WillowsWhat a showing! What an outpouring of support! What encouragement for research, education, and making the Hope Learning Center and Northwoods Ecology Hall all they should be. What an example of people who love bears and nature showing their love for it by giving back, which is how we feel here. You showed solidarity for the bears and spreading the truth about them. You have been with this for years and feel ownership. We saw that over and over yesterday, and it was thrilling. You know what the possibilities are for the future, and we are moving toward it together. You understand the importance of the research. You really get it, as we saw in your comments. In fact, where we are today is in large part due to Lily Fans. We would not be expanding into the Hope Learning Center and Northwoods Ecology Hall without what so many of you have done and contributed. You and we share a goal and we are moving steadfastly to accomplish it.
We also thank the GiveMN Team that put the information together so people could know the purpose of this giving.
760 donors gave $63,034, a 42% increase over last year. In addition, you gave in a way that garnered 2 Golden Tickets at $1,000 each, 2 Power Hour Awards at $1,000 each, 3rd place in the Greater Minnesota Category for a $5,000 Award, and 4th place in the Medium Nonprofits Category for a $2,500 Award. That brought the total to $74,534, which will be a significant help. Thank you!
Add in donations to the Wildlife Research Institute, and the total for bears is over $76,000
The amazing thing is that many of you hung in there and donated no matter how hard it was with the GiveMN site on the fritz most of the afternoon. Some said they gave up in frustration. For them, we left the GiveMN site open for additional donations.
Thank you seems so inadequate for what we saw.
Thank you for all you did and continue to do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center