We Love Our Volunteers!
Big Cat Rescuers Wrap Up the Holidays for the Cats
One of the Borders managers had heard of Big Cat Rescue, so when it came time to choose a charity this year to man a holiday gift-wrap table for them, he suggested us. When we got their call, we said yes and jumped at the opportunity. Borders assigned 11 days to us and asked that we commit to staffing the gift-wrap table for 10-12 hours a day with 3 volunteers each shift. Normally, that many volunteers might be a little difficult to schedule. Add to that the fact that it was the 2 weeks before Christmas, our busiest time of year at the sanctuary, and you can imagine how hard that was to juggle. But, our volunteers came through like they always do!
We had interns hustling, one volunteer working in a full leg brace, some rearranging their lives to cover shifts that may have otherwise gone empty, rushing from work in traffic to make their shift, taking off time from their “real jobs” to work this fundraiser, and ultimately spending Christmas Eve wrapping presents up to the very last minute in order to provide for the big cats.
But, the real story is that every Big Cat Rescue volunteer made this a fantastic event. Even though each of them may not have been at Borders, they were all called on to cover and do the never-ending work that needs to be done at the sanctuary every single day. Julie Hanan, event coordinator said, “That's what really makes this such a fantastic team to work with. No matter what the volunteers are asked to do, they will go the extra mile every time!”.
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From what Borders managers told us about last year's financial results for the charities that gift wrapped for them, we expected to make about $1000 overall from this event. Imagine our excitement to see our donation bucket swell to over $3000. One of the managers and his family came for a private tour of the sanctuary the week after Christmas and he said they are very anxious to have us back again next year since the feedback on our volunteers and the way we treated their customers was so positive. We were an unexpected and very pleasant asset for their business.
We had the opportunity to speak with over 2000 people about our mission in a casual, fun atmosphere. And these were not just animal lovers, our typical audience. These were people from every walk of life. Besides wanting to come visit the sanctuary, many even expressed an interest in volunteering for us. This was just another example of the wonderfully positive way our volunteers always represent us and our mission to the community.
Stars and Stripes
Julie Hanan's ability to turn even the most mundane of objects into whimsical animal print eye catchers has really leapt off the palette with her most recent undertaking. Our overnight cabins have always been cleverly themed inside, but outside, despite several different colors of paint, the building still looked like a barn. Therefore, she was sparked to use her talents and initiate the project of hand-painting tiger stripes on the building. Now it looks like a tiger...the size of a barn!
When interviewed on how she got interested in the idea, she said, "The more often I drove by our Bed and Breakfast cabins and saw how desperately they needed a new paint job, the more I began to think how cute it might be for our guests to be able to stay in a tiger themed building since they are lucky enough to be sleeping right next to the tigers. I thought it could also prompt our guests to take their picture in front of the building if it had a unique look to it. Then, when they got back to wherever they're from, they might show off that photo to their friends which would spark a conversation about Big Cat Rescue and their visit with us which could only help spread the word of our sanctuary and what we're doing."
Julie had some terrific help with the base coats from team building groups and our own dedicated volunteers and interns, but when it comes to the steady hand to do the realistic styling of the stripes, no one does it better than our Volunteer Star: Julie. She worked through a hectic traveling schedule and the pain of a bad back, and has now completed this giant sized make-over. Julie had some extra inspiration as it was just King (a retired Ringling tiger) and she spending many, many days together back by the lake since she was the only one who could really paint the stripes. She told us that hand-painting all those tiger stripes became a little bit easier every time King would come out of his den to check on her progress. He modeled his beautiful coat for her to give her new ideas on just how to paint that next stripe. What she thought would be a couple of weeks actually turned into a couple of months. But, she tells us, “It was a labor of love, because everyone who ventures out there to see the Bed and Breakfast now thinks it's so cute and definitely memorable”. Come out and see it for yourselves, or better yet book a cabin and stay in it. In the meantime, enjoy the slideshow.
