Can you believe it’s Love a Chimpanzee Day again already?! Supporter Monica Best named April 23rd Love a Chimpanzee Day and has sponsored this day each year since 2010 for her chimpanzee friends at Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, creating a calendar-worthy official holiday and another excuse to throw a party! That’s a lot of years of love that Monica has shared with the chimps.
With our birthdays so close together, Monica and I have once again teamed up by creating a joint fundraising page for GiveBIG, and we invite you to celebrate this day by checking out our page and making a contribution.
Donor Donna is matching up to $20,000 in funds raised through the end of GiveBIG on May 4th, so your donation now is doubled! HUGE thanks to donor Vicki for making a gift on our page that encouraged us to raise our initial goal!
Monica’s love of animals is not exclusive to chimpanzees – she’s also studied wolves and worked in dog and cat shelters. She’s had many feline and canine friends over the years and created Love a Chimpanzee Day on her birthday in honor of her cat Ozzie during a difficult and uncertain time when Monica was fighting cancer. She credits the sanctuary (especially Negra) with helping her in her years-long battle with the disease and the aftermath.
We are so incredibly grateful for Monica and all of her generosity. She’s been instrumental in the expansion of the sanctuary these last several years and in helping encourage others to give.
You can help us celebrate today and the on Monica and Diana’s GiveBig fundraising page or the sanctuary’s main GiveBig page.
Happy Love a Chimpanzee Day, everyone!!
Thank you, Monica! Quite the D² fan myself!
And isn’t a happy birthday in order for you very soon, Diana? if not today, this week?
Yes, it’s coming up fast!
I think everyone needs to celebrate Love A Chimpanzee Day! It should be a national holiday at the very least.
Thank you Monica, you are an inspiration. Happy birthday to you! And I can totally see how precious Negra is the best medicine and/or treatment to keep you living your life to your best ability. May you receive, tenfold, all the goodness you give.
Ladies, I love your GiveBIG campaign page (that photo of Neggie is my *new favorite*). Remember Diana, age is just a number!! A number you share with her royal highness no less. You are in superb company. How can I not join in to support you three fierce women?!
Thank you, Kathleen. It is just a number – I keep telling myself that ;). Many thanks for making a donation!
I’ve never seen such a great picture of Negra!
I pulled this from the archives. Anthony took it!
I love my chimpanzee cousins beyond words. What a gift beyond measure it is to know of people like Negra and Cy and their friends and siblings. May there always be room for great apes to live on this planet…and to live life in abundance.
Hear, hear, Tobin!
i’m not one to share my trials and tribulations but these chimpanzee people have helped me in my darkest moments these last years. i am so in love with all the chimpanzee people and a huge soft spot for their caregivers. people see the fun times and think yall have thee best jobs. i think that too but make no mistake, the hours are long, 365 days a year 24 hours a day and that is not lost on this lover of all primates! . thank you to everyone who makes the sanctuary run so smoothly while making it look easy.
Thank you, Stevie! It’s nice that you understand it’s a lot of work. I’m very heartened to know that the chimpanzee people have helped you.
Thanks a million, Monica. In my world, every day is Love a Chimpanzee Day :heart::heart::heart: