This is the third post for our week of thanks highlighting seven donors that represent seven different types of giving, while also highlighting the seven chimpanzees.
If you missed the first two, day one featured legacy donor Bruce Davidson + Burrito and day two featured event donor Kathy Cochran + Annie.
Today we are featuring Julie Olson who has been giving a monthly donation to Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest continuously starting in December of 2008 – that’s 107 (and counting) donations!
I really love to learn how donors have come to know about the sanctuary. This is what Julie shared about how her support began:
My sister first made me aware of the chimps by showing me the KOMO news story. I sponsored Jody for awhile as a gift to her and pretty soon I was hooked! I sponsor Burrito now and I never miss a day checking up on how the chimps and caregivers are doing.
I thought Julie’s story was particularly appropriate for Thanksgiving because her donations to the sanctuary started as a gift for a loved one.
Like Julie, many of our monthly donors give through our Chimpanzee Pal program, where you can choose one of the chimpanzees (may I suggest Jody?) to sponsor as a gift for someone else or for yourself. You can even choose to sponsor the whole family! Alternatively, some monthly donors choose to give through our general donation page, and we make it an option for special fundraising campaigns too, like the upcoming Giving Tuesday campaign!
We are so incredibly grateful for monthly donations and want to send a big thanks to everyone who gives in this way. Having that steady stream of income to rely on for the day-to-day running of the sanctuary and care of the chimpanzees provides a sense of security.
As someone who also donates to other organizations, I also like to give monthly donations partly because it’s an easy – you sign up once and everything goes through automatically unless there’s a change with your credit card or bank.
I know that Jody has directly benefited from Julie and others’ monthly gifts. Just one look at a “then” and “now” photo shows what a sanctuary life has provided for her.
Jody knows just what she wants and she lives her sanctuary life with a solid sense of independence but motherly concern for her chimpanzee friends. If I were a chimpanzee, I would definitely want Jody to be a part of my family group.
She’s not as concerned with spending time with the humans as some of the other chimpanzees at the sanctuary, which is another thing I love about Jody. She does, however give us humans the best bouncy greetings and is always eager to share her excitement about parties and meals with her caregivers. I’m about to go up to the chimp house now, and I’m willing to bet that we will share in an excited breathy-pant as Elizabeth and volunteers Patti and Grace are setting up the Thanksgiving party.
Elizabeth will be posting about the Thanksgiving festivities later today, but I’ll leave you with a few more photos of Jody.
This last photo, taken by Elizabeth last year, is the November 2017 calendar photo. I forgot to mention in our last e-newsletter that our 2018 calendar is now available for purchase!
Happy Thanksgiving!
