Dunes Center receives funding for educational and archeological programs

Guadalupe's Dunes Center will receive a $25,000 grant from Phillips 66 to fund nature and science education programs. The grant money will go toward educational opportunities to underserved students in programs such as science, technology, engineering, and math.

Education programs that will benefit from funding include guided student field trips to Oso Flaco Lake, classroom science presentations, and informal programs available through 10-week-long after-school programs held in partnership with local schools and community organizations. Recent topics include geology and botany; oceanography will be offered this summer.

Additionally, ERG Resources announced at the annual fundraiser in June that they will pledge the funding necessary to complete another long-awaited archaeological project at the site where Cecil B. DeMille filmed the original The Ten Commandments in 1923. Continued excavation work will allow the Dunes Center to exhibit the sphinx statue. The support adds to contributions from the Towbes Foundation and Santa Barbara County's Coastal Resource Enhancement Fund (CREF).

Funding will also allow the Dunes Center to hire a professional art restorer to preserve the historic statuary and reassemble it so it can be displayed to the public.