Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest

Hope. Love. Home. Sanctuary

Volunteers

Work Party Success!

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Big thanks to Jim, Audrey, Brian, a super hardworking group from Seattle’s Northwest Animal Rights Network (NARN), and all of Saturday’s volunteers, we finished setting the poles for the primary fence yesterday!

J.B.’s secret hope is to get all of the poles in for the secondary fence next weekend, so now is the time to contact him to volunteer.

Take a look at some photos of the work yesterday:

working hard

posts being put up

Here’s one of my favorite new features of the hill – we’re calling this Missy’s tunnel:

tunnel on hill

Below is a photo of Karl, one of the NARN volunteers, testing out a firehouse swing. The chimps are going to have so much fun on the hill!

Karl swinging on hose image

Young’s Hill getting closer one pole at a time

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Last week Keith, CSNW’s founder, and volunteer Laura helped J.B. set some poles for the fence around Young’s Hill. We are building a double fence system with a total of 220 poles, so J.B.’s going to need a lot of help in the coming weeks! If you are interested in doing some physical labor volunteering now or in the future, please contact J.B. – he’d love to hear from you.

Here’s a photo of the first set of poles that went up:

first double poles

Today Denice and some terrific volunteers from Seattle University’s Animal Advocates and the Seattle Animal Defense League are setting more poles. As a big bonus to all of us, they brought vegan donuts from Mighty O in Seattle!! Mighty O donated donuts for last year’s Out of the Box auction Dessert Dash and they were recently crowned the Food Network’s Donut Champions, so this is no small treat for us humans.

Anyway, enough about delicious vegan donuts. Back to the hill. Below is a photo of today’s volunteers setting posts.

volunteers setting posts

And here’s a photo of Negra and Annie. Negra was watching the poles going up. With the two greenhouse panels off, the chimps can see all the work being done on the hill.

Negra Annie looking to Young's Hill

It’s not all about poles, either. If you received our recent e-newsletter, you know that all of the topsoil left over from digging the trench for the primary fence was utilized to make some mounds on the hill. To put these mounds in perspective, here’s a photo of J.B. and Jackie on one set (imagine them as chimps!):

JB Jackie on mounds

26 days, $4120 to go!

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We’re not quite to the halfway mark in our one year anniversary fundraising, and there are only 26 days to go. We have some new fundraisers who are participating that you have to check out – read below for details.

You can chose to make a donation to Negra’s page or through one or more of the creative fundraisers who have created their own pages.

You can also create a page of your own by clicking the firstgiving button below. The key to success is letting all of your contacts know about your fundraising effort! Tamela Burgess, for example, set a goal of raising $350 and has already raised $660 and is still going! See Tamela’s page for inspiration. And Pam Lehnert is only $85 away from reaching her fundraising goal of $700!

You don’t have to offer anything in return for your donation – you just have to let your friends and family know what you are up to. You can also pledge to do something grand (like run a half marathon) or mundane (like get your haircut, finally) as a way to motivate friends to give.

Some of the new folks who are raising funds for the Cle Elum Seven:

Grace Enlow is working with artist Colin Redmon and is providing limited edition greeting card packs with illustrations of animals. For a donation of only $10, you can choose six cards from 10 illustrations of different animals. Colin is super talented, and $10 for a pack of cool cards is quite a bargain, plus all of the money raised goes towards the chimpanzees! Check out Grace’s fundraising page for more details.

Sara Lissabet has created one-of-a-kind glass pendants with the number “7” on them to commemorate the Cle Elum Seven. The 2″ pendants are hand cut and fused green glass with a black border. Everytime you sport the pendant, which Sara will send for a donation of $70 or more, you’ll be reminded of the Cle Elum 7 and you can tell others what the pendant represents. Check out Sara’s fundraising page to donate.

Michelle Coburn from Rabbit Ridge Designs has a pretty cool deal for knitters out there – she is offering a free hat, scarf or glovelet kit (includes yarn and pattern) for donations of $50 or more. You can also choose to re-gift your kit to the sanctuary, and the cost of the kit will be given to CSNW in cash – increasing your donation. Check out Michelle’s fundraising page and get crafty!

Margaret Parkison’s offer to paint a portrait of one of the chimpanzees of YOUR choice is still available. What better way to remember the Cle Elum Seven than to have a beautiful painting to look at every day? Check out Margaret’s fundraising page and see the amazing oil painting she did of Jody for the sanctuary.

Thanks so much to all of the wonderful fundraisers and to those who are supporting them by donating through their pages!! Let’s make that halfway mark by tomorrow!

Spring clean-up and planting

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The volunteers at CSNW have been busy lately! On Saturday, a large group of volunteers turned out to help clean up the property and to begin planting grass, shrubs and wildflowers. Dakota, our garden and compost master, and Jackie, our newest caregiver, have been working hard to get the garden beds ready for planting vegetables. Right now there are seven raised beds. The plan is for the chimps to each have their own garden containing their own favorite vegetables. I was too busy (and forgetful) to take pictures of the volunteers on Saturday, but I did manage to get a couple of Dakota and Jackie and the new gardens. Many thanks to everyone that has helped get this place in shape for spring.

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5-5-09-garden-1