NEC Conservation Funding Committee

The Conservation Committee aims to help conservation efforts through fundraising and donations to well-established and working conservation groups.  For several years now the Committee has hosted a silent auction at the Annual NEC Convention to benefit organizations that are involved in conservation. This year Project Amazonas, Inc. has been chosen as our donation recipient.  Project Amazonas is a non-political, non-profit company working since 1994 to serve the people of the Amazon and conserve the rainforest.

As stated on the Project's website (www.projectamazonas.com) “The preservation of the rainforest is directly tied to the welfare of the people who live there. When rural people are forced to move to the cities for medicine, education, or tools, the land is left open to loggers, ranchers and oil companies. Healthy rural people making a decent living are an essential defense against destruction of the rainforest. Project Amazonas has the only regularly operating hospital boat in the Peruvian Amazon. Our current boat, the Tucunare, provides basic medical care for six to eight thousand people annually who would otherwise have little to no access to healthcare.” 100% of all donations go to cover the operational costs of the floating hospital which include fuel, food, crew salary, and medical supplies.

Devon Graham is President and Scientific Director of Project Amazonas and sent this e-mail to us, “We are honored that the North East Council of Aquarium Societies has chosen to benefit Project Amazonas through your silent auction in 2010. We will certainly do our best to ensure that any funds are stretched as far as they can possibly go!”

Of course we need to generate these funds, so we are once again calling out to our NEC members to provide the donations for our silent auction. Anyone who wishes to donate can email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The auction will be set up on Friday afternoon and will end on Sunday afternoon. If you wish to donate, please let us know in advance so that we have enough tanks ready for any fish you bring. Other items such as books and working aquarium equipment are also welcome. For more information on Project Amazonas just go to their web-site www.projectamazonas.com. Project Amazonas is a 501 c3 and all donations are tax deductible.

The following people made donations to Project Amazonas when they registered for the convention and we thank them for their generosity:
Steve Edie
Leslie Dick
Sandra Cullison
Jim Annis
John Bindbeutel
Bob Wright

Please join the NEC in their enthusiasm to support this worthwhile organization. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the Annual Convention!