Kit Lacey enjoys her role as a bird curator and education director at Cascades Raptor Center for some of the same reasons we enjoy our own work at Oregon Pacific Bank – we both understand the importance of connecting with people and forming relationships on a foundation of trust.
“What I enjoy most about my work is the opportunities for building trust,” Kit says. “Working relationships with ambassador animals allows me to help our visitors connect with nature.”
In her role, Kit oversees the daily operation and care of both the ambassador raptors at the nature center and the raptors that receive care in the wildlife hospital, located in Eugene’s south hills.
Former Executive Director Louise Shimmel has worked with raptors for decades. In addition to educating, she has always been passionate about mending injured birds and returning them to the wild, whenever possible. Her dedication to birds of prey is evident in her decades of work at the nonprofit nature center and wildlife hospital.
This bootstrap nonprofit grew slowly and acquired an abundance of community support over many years. As a nonprofit, the center has enjoyed working with a bank that’s also committed to community.
“Having local decision-makers who know the community—that’s unique,” Louise says. “We’d been with other, larger banks, and some of the decisions they made were not beneficial to our type of business, like charging a fee for depositing cash or charging a fee for having to interact with a live teller rather than using an ATM or going online.”
When Louise was looking to re-finance the Cascades Raptor Center property, she was happy to get help from Oregon Pacific Bank—having recommended us to colleagues from time to time.
“Oregon Pacific Bank made us a generous offer on refinancing our property and financing the acquisition of a neighboring property—more than doubling our size,” Louise says. In addition to refinancing, the nonprofit counts on us for its checking, money market savings and bill pay.
“I like the people and the culture of service at Oregon Pacific Bank,” Louise says. “They’ve always made us feel important and are very good at resolving issues quickly and thoroughly.”
Consistently ranked on travel sites as one of the top three things to do in Eugene, Cascades Raptor Center welcomes more than 30,000 visitors a year, offering educational and up-close raptor experiences. While no longer executive director, Louise remains passionate about the nonprofit’s mission.
“Humans of all ages, cultures and ethnicities seem to be fascinated by these predators and really appreciate the chance to see them up close and learn something about them,” Louise says.
One of Kit’s favorite things about working at the center is seeing the raptors return to the wild. “I love when we are able to release raptors back into the wild from the hospital,” Kit says. “We have given them a second chance at life.”
