Bunker Center Dedication A Month Away

August 10, 2004 == MEDIA ADVISORY

The Vincent and Helen Bunker Interpretive Center at Calvin College will be
dedicated on September 10 with a variety of activities, including a 2:30 pm
dedication service and then tours of the center from 3 to 5 pm.

The following day, Saturday, September 11, Calvin will host Kalamazoo
natutralist Wil Redding for a 10 am event at the center. And the following
week, from September 13 to September 18 the center will play host to such
things as a special creation Chapel service, an open house for area teachers, a
showing of the film Winged Migration and a birding and breakfast event.

Although it's the newest building on Calvin's 400-acre campus, the Bunker
Center may also be the one of the toughest to find. But that's by design. The
building is not intended to be the centerpiece of Calvin's 100-acre Ecosystem
Preserve, but rather to complement the preserve's natural wonder.

The new center sits only a few hundreds yards east of the heavily traveled
East Beltline in Grand Rapids, but the 5,270 square foot building is shielded
from the passing traffic by a variety of trees, bushes and native plants.
Behind those natural buffers visitors will find one of the most innovative
buildings on Calvin's campus.

The Bunker Interpretive Center is a largely self-sustaining entity,
independent of the city's sewer system and taking more than 60 percent of its
operating power from a photovoltaic array on its roof. Much of the center -
including paneling, insulation and interior trim - is built of recycled
materials. On days the weather permits, the windows open automatically to heat
and cool the building. Gray water (from sinks) is recycled through a biomass, a
large window box filled with plants that filter the water and return it to
preserve ponds. Waste is processed through chemical composting toilets. The
soil from those toilets, processed by worms, will eventually enrich the
center's landscaping - all indigenous plants grown in the preserve.

Calvin architect Frank Gorman says the Bunker Center is intended as a tool to
help people better understand the environment and concepts of sustainability,
even as it educates visitors about the wonders of the preserve, home to 135
species of birds, 30 species of mammals, 235 plants and a variety of fish,
reptiles and amphibians.

Calvin president Gaylen Byker, an outdoorsman who was one of the main movers
behind the center, says the new facility will be a benefit to the community.

"I've always really appreciated the preserve," says Byker, "and thought we had
a great asset that had broader appeal for the community. The idea for a center
came up and I became enthusiastic to get enough funds to build a building that
could be of use."

The first donor to catch Calvin's vision was Helen Bunker, whose $750,000 gift
put her name and her husband's above the door (although she once remarked that
"the name can fall off, and that's okay, but the center itself will be there to
teach them (children) about what's outside, about the environment, about all
the fun they can have and how to enjoy nature and be kind to it.").

Thelma DeJong Venema, a Grandville native, 1961 Calvin alumna, Indiana
businesswoman and amateur geology buff, donated $500,000 to the project. Aware
of the more than 2,000 local school children per year who visit the preserve,
she resonated with the center's ability to educate the next generation of
naturalists, saying "It's an opportunity to influence children, and there are
very few occasions to influence children outside of media. It's an opportunity
to bring children into a natural setting."

Those two substantial lead gifts were augmented by $100,000 from the Grand
Rapids Community Foundation, $82,500 from the Frey Foundation, $50,000 from the
DTE Energy Foundation and $91,000 from the Energy Office of Michigan for the
photovoltaic array energy system.

For the whole story see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2003_04/bunker_center2.htm

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Received on Tue Aug 10 14:35:45 2004