Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary for primates.

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Giving Days and Days of Gifts

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Today’s theme: gifts, giving, and gifts given.

Before we get to today’s update, though, I want to remind everyone that Giving Day for Apes is this Tuesday! It’s not too late to set up your own fundraising page via the sanctuary’s Giving Day for Apes page (just click on the big “Fundraise” button to get started). To see pages that others have created, scroll down on our page and look under “Campaigns supporting this organization.” All donations made on any of those campaigns will go directly to the sanctuary and will be eligible for the cash prizes offered!

Of course, the special fundraisers aren’t the only times that our supporters make generous gifts to the sanctuary.

Earlier today, we posted the following message:

Mary Horton sponsored this special day of sanctuary for her mom and long-time friend of the chimpanzees, Vicki Fagerlee… Vicki, you make a lasting difference in the chimpanzees’ and cattle’s lives, helping us ensure their joy, well-being and comfort for all their days forward. We’re so grateful to have you as part of our chimp and bovine family. Happy Birthday, from all of us here at the sanctuary!

It may have been Vicki’s birthday today, but she has been the one buying gifts for the sanctuary lately. Last week, we received notice that someone purchased a new mirrorless digital camera from our Amazon Wish List. Shortly after, the device arrived at our front gate with all the accessories we need to keep taking photos for the blog. The new Canon RP is much newer, lighter, and versatile than the donated Canon Rebels we have been using, and it has many new features that we have yet to master. Today, I spent some time to tinker with the auto-focus settings, low-light capabilities, and preset modes, but it definitely feels like learning to take photographs all over again. This technology has advanced quite far over the last ten years, so we appreciate that Vicki is helping us to stay current. I can’t wait to see what content we can create with this generous gift, and I really can’t wait to share the final products with you all.

Annie
Foxie and Missy
Jody and Foxie
Burrito
Burrito

P.S. Even the newest cameras have a difficult time focusing on Burrito’s face when he plays chase and tickle like an absolute maniac. In this case, I think I focused on his tiny white nose hairs. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Christmas in July!

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Help Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest by donating items from our Christmas in July wish list

The past few months have been full of parties, as we celebrated Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest’s five-year anniversary, Negra’s 40th birthday, Independence Day and the announcements by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Institutes of Health. Plus the Roslyn Olympics celebrating Foxie and her love of troll dolls is just two days away (check out the new Facebook page)! With so many festive parties, it almost feels like the holiday season, so we’ve decided to celebrate Christmas in July!

The CSNW team sure knows how to stretch a dollar. We want to give the chimpanzees the best, and sometimes that means living with less than ideal things for ourselves. However, we are at a point where we need some items replaced so that we can operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. Take a look at our Christmas in July wish list that the whole staff put together, and consider making our day by selecting a present to donate. With your gifts we will be able to…

Organize the kitchen in the chimp house and office in the caregiver house:

dishes and sink at chimp house

office closet

Replace our humble office chairs:

office chair

Power clean the chimp house:

Debbie cleaning

And, of course, we have some items for the chimps on the wish list too…

Foxie throwing troll

Thank you all for your continued support. We are looking forward to our newly stocked and organized office and chimp house and we look forward to sharing before and after photos with you!
wish list

Rock Stars and Getaways

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I sat down to write a blog post highlighting Out of the Box 2013 auction items, and quickly became overwhelmed! There are SO many amazing items! I decided to focus on two things – rock stars and getaways.

What auction, I ask you, can you bid on a guitar signed by a chimpanzee??

out of the box round logo

A couple of weeks ago, we sent out an e-newsletter and posted about the Green Day Tickets in our online auction. Those tickets went to the loveliest of families for $5,640. They had an awesome time at the concert in Berkeley on Tuesday – more on that later.

In addition to the tickets, Adrienne and Billie Joe Armstrong also donated a guitar signed by Green Day members.

green day guitar

 

But that’s not the only signed guitar in the auction – Jamie “signed” a mini guitar, and we had it framed in a shadow box along with a photo of the rock star herself. This is an item that will be available at our Seattle gala, so you’d better get your tickets now in order to bid on this one-of-a-kind conversation-starting art piece.

Here’s a photo of the guitar before it was framed:

Jamie guitar before framing

And now, for a couple of getaways –

How about a week on Grand Cayman Island? Jackie and Kevin Downey, friends of Don and Karen Young (as in Young’s Hill), generously donated a week’s stay in their condo on Seven Mile Beach! cayman sunset

Or an adventure in the Amazon? Volunteer Rozsika went to Peru last year to work on her master’s thesis and decided everyone should be able to experience the beauty of the jungle, so she managed to get this amazing trip donated for the auction.

peruvian sloth

Both of the above getaways will be available to our Seattle Out of the Box attendees. Did I mention you should get your tickets to this event asap?

For those who will be bidding online, perhaps you’ll be interested in four nights at the Ritz Carlton in Cancun or, for a more casual tropical retreat, bid on a week at The Beachouse in Fiji!

fiji swing

We even have a combination rock star and getaway item – a Recording Studio Vacation at a beautiful bed and breakfast  studio in Idaho! You can be your own creative genius for three days making an audio OR video project for private or commercial use, or bring your band to work on that first album!

recording studio

And all of that is only a small sampling of the auction items! Remember, online bidding opens May 4th and the Seattle event is that night. You can see which items will be available for bidding online by looking at the items as a full list or by sorting by category – the ones that are highlighted will be online; the ones not highlighted will be at the Seattle event.

All proceeds from the auctions will go towards the care of the chimpanzees and the sanctuary’s advocacy work. You can also donate directly to our very important fund-a-need, the veterinary clinic, right now.

Clinic 4-10-13

 

Wish List item for today

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I’m madly and happily fulfilling orders from our online store today and we’re really close to being out of 10.5″ x 16″ padded envelopes. I’ll order more at the end of the day, but thought I’d mention it on the blog in case someone wanted to pick them up for us through our Amazon wishlist or elsewhere. They’re a pretty good deal through amazon since the shipping is free, but if anyone can find a better deal, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m always looking for good prices on shipping supplies.

It’s a wintry mix kind of day at the sanctuary. A good backdrop for sending out holiday gifts.

Speaking of which, I’m really in love with the Burrito lip balm. The scent / taste of pomegranate is pretty subtle and it’s a high-quality vegan lip balm made by EcoLips. Who wouldn’t want to carry Mr. B. around in their pocket? I’m sure a lot of folks would be happy to get one or two in their stocking or for a Chanukah gift, or perhaps incorporated into the ribbon on a package that contains other sanctuary merchandise!

wish list – new items

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Just wanted to let everyone know that I added a couple of things to the amazon.com wish list today. Two things we’re a little desperate for are memory cards for our cameras (we’ve worn ours out!) and a wheel barrow or two.

I’ve heard from a couple of people who are sending us troll dolls for Foxie’s birthday on August 8th – yay! Keep em’ coming! I was also looking for toys that Jamie likes. She’s fascinated by those old ball popper things – they don’t seem to make them anymore, but I found one on ebay for only $.99 – check it out here so you know what I’m talking about – I bet there are lots of these at garage sales and such.

In terms of BIG ticket items, we’re going to need a tractor with a plow and a loader before winter. J.B.’s started looking at used tractors online – maybe summer is the time to find a deal?

There are a few things that we now have plenty of – most notably blankets and sheets.

Thank you all for your help in keeping the chimp house stocked and the chimpanzees happy!