Brushwood Center

08/24/2026

DIY Air Purifier under $50 with Eddie

In July, we experienced unhealthy Air quality across different states in America. As we continue to see air quality worsening, the need for air purifiers rises.

Tips during poor Air quality:

🪟 Close all windows and doors to prevent bad air from entering your home

😷  Wear an N95 or KN95 mask if the air quality is hazardous

🌿 Limit time spent outside

Make one at home & tag us!

Interested in teaching youth about the impacts of Air Quality? We have a Climate & Creativity Lab that teaches about different Environmental issues. Connect with Eddie Flores at [email protected].

08/17/2026

Thank you to our 2026 Smith Nature Symposium Chair, Elizabeth Pruett and friends for joining Brushwood at Elawa Farm Foundation for a morning of nature, meditation, and forest therapy.

It was a beautiful time spent reflecting on the importance of community and connecting with nature. Thank you to Elawa Farms for providing a beautiful space and spread for the morning, and Jess Rodriguez for guiding the group in a forest therapy session.

On October 10th, we celebrate Brushwood’s mission, connecting with over 90+ partners to improve access to nature and health equity in Lake County.

You can learn more about the Smith Nature Symposium at the 🔗 and view Sponsorship opportunities!

08/12/2026

Brushwood team before and after backpack distributions 🎒

This past weekend, the Brushwood team had two big backpack distributions! Started the day at Mano a Mano’s Mano a Mano Lake County, IL Back-to-School Resource Fair, where all 300 backpacks were distributed! Right after, they headed to Highwood Library & Community Center Highwood Library & Community Center for their Summer Send-Off: Reading & Resource Fair, where 200+ backpacks were distributed! Thank you to our partners for inviting us 🤍

Thank you Eddie, Jess, Sage, Emma, Ashley, Julia, and Abbey, for distributing backpacks and resources to many families in Lake County.

To continue our mission of connecting families to nature and resources, head to the 🔗

08/11/2026

Sponsor the 43rd Annual Smith Nature Symposium! Brushwood Center’s biggest fundraising event of the year is Saturday, October 10, 2026. 🌱

Join our movement for change! All funds raised from the evening directly benefit our programs for youth, families, and Veterans across our community.

Brushwood is honored to celebrate the work of Karenna Gore, Author, Climate Activist, and Founder of The Center for Earth Ethics Center for Earth Ethics.

Thank you to our Honorary Chair & Chair, Amy Morrison Heinrich and Elizabeth Pruett for their support of this event.

Sponsoring the Smith Nature Symposium includes special benefits, with a VIP event for Sponsors the following morning.

Together we can reimagine a new future together, where all lead healthy and thriving lives!

Head to the 🔗 to learn more about Smith Sponsorship✨

08/09/2026

A moving tribute to Lake Michigan. Thank you to everyone for supporting Lakenotes! 🌊✨

The reviews are in, and Lakenotes: Seasons of Lake Michigan is an exceptionally moving and mysterious tribute to the majesty of Lake Michigan!

Blending the auditory and the visual, the emotional and ecological, Lakenotes offers more than a performance—it is an invitation to reflect, to connect, and to experience Lake Michigan not just as a place, but as a living, breathing presence.

This unique artistic journey is the result of a collaboration between three acclaimed Brushwood Center partners and artists, each bringing a distinct creative lens to one of the world’s most awe-inspiring freshwater lakes. Poet Kathryn Haydon Kathryn P. Haydon offers vivid and reflective lyricism that gives voice to the lake’s many moods, from the stillness of winter ice to the restless churn of autumn waves. Visual artist Lincoln Schatz Lincoln Schatz, renowned for his immersive storytelling, captures the lake’s vast palette through sweeping videography and striking photography, revealing its ever-changing character across seasons and time of day. At the core of Lakenotes is a powerful new commissioned work by award-winning Chicago composer Stacy Garrop Stacy Garrop.

Lakenotes is a beautiful example of the possibility when we support co-creation and innovation!

To read the full piece in the Chicago Tribune by Gina Grillo at the 🔗

📸 Kyle Dunleavy

08/05/2026

Let your kids explore their creative side by creating designs with items from nature. Sign them up to make Nature Mandalas at the library in an event with our community partner, Brushwood Center.

[image description: Three radiant designs made from natural objects such as leaves, twigs, and pebbles are pictured in separate squares on a cream-colored background with grass at the bottom and two large, white cloud shapes. The title in brown and green is accented by twigs and leaves and reads: Create Art Using Nature. Nature mandalas. One of the clouds has text that says: Ages 5-12. Monday, August 10, 5pm, Meeting Room. The other cloud shows the logos for the Round Lake Area Public Library and Brushwood Center, a QR code leading to the registration page in the library's calendar, and the words: Registration Required.]

08/04/2026

07/31/2026

We distributed 450 Nature Explorer Backpacks this past weekend! 🎒 Thank you to HACES H A C E S, Waukegan Public Library Waukegan Public Library, and Warren-Newport P***c Library Warren-Newport Public Library for inviting us.

📸 HACES & Brushwood Staff

Started the weekend with Haces & Waukegan Public Library on Friday, distributed 150 backpacks. 🎒

Followed by all 300 backpacks with Warren-Newport Public Library. 📚

Thank you to author and partner, Seth Marcus for helping distribute backpacks with signed copies of Agnes Knows Nature. 💚

04/22/2026

04/19/2026

Healing Together, now on view! 💚 TIERRA is a research-informed, nature-based training program for Community Health Workers to address trauma, health, and environmental injustices in Lake County, IL. Healing Together: The Artwork of TIERRA features artwork created by facilitators of and participants in the TIERRA program.

Through visual art, reflection, and creative expression, participants in this program have translated their personal and professional journeys into powerful works that speak to resilience, healing, and connection to the land.

Thank you to Nydia Gonzalez - Carson , Jess Rodriguez , Bruce White , Viridiana Gonzalez , and Gina Guadarrama for your contribution to the art workshops, exhibition opening, and TIERRA. 🌲

🖼️ The exhibition will be on view through May 3rd in the gallery. 🔗

🧡Joyful Impact! By donating to the Joyful Impact Challenge Match through May 31st, you will be accelerating the future of programs like TIERRA, to improve health equity across Lake County. Every dollar counts towards the ACTIVATE campaign. 🔗

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Sanando juntos, ahora en exhibición!

TIERRA es un programa de capacitación basado en la naturaleza e informado por la investigación, dirigido a Trabajadores de Salud Comunitaria para abordar el trauma, la salud y las injusticias ambientales en el condado de Lake, IL. 💚

Sanando Juntos: La obra artística de TIERRA presenta creaciones artísticas realizadas por facilitadores y participantes del programa TIERRA. A través de las artes visuales, la reflexión y la expresión creativa, los participantes de este programa han plasmado sus trayectorias personales y profesionales en obras poderosas que hablan de resiliencia, sanación y conexión con la tierra.

Gracias a Nydia Gonzalez - Carson, Jess Rodriguez, Bruce White, Viridiana Gonzalez, y Gina Guadarrama por su contribución a los talleres de arte, a la inauguración de la exposición y al programa TIERRA. 🌲

🖼️ La exposición estará abierta al público hasta el 3 de mayo en la Brushwood Gallery. 🔗

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