Park Place Lexus Plano collecting items for Blackland Prairie Raptor Center
When you hear Park Place Lexus Plano is helping raptors, you might think it’s a tie-in with the latest Jurassic Park movie. But these raptors are even more awe-inspiring. The Blackland Prairie Raptor Center in Lucas rescues orphaned, sick and injured raptors – birds of prey such as eagles, ospreys, hawks, falcons, owls, kites and vultures. It treats the injured raptors, rehabilitates them, and then releases them back into the wild.
Founded in 2004, the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center is located on Lake Lavon in the 66-acre Brockdale Park. It is home to a permanent collection of 18 education raptors (birds who can never be released back into the wild due to the nature of their injuries,) an 8,000-square-foot flight cage, and a clinic to house up to 800 patients per year.
“I attended Blackland Prairie’s annual Ribs n’ Raptors fundraiser last fall,” said Greg Duerr, Park Place Lexus Plano Parts Manager. “I bid on a ‘Release the Raptor’ experience in the auction and had the opportunity to release a Red-tailed Hawk. It was such an incredible experience, I wanted to do more to help the organization. I talked with our leadership at Park Place Lexus and we came up with this Stuff the Trunk event to provide some basic materials the center needs on an ongoing basis.”
Park Place Lexus is collecting items through the end of July that includes: brooms, scrubbing pads, laundry detergent, bleach, hand soap, cotton balls & swabs, disposable exam gloves, paper towels, Ziploc bags, pill dividers, flashlights & batteries, leather gloves, safety glasses & goggles, box cutters, five-gallon buckets, wire snips, pliers, hammers, screwdrivers, 18v cordless drills, drill bit sets, deck screws, rakes, shovels, 25-foot tape measure, staple gun & staples, clamps (all sizes), WD40, heavy-duty hoses, copier paper, permanent markers, and more.
Donations are being collected daily 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. Monday – Friday and 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday until the end of July at the Lexus dealership: 6785 Dallas Parkway (W. Spring Creek Parkway at Dallas North Tollway) in Plano.
“Our largest expense is food for the raptors,” said Erich Neupert, Blackland Prairie Raptor Center Executive Director. “We spent more than $30,000 last year on food. People can donate online at bpraptorcenter.org/donations/or through the AmazonSmile program. Just select the Blackland Prairie Raptor Center as your designated charity while shopping on AmazonSmile.com and we receive a portion of every purchase.”
The Blackland Prairie Raptor Center is open to the pubic the first Saturday of every month at 1625 Brockdale Park Road (off FM3286) in Lucas. Ribs n’ Raptors will be held in November 2018. More information is available at http://www.bpraptorcenter.org
“If you find a baby bird on the ground, the best thing to do is just leave them alone,” explained Neupert. “If they look injured, give us a call at 972-442-7607.”
Ken Schnitzer founded Park Place Dealerships in 1987 with a single Mercedes-Benz dealership on Oak Lawn. Today, Park Place Dealerships employs more than 2,000 people and operates 16 full-service dealerships. For more info, visit parkplace.com.