By Venture Crew 37 travels to Costa Rica to aid leatherback turtles
Crew members and leaders from Venture Crew 37 of Los Altos, associated with Boy Scouts of America, will leave for Costa Rica Monday to participate in ecological and humanitarian projects.
Crew advisor Bob Garcia will coordinate and lead the group on the trip. The students will assist efforts to save the endangered leatherback turtles and work on a humanitarian project for the indigenous Bribri people.
Various native guides will assist the students during their three days of work at the turtle reserve. They will participate in all-night beach patrols, collecting scientific data and gathering eggs for transplantation to a safe-haven nursery area.
The crew will then take part in a community service project with the Bribri tribe in southeastern Costa Rica.
They will spend three days building school-related facilities and an aqueduct for the remote village on the Osa Peninsula.
The crew members traveling are Colin Abraham, Derek Abraham, Jeff Clark, Tom Evans, Spencer Fair, Eric Garcia, Jeff Garcia, Suzanne Garcia, Eric Hansen, Sarah Marquerk, Mason McKee, Nick Toney, Dan Tucker and Mat Weiden. Associate advisers include Dave Ellis, Gordon and Sabra Abraham, Ben Roberts and Rose Rambo.
Ex-LAH pilot inducted into hall of fame
Former Los Altos Hills resident Nancy Rodgers joined the ranks of such internationally-known pilots as Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes and Chuck Yeager June 22, when she was inducted into the Forest of Friendship in Atchison, Kan., for her contributions to aviation.
Rodgers is a member of the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of Ninety-Nines, the international organization of women pilots. She is also a member of Silver Wings, for pilots who have had their licenses for more than 25 years.
Rodgers is probably best known for her many air races. She has flown 42 in all, including cross-country air races - the Powder Puff Derby and the Air Race Classic. Her oldest daughter, Cathy, has flown as her co-pilot 15 times in a race called Palms to Pines, from Santa Monica to the terminus in Oregon. As a mother of five girls, Rodgers used to jokingly say she took up flying to get away from the children.
The Forest of Friendship was established in 1976 in Atchison, the birthplace of Earhart, the Ninety-Nines’ first president, to honor past and present contributors to the advancement of aviation.
The forest is made up of trees from the 50 states and 35 countries around the world where there are Ninety-Nines honorees. There also is a special grove with a tree from George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate; the Bicentennial American Spruce; a Moon Tree, grown from a seed taken to the moon on Apollo 14.
