Alice and Cal Elshoff
Oregon residents Alice and Cal Elshoff spent most of their careers teaching students about the wonders of science and nature. In retirement, they volunteer with and support causes dedicated to preserving wildlife and wildlands, including The Wilderness Society.
“We’ve been Wilderness Society members since the late 1950s,” Alice said. “We believe in their mission of protecting America’s wildlands. It seems especially important now when our public lands are in jeopardy.”
Alice and Cal spend much of their free time protecting a special area near their home—the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. “When I moved to Oregon after college, I met Cal and he introduced me to Malheur,” Alice said. “It’s a wonderful oasis of high desert that also has wetlands, a river canyon and many kinds of ecological niches. We’ve been volunteering there since the late ‘60s doing everything from trail maintenance to bird censusing—basically whatever the refuge needs us to do. It’s a magical place.”
When Alice and Cal decided they wanted to expand their support of our country’s wild places, they funded a charitable gift annuity with The Wilderness Society. “The gift annuity just seemed like the right fit for us and it was extremely easy to set up. It provides us with quarterly payments to add to our retirement income, and it helps us support something we really believe in,” Alice explained.
“When Cal and I were teaching, we would take our classes to do field work whenever we had the opportunity,” Alice continued. “Many of those students remember those trips as the high point of their education. Now we feel strongly that the best way for those lands to continue to be there for future generations to visit and enjoy is to designate as much acreage as possible as official wilderness. Wilderness designation is our best hope for saving the precious remnants of our pristine American lands. We hope our support will help The Wilderness Society protect as many acres of wildlands as possible.”
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