RIDEAU VALLEY, October 27, 2025 – A picture may be worth a thousand words, but holding a frog in your own two hands is worth a thousand pictures.

That’s the wisdom guiding the RAM Foundation’s support for the Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation’s Out To Learn program, which provides tuition and bussing subsidies to help disadvantaged schools and students access outdoor education programming. Baxter Conservation Area in Kars and Foley Mountain Conservation Area in Westport welcome classes from kindergarten to Grade 12 to explore the forests and ponds on their properties through curriculum-linked programming.

The privately-run RAM Foundation generously donated $60,000 to the program in 2024 to be distributed over two years. The funding will help 2,238 underprivileged children participate in field trips with their schools, and another 24 children access day camps and forest school.

“It’s a very important use of our funds to enable kids who don’t have access to natural spaces to learn outside of their neighbourhoods,” said RAM’s director, who wished to remain anonymous. “They maybe have some urban greenspace, but it’s not the same as having access to a forest or a pond.”

An elementary teacher herself, the RAM Foundation director said she sees “enormous benefits” when she takes learning outside. 

“In the outdoor environment, students become so much more engaged. You can show them as many pictures of a tree or a frog or a bug as you want, but seeing it live and in person is so much more engaging and it really helps their understanding,” she said. 

She also noted that school costs have skyrocketed for families since she was a student. Parents are constantly being asked to shell out for school activities, supplies and field trips – and for some families and schools it’s just too much. Missing out on experiential learning because of cost further widens the success gap between affluent and disadvantaged students, she noted. 

RVCF Executive Director Diane Downey said RAM’s support has been invaluable in growing the program. 

“We are so grateful for RAM’s incredible gift, which continues to have ripple effects throughout the watershed,” Downey said. “RAM’s generosity is making a meaningful difference in the lives and futures of local students, who will cherish these experiences for the rest of their lives.”

To learn more about the program or to become a donor, visit https://www.rvcf.ca/ways-to-give/out-to-learn.

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