Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

Archives for May 2010

Ultimate goal reached! $1,800 to reach $50,000

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We’ve reached the $45,000 goal!!! We will replace one more window if we reach $50,000 – only $1,800 more to get there. That will allow us to replace a grand total of seven windows – one for each chimpanzee! Two windows from LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, One from Anna Kircher’s generous match and you blog readers, and hopefully four from the 2nd Anniversary Fundraising.

The remaining windows we will keep as they are so that we can open them for air circulation. We are waiting for our welders to fit us in to their schedule. As soon as that happens, we’ll start installing the first three picture windows!

The idea behind our 2nd Anniversary Fundraising was to raise crucial funds for our operating expenses before doing any more projects, so any additional funds raised will go towards these operating expenses. Let’s see how far we can go!

A big thank you to recent donors who helped put us over the top:

*Karen and Don Young for their amazing $7500 match. They really allowed us to reach that goal so much faster!

* Frank Milette of Magnetic & Penetrant Services Co., Inc. Frank is volunteer Cari Parker’s boss. Remember that big roll of pink paper? Cari saw the paper at work, thought of Jamie, and asked her boss if she could bring it to the sanctuary. As a thank you for letting her give the chimps the paper, Cari shared a photo of Jamie in her giant pink nest and a link to our website, and Frank immediately wrote a very generous $1,000 check!

*Barbara Bakeletz (Barb in Ohio) who donated $875 to get us to the $40,000 goal.

* Volunteer Stephanie Perciful, who raised $700 through the Pet First Aid Class she and her husband Tim taught last week. Thanks to all who attended the training and donated!

* Tamela Burgess has been “feeding the banana” for months by working really hard to produce amazing and sought-after jewelry for her Etsy store. Her total raised so far is over $1,500!

*A special thanks also to our monthly donors, who keep us going whether we are having a special fundraising drive or not.

*I don’t want to leave anyone out! There have been so many donors over the last two months, and I will be updating our donor list soon to reflect all of these wonderful folks. Everyone who has given any amount since March 17th has contributed towards the 2nd Anniversary Fundraising. Our success is thanks to all of you.

We’ve come a long way, baby!

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In November 2008, volunteer Dakotta, of the High Mountain Sustainable Project, and myself came out to build the sanctuary compost boxes in preparation for a garden in the future.

The ground around the perimeter fence is nothing but fill dirt. But, in spring of 2009, we got serious and 96 wheelbarrow loads of compost, manure and top soil later…

And man o’ man, was last year’s garden successful!

But it just keeps getting better! This year, we’ve built up the trails around the beds so that the soil stays nice and warm. We are also in the process of tearing down the straw compost boxes and replacing them with wooden ones.

We’ve also added more beds around the south side of the building so that the chimps can get a closer view of what’s growing in their garden!

Royal City’s Cloudview Ecofarms have donated tons of starts for this years garden, including broccoli, kale, cabbage, onions, and lettuce.

Because of all of our hard work this year, I am now officially calling myself, Dakotta, JB, and volunteer Denice the “Garden Committee”. With the help of all these individuals, we’ve landscaped the area around the chimps’ outdoor area, which will soon also include more garden beds of fast-growing veggies, like carrots, lettuce, kale, etc…

Can’t wait to show you all the finished product! We’ve come a LONG, LONG way, baby!! Thanks so much Dakotta, JB, Denice, the awesome folks at Cloudview Ecofarms, and everyone one else that has contributed. You guys are awesome and are helping us provide the chimps with fresh (and enriching) food!