Happy Thanksgiving from the Chimp House! Hopefully everyone gets to enjoy their own fistful of mashed potatoes today, just like Jody!
thanksgiving
Third Day of Thanks – on Thanksgiving! – Featuring Julie & Jody
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!
The Thanksgiving Celebration
As promised, here is the video of yesterday’s party.
The anticipation of the feast is always the best part. When chimpanzees are happy, they share their happiness with everyone around them. They hug and kiss each other and join together in choruses of pant-hoots. And they share pants and grunts of excitement with their caregivers.
It’s a celebration not just of food, but of the family they have become. And we are grateful to be considered part of their family in moments like these.
The Thanksgiving Feast
All week we’ve been giving thanks for the people and organizations that make this sanctuary possible. Yesterday, it was all about the chimps. Which means that here at the sanctuary, it was all about the food.
You know who likes food?
This guy.
He somehow managed to hold six baked apples in his hands while he vacuumed up everything else with his mouth.
I’ve never seen him concentrate this hard on anything before.
Burrito wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the Thanksgiving party. You’ll have to watch the video at the end of this post to see what Negra had to do to get this treat bag. All I can say is that it was very un-Negra like. But as you can see from her expression, it was well worth the effort.
Foxie was joined by this little black-haired troll during the forage.
After lunch, they went for a stroll on the hill together (if you don’t see the troll, look closely for some hair that seems out of place).
There was no Thanksgiving food coma for Missy. Once the sun came out, she hit the hill to get some exercise.
Many thanks to Patti, Sandra, and Katie for volunteering to help the chimps on the holiday, and to Patti and Denice for preparing the feast. As you’ll see, it was quite a hit:
On the 5th Day of Thanks
This thanking business is so much fun!
Today we are sending loud, boisterous chimpanzee-style pant hoot thanks to all of the foundations and organizations who have supported the sanctuary with grants.
The sanctuary does not receive any government support. While the majority of cash donations to the sanctuary come from individuals, we have also been fortunate to have received private grants from some really incredible organizations and foundations.
Sometimes these grants are for specific projects, such as the National Anti-Vivisection Society grant earlier this year that helped pay for the back-up generator for the chimp house (along with a donation from the Youngs), the ASPCA grant that paid for the wildfire sprinkler system, and a Yakama Cares grant that paid for essentials (namely the rental of the port-o-potty!) for our Summer Visitor program.
Often, grants are for general operating expenses. It’s difficult to express how affirming it is to receive grants, knowing that the granting organization has a limited amount of funds to distribute. Receiving grants for general operating funds can be particularly affirming because the grantor acknowledges the importance of the day to day care of the chimpanzees and the costs involved in operating the sanctuary.
Grants, just like donations from individuals, impart a responsibility on us to use the gift effectively and in partnership with the grantor.
We are very proud to have received, in the last year and a half, tens of thousands of dollars towards general operating funds from the American Anti-Vivisection Society, the Summerlee Foundation, the Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation, the Tony Stewart Foundation, and grants from two foundations that are in the process of closing down. Earlier this year we were also incredibly excited to receive a grant from Bob Barker’s DJ&T Foundation.
All of these granting organizations support other amazing nonprofits, and we are so thrilled to be a part of their good works.
Just like individual donations, the chimpanzees have truly benefited from these gifts. It is difficult to imagine their lives of desperation before coming to the sanctuary, and there are not thanks enough in the world to express to those who have not only helped get the chimpanzees out of that situation, but who continue to support their new leases on life that allow them to be…
goofy like Burrito
relaxed like Jody:
and serene like Annie:
On The 2nd Day of Thanks
Yesterday, J.B. introduced you to our Seven Days of Thanks by posting about the dedicated, full-of-heart staff caregivers that give so much every day to the chimpanzees.
Today, I would like to shout from the highest mountain a thank you to the founder of the sanctuary, Keith LaChappelle, all past board members, and our current board of directors.
There would certainly be no Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest without the vision, foresight, commitment, and determination that Keith and the founding board harnessed to start this organization from scratch – taking it from an idea to help chimpanzees in need to a physical sanctuary that has cared for seven of the greatest primates I know for the last six and a half years.
J.B. and Keith during construction of the chimpanzees first outdoor area (what is now the greenhouse):
Negra and Keith:
Keith and his friend Nick, helping with the sprinkler system installation this summer:
There are a lot of people who have the desire to start a sanctuary, but only a fraction of them see their dream become a reality. Starting a sanctuary is not easy in any respect, and it takes a profound amount of work in so many disparate areas to be successful.
Keith officially founded Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest in 2003 by bringing together people with varied expertise and the shared desire to make a difference and personally purchasing the sanctuary property to lease to the organization. Ground breaking for the sanctuary began soon after, but it wasn’t until 2007 that the future inhabitants, the seven chimpanzees we all love so much now, were identified.
There have been many incredible people involved in the important work of leading the strategy of the organization as members of the board of directors over the last eleven years, making critical and sometimes difficult decisions. Board members are often the unseen and unsung heroes of nonprofits, carrying the huge responsibility of the organization’s health and vision.
We recently had our annual board retreat, which renewed my admiration for our current and past board members. Having a team of people focused on the same mission, with the same goals for the future, is essential and also inspiring.
Thanks to our retreat facilitator Susan Howlett for the above photo that looks staged – we really were all concentrating that hard!
The best way to show the impact of the work of Keith and all board members who have carried the organization from it’s idea phase to today is to show how far we’ve come.
Below are a few shots of the different phases of the sanctuary over the years:
And here is the very first photo that I put on our website after the chimpanzees arrived on June 13, 2008 – a photo of Negra:
Negra in the same spot this morning:
These photos of Negra reminded me to let you all know that sculptures of Negra via artist Jason Shanaman are available as part of our eight ways to celebrate the holidays! Check out Holiday Central for more info.
what to do with all that money you saved on Black Friday
Hopefully you all saw the Thanksgiving blog post yesterday with the video full of food squeaking that included Burrito inhaling a piece of Celebration Roast made by our friends at Field Roast.
For most Americans, now that the big feast is behind us, it’s the dreaded or celebrated Black Friday, the day that shoppers everywhere are searching for the best deals, and non-shoppers are tucked away in their homes avoiding the madness (maybe some of them doing some secret shopping online).
Lucky for all of you, we have a way for everyone to feel good about today – join our Holiday Pal fundraising contest!
Your donations literally put the food on the table for the chimpanzees (okay, maybe it’s not really a table, but you know what I mean), and we particularly rely on monthly donations to keep the bills paid and keep us inspired to do more, so please consider the Alpha Pal or Best Friends Pal donation levels.
Right now Foxie is ahead in the Pal fundraising, but that could change at any minute. Keep updated by watching the photos fill up the chimps’ candy canes!
You can become a Pal online, send us a check, or even give us a call (509-699-0728). I’ll personally take your donation over the phone today – there’s no way I’m facing any shopping crowds, so I’ll just be sitting here in the office with the phone waiting for you to call.
If you’re still looking for shopping deals, Zazzle is offering 60% off calendars (and a bunch of other sales), so you can pick up your 2014 Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest calendar for a bargain price. You may as well get a few for gifts. Just visit the CSNW Zazzle store, get your shopping fix by selecting lots of items, and enter the promocode: BLKFRIZAZZLE when you check out. Let us know what you think about the calendar this year!
Hang in there, and don’t forget that you can always come visit the blog to watch videos and see photos of the chimps to remind you of your primate family at a distance and take your mind off of shopping or any other holiday stress. The chimps are here for you because you are there for them.