The Right People and the Right Tools
Make a Big Difference
Claude Miranda thought he was just delivering a couple of medical supplies donated by the National Humane Society to Big Cat Rescue, when he made the mistake of asking if we ever had need of a wood chipper. When Carole Baskin proudly showed off the new wood chipper that we were able to get as the result of a grant from United Animal Network and the Penny Wars For Tigers he about doubled over in laughter.
Scott and the crew had spent weeks cutting down the invasive species called Brazilian Peppers and dog fennel and feeding it one 3 inch stick at a time into our new chipper. We had a respectable pile of wood chips to show for the effort and were starting to make a dent in the mass of weeds because in the dead of winter it wasn't growing faster than we could cut it back. Claude promised to show us what a real wood chipper could do and at 9:30 the next morning he was back.
He brought a friend and co worker name John LePine and explained the Pete Bakowski had outfitted him with over $100,000.00 in the best land clearing equipment available for clearing real estate that he buys and develops. He generously allowed us the use of his massive wood chipper and bobcat on tracks. They brought a cooler full of cold drinks, donuts, diesel fuel and bar chain oil. Claude and John gave us safety lessons on what not to do around machinery that can eat you up and spit you out in a nanosecond.
By dark the first day, with the help of a lot of volunteers and interns, we had really started to make some progress. We were clearing about 3 acres and could see from end to end if we wiped all the sawdust from our eyes. We chopped and chipped, sweated and bled, but we were all so excited about the possibility of completing what we had worked so hard for so long to accomplish, that we didn't want to stop. We paused briefly for pizza and Claude's blonde jokes every couple hours to keep us from exhausting ourselves. The volunteers who were not working on this project were pulling double shifts to handle all of Saturday's regular workload.
Claude and John agreed to come back the next morning at 9:30 again. Because it was a Sunday we had a lot more volunteer and intern help since they didn't have to give tours. With this hard working group of people and the right equipment we were able to remove almost all of the unwanted undergrowth, chip it up and pull up almost all of the roots. This second day we also had enough help to stack up a mountain of trash to haul off, including a truck tire that Carole had to fight a water moccasin for. None of the insect bites or injuries were more than Claude, a retired Assistant Fire Chief, could treat with his emergency kit.
The following Wednesday Claude came back with John and the rest of his crew including Bill Moak, his son Eric Miranda and his granson Jesse Miranda. With the help of our volunteers, interns and staff we were able to finish the chipping in the back 40 and finished pulling up the roots of the invasive plants for burning. We moved on to the cell tower area and put a culvert in the ditch and filled and cleared to make a road big enough for Vern to get the front end loader around the tower to the back property where it is needed to shore up the falling fenceline. To rent this sort of equipment would have cost us more than $7,000.00 plus the operators. All they asked for was souvenir Big Cat Rescue T-shirts. They volunteer because they like to make a difference.
Opening up this beautifully scenic area will help us in a lot of ways. We have been talking to a major chain about building an event/conference center on our land because we may never have the funds to build the sort of structures that we need. They need local event space mostly for nights and weekends and we mostly need space for schools to visit during the week, like a Nature's Classroom and conferences during the work week where people like the Harvard Club would rent for use during the day. We could then have our Fur Ball onsite each year and do more for the ambiance of the theme if the entire building resembled an African Lodge. The lions and tigers roaring across the lake would set a mood like none other. This could generate a source of income for the animals that isn't depending on us having to beg for every dollar.
By clearing the land it will enable us to show how much land is available and what a beautiful view there is for their guests. If we can build a road back to this area from the cell tower, then we can safely separate the people from the cats. Our planned development that Howie pushed through last year calls for an ice cream shop on the trail and this could also be used in that manner as a teaser to trail guests about the tigers across the lake.
This was a lot of hard work but the payoffs can be huge for our cats and our mission. Thank you EVERYONE that participated in this effort!