'Wild in the City' Picnic Raises $90,000 for Cullinan Park
‘Wild in the City’ Picnic Raises $90,000 for Cullinan Park
The Cullinan Park Conservancy (CPC) raised $90,000 for park improvements at its 5th Annual Picnic for the Park held October 22. Supporters from the Fort Bend and Houston business community, the City of Sugar Land and nature lovers enjoyed an excellent and interactive presentation by guest speaker Jaime González, M.Ed., Houston Healthy Cities Director for the Nature Conservancy in Texas. González shared audio clips, maps, 3-D images and an attendee-generated word cloud representing what people love most about the 754-acre nature park. He discussed how Cullinan contributes to Greater Houston conservation efforts and how preserving wild places – like Cullinan Park – in cities can yield amazing benefits related to flood mitigation, heat reduction, nature education, community health, biodiversity preservation and more.
“Many thanks to our generous sponsors, loyal patrons and new donors who support our efforts to enhance and protect the natural beauty of Cullinan Park,” said Development Chair, Gay Thompson. “Proceeds from the event will help fund new hiking trails, enhance nature exploration for children and add additional parking to accommodate the growing number of park visitors.”
“We were also honored to present the Nina Cullinan Award to faithful supporters John and Diana Null,” added Thompson. “The Nulls have been instrumental in helping support our mission for many, many years and we appreciate their generosity.”
Cullinan Park Conservancy would also like to thank the following major sponsors:
- Premier Top Birder: Westin Homes; BGE, Inc.; Sprint Landfill
- Picture Perfect Photo Contest: Oxbow Advisors, LLC
- Picnic Basket: H-E-B Grocery
- Great Blue Heron: Chesmar Homes; Mary Smith; Favre Foundation; Perry Homes; Baird
- Venue: Doug and Susie Goff
- Beautiful Butterfly: David Weekly Homes; Dr. Betty Baitland; Coventry Homes; TBG, Inc.; Republic Services; Newmark Homes; Wendy Kelsey
- Dragonfly: Muller Law Group, PLLC; Earthcare Management, Inc; Fort Bend Financial Wealth Management; Chevron; Costello, Inc.; LJA Engineering; Tri Pointe Homes; Partners in Building; Taylor Morrison; HR in Alignment; Bill and Robbin Mallett; Ann Hamilton; James and Gay Thompson; Patti and Gary Tuma
- Audio Visual: Pete and Nancy Olson
- Beverage: SiEnviro
- Centerpiece: Spartan Wealth Management
Winners of the 2021 Cullinan Park Photo Contest were announced at the Picnic. The contest drew nearly 200 entries from across the greater Houston area. The photographers shared some truly spectacular images of the birds, wildlife, plants and scenery found at the 754-acre nature park.
“We had a lot of beautiful and really creative entries this year. As always, we had photos entered of favorite subjects such as our iconic observation tower, resident alligators and lotus flowers, but we also had unique abstract shots and photos of less common creatures that call Cullinan home,” said contest organizer Robbin Mallett.
The contest was sponsored by Oxbow Advisors. Contest judges were accomplished local photographers Mary Favre, Rod Craig and John Whitt. All contest photos had to be taken at Cullinan Park, located just north of Sugar Land Regional Airport at 12414 Highway 6 South in Sugar Land.
In the adult group, the following entries won first place in their respective categories: Birds – “Nice Catch” by Trevor Gatus; Wildlife – “Needham’s Skimmer” by Roger Hutchison; Photographer’s Choice – “Lost Feather” by Darleen Patin; Landscape – “A Peaceful, Easy Feeling” by Rosemary Brooks; and Flora – “Let the Light Shine on Me” by Paul Broussard.
The Youth winners ranged from age 12 to 18. Winning first place were: Wildlife – “Snail” by Kaitlyn Raj; Photographer’s Choice – “Sunset” by Ethan Liaw; Landscape – “Winter Path” by Ethan Liaw; and Flora – “The Light Above” by Samia Chowdhury.
To see all of the winning photo contest entries or learn more about Cullinan Park, visit www.cullinanparkconservancy.org.
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Photo credits:
Picnic Photo: John Null, Event Honoree; Dr Betty Baitland, CPC Board Secretary; Diana Null, Event Honoree