in African lakes, the importance of resource ratios in the growth and competition of algae in freshwater lakes, the effects of climate change on diatoms in Yellowstone Lake, and systems to grow algae in the laboratory. She was a professor at University of Michigan and Drexel University where she and her students contributed to our understanding of ecological changes related to invasive species, climate change, and the biology of tropical streams. Susan overcame many challenges including sexism to become one of the leading scientists in aquatic biology and ecology. Dr. Kilham brought her classes from Drexel University to Lacawac for over 25 years. She was a trustee, a donor, a researcher and a friend of Lacawac.
This fund was established from an unrestricted gift from the estate of Susan Kilham. The fund will provide income to support research and science as Lacawac including funding internships. |
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Lacawac's new environmental laboratory creates unique hands-on learning, training and research opportunities for students and faculty. Named for Dr. Susan S. Kilham, a faculty member at Drexel University and a long time user of Lacawac, the Support Fund serves as a reminder of Dr. Kilham’s commitment to the education and training of students. The fund provides much-needed equipment and supplies for the instruction of future scientists. The Fund will provide income to maintain the day to day operations of the laboratories at Lacawac as well as support the purchasing of additional equipment and supplies and maintain existing equipment.
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Watres Student Research Endowment
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Lacawac welcomes students doing research for graduate degree papers or independant study courses on the natural sciences, ecology or conservation. This fund is available to assist students with housing costs, research needs as well as some additional out of pocket expenses.
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