Return of the Finkenbinders

Sarah: Though the busyness of the semester program is now behind us, May has continued to be full of activity and visitors. A few days after the students left, Leo and Zana Finkenbinder came to QERC with a group from Olivet Nazarene University (ONU). As you may remember, it was Leo and Zana who have the long history here in the valley and were the ones who actually built QERC. They hadn’t been back to the valley since they retired a few years ago, and Leo has since come out of retirement and is helping develop an Environmental Studies program at ONU. We were excited to have them here to follow around and pick their brains on the history and science of this valley, and a bit nervous with their return since we had made quite a few changes to the place since they’d been here.

Our visit with them was wonderful – they were complimentary toward the improvements we’ve made and the direction we are going with QERC, and we were able to learn a lot from them about their visions they originally had for the building and the way QERC was utilized. As it turns out, many of David’s ideas for the place coincide exactly with the visions Leo had, so David was able to run a lot of ideas past Leo and receive good input.

It was also a very good and much-needed visit with the Chacon family for Leo and Zana. Because of the long-standing history with Leo and Zana, it is them whom the Chacons trust and respect the most when dealing with QERC. Leo and Zana were able to see David and me as a positive addition to the staff, and in return, relay that to the Chacons. We have felt like we’ve had a good relationship with the Chacons for a while now, but with Leo and Zana here, it gave that extra confirmation, and in some ways symbolized the passing of the torch from them to us. We look forward to Leo and Zana returning with more groups to QERC in the future to continue that relationship with them.

After the ONU group was gone, Dennis Siegfried came down with a couple of professors from Oklahoma Baptist University to do a quick tour of a few places in Costa Rica, with the hopes of setting up their own trip sometime. We enjoyed having them at QERC and brainstorming with them on ways they can utilize QERC in the future.

Right after they left, we went to the airport to pick up Ted Bader. Ted is a donor and major fundraiser for QERC and has been a part of the project since it first got started. We also met up with his son, Sam, and Sam’s wife Candace. All three are here at QERC right now enjoying some relaxation time and a break from their busy schedules in the U.S.