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Volunteers Put Together Bird Houses, Fake Plants for Service Week

By Kyla Gardner | April 14, 2015 5:55am
 Exelon Volunteers at Garfield Park Conservatory
Exelon Volunteers at Garfield Park Conservatory
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CHICAGO — Local volunteers came together Friday to help out the birds of Chicago and to kick off National Volunteer Week.

The work done by about 30 Exelon employee volunteers and family benefited Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, a group that rescues injured birds that have run into skyscrapers Downtown during fall and spring migrations.

"We were really impressed with how much they were able to help," said Annette Prince, director of Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, of the volunteers.

The group helped build bird houses, fake plants and bird rescue kits at Garfield Park Conservatory, 100 N. Central Park Ave.

Bird rescue kits are labeled, brown paper bags lined with paper towels that bird collision monitors use to keep the animals safe when transporting them from Downtown to a suburban Willowbrook rehabilitation center. The birds live among the houses and fake plants as they recover.

The volunteers put together about 20 artificial plants and wooden birdhouses, and about 700 rescue bags, Prince said.

She also taught the group about light conservation and bird safety.

"Some of them had not heard of this, that we find over 6,000 birds every year in the Downtown areas that are either injured or dead," Prince said. "It made them appreciate that they're able to help."

The employee volunteers from Exelon partnered with the Student Conservation Association for the event.

National Volunteer Week began Sunday and runs through Saturday.

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