Founding Stories: The Matluk Family Challenge Honors the Next Generation of Learners
The campaign to raise funding for our River Bend Farm project brings forth the opportunity for special people to be honored by family and friends through gifts in their name. Founding Stories is a series that spotlights the heartfelt stories of people and businesses whose life’s mission or business promise is to preserve our natural resources and promote conservation through educational programming. In several instances, our supporters have been inspired to raise funds from friends and family in honor of someone they hold dear. We look forward to this opportunity to share the intimate and inspired purpose of many gifts with our community!
Bryan Matluk, accompanied by Jack, Charlie, and Lily.
A couple of years ago when he was in fourth grade, Jack Matluk visited The Ecology School for a field trip. He remembers learning about life cycles and water cycles, and especially enjoyed playing a game called camouflage that explores how animals use the environment to hide from predators. “It was very fun and I learned a lot,” Jack says, now a sixth grader. “I would definitely go there again.”
He and his two younger siblings live in Freeport with their parents, Nick and Stephanie, who are the brother and sister-in-law of The Ecology School’s Development Director, Bryan Matluk. Their family has recently taken part in a group donation from other Matluks, including gifts from Bryan, brothers Stephen, Kevin and their parents Joanne Clare and Nickholas Matluk Jr. The gift helps fund a room in the new dormitory that will be named the Jack, Lily and Charlie Matluk Dorm Room after Jack and his siblings.
Stephanie says she’s delighted to have the dormitory room named after their children, an idea Bryan thought up as a way to honor the next generation of learners who will stay there. “The legacy of it is really cool, since this will be there for as long as the building is there,” Stephanie says.
She and Nick decided to join in on this gift, in part, to support their family’s efforts, but also because they truly believe in The Ecology School’s mission and the good it has already brought into their children’s lives. Stephanie says Jack’s time at The Ecology School has enhanced family walks in nature by offering up some answers to the questions they always wondered about as they roamed through the woods near their home. Now they understand some of the hidden interactions taking place all around them, information that continues to feed all of their curiosities.
They see a lot of great new potential at River Bend Farm, including access to the Saco River and the opportunity for full immersion in nature without having to cross any busy roads. Jack has already spent some time exploring the woods trails and watching swallows swoop through the meadows with his Uncle Bryan, and hopes to get the chance to stay in the new dormitory once it’s finished.
“It’s awesome, it’s fun and I would go back any time,” he says.
If you would like to learn more about the Capital Campaign and naming opportunities at River Bend Farm, please contact Development Director, Bryan Matluk at (207) 283-9951 or bryan@theecologyschool.org.