Elie Mundima

Category: Happy Hollow Zoo | Date: Mar 29 2007 | By: admin

We have received such great news from the team at Happy Hollow Zoo. I am so overwhelmed by all that they have done and can’t wait to share with you all this email from Vanessa:

Hello - Good Morning!

We had quite an evening for you all last night!

The only thing that could have made it any better was to have you all there with us - I have to say, many guests commented that they felt the Rangers were with us - I know you were all there in spirit. The energy level surrounding this event was very high - wow!

I’ll give you a quick overview:

6:30 - The event started, silent auction items were available, live steel drum music filled the hotel, our Zoo Curator made several West & South Africa recipes that the guests enjoyed tremendously and the old historic hotel quickly began to fill up with guests.

7:30 - The guests were called to one area by a trio of West African drummers - they brought people to their feet and with wild cheers from all, brought the sounds and rhythms of Africa to our event. I then spoke about the Advance Force and the incredible work you are all doing to help save the animals and communities of, and surrounding, Virunga.

After I was done, Mike (husband of a Zookeeper) began the live auction and sold 5 items, which included experiences with sea otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, a trip to San Diego that included a special encounter with the Cheetahs at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego, a beautiful jaguar oil painting and a very tasty bottle of tequila, which was bought out right and then donated back again to be resold in the auction - that one bottle brought in $500!

8:30 - The silent auction closed and the guests scurried to get their final bids in on an incredible variety of donated items (the community was very generous and in asking for donations we had the opportunity to let many people know about the Advance Force and WildlifeDirect).

By the end of the evening - friends, family, and colleagues had donated more that $11,000 and I also had over $2,000 back in my office from other donors! So, I don’t have an exact figure yet, not everyone has paid and we have a few expenses - but I can’t tell you how excited I am about how successful it all went and how generous everyone was.

It was an incredible evening…

My best to All!

Happily Yours,

Vanessa

The team:

From top left down the stairs:

Valerie Riegel (Zoo Curator), Monica Welker (Zookeeper), Jesse Welker (Sister of Monica), Violet Staat (Former Employee), Kelley Walsh (Zookeeper), Mike Leyva (Husband of Zookeeper Pat), Heather Vrzal (Senior Zookeeper), Pat Leyva (Relief Zookeeper), Kerry Dunham (Zookeeper), Elena Seto (Relief Zookeeper), Barbara Coats (Former General Manager)

Off the stairs, from right to left:

Mark Riegel (Husband of Curator Valerie), Victoria Johnson (Development Director), Vanessa Rogier (Me!), Todd Shaeffer (Facility Manager where we had the event, and husband to me!), Adam Hyde (Zookeeper)

This was just about all the people that run the Zoo and even some that used to work here, who came back for more!

Thank you so much everyone for all that you have done. Your money will go far in paying the wages for many of my men, and for that we all here are eternally grateful. I am so proud to now be part of such an amazing group of people.

Technorati : Congo Rangers, Happy Hollow Zoo, WildlifeDirect