Victoria chewing her foot - November 5, 2011We hoped this important day of giving would come close to last year’s—$40,017 to the Bear Center and $3,397 to the Wildlife Research Institute. You went far beyond—$65,139.50 to the Bear Center and $19,985.50 to WRI. These totals include a few donations that started when we first mentioned “Give to the Max Day” in an update on November 7 and those that came in today—the day after. When we add in the matching money (thank you again to the anonymous donors) and the $10,000 prize you won for the Bear Center, the numbers become $125,139.50 for the Bear Center and $39,971 for WRI. Heroes emerged as it came down to the wire and raced to capture 2nd place for the Bear Center. Your final flurry of giving did it! A deeply felt “Thank you!” is all we can say. This outpouring of support and encouragement meant a lot to all of us, as you can imagine.
One thing the money will be used for is Den Cams. We saw a post on Facebook saying we would be soliciting funds to cover Den Cams. He probably did not realize that we had already said Den Cams would come out of your “Give to the Max” donations.
One donor asked if we could use his $4,000 donation for interns to work at the Bear Center and/or WRI and for scholarships for local students going into wildlife studies. We are grateful. We’ve used interns these past several years and have wanted to offer scholarships through local schools.
How do we celebrate your erasing the debt? That is so huge! In less than 2 years, you used donations, matching funds, and voting to pay off $700,000! This was a labor of love that involved sacrifice, priorities, and determination. It included students holding bake sales and other fundraisers. It included people giving what they could from fixed incomes. It showed a love of bears and a desire to share that love through education. It showed faith in us to turn your donations into success. Your outpouring of support was uplifting, to say the least.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center