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Ever since I was little, I’ve had a love of primates. Chimps, apes, gorillas, monkeys, orangutans, you name it. This love has led me to a possible favor donation idea.
Chimp Haven is an organization located in Keithsville, Louisiana, whose mission is to provide lifetime care for chimpanzees who are no longer of use as entertainers, research or pets. These animals break my heart, and knowing there are people out there who are trying to make the rest of the chimp’s lives better is amazing.
Chimp Haven provides permanent housing and care of chimps, and are completely non-profit. You may have heard of Chimp Haven on television when one of the chimps gave birth recently- impregnated by an unknown chimp who was supposed to be sterilized!
Teresa and Baby Tracy
“Once inhabiting 25 African countries, they are either nearly or completely extinct in 13 of those countries.”
Since I’d like to help, I figure a donation made for each guest would be a nice favor, along with whatever we put in our boxes. Chimp Haven has several donatation options including: C.A.R.E. where you sponsor one chimp, Rescue Fund to help care for chimpanzees in need, and Areas of Greatest Need.
All donations are tax deductible, and although it’s not your average donation, I think Chimp Haven is doing good work. I know my family would appreciate this donation, as we were raised donating to the World Wildlife Federation as well as other organizations and charities. Animals are a soft spot for me, always having been taught to take one in, should it need care.
I’m not quite sure how I’ll notify guests about this donation, maybe a framed card on each table with a picture of a chimp in the background and the wording in the front?
Are you donating to any needy causes? Why did you choose that one?
Oh man, I love nonhuman primates!!!! That’s pretty much THE reason we’re going to Madagascar - to see the lemurs!!!!! 
And Chimp Haven sounds sooooo nice, support them!!!
In lieu of favors, we’re making a donation in memory of my fiance’s mother, who died this past Thanksgiving from inflammatory breast cancer. We don’t want to make a big deal out of it, so we’re just going to include it in the program, nothing on the tables. And this way if anyone wants to make a donation of their own, they can take the program with them and it will have all the information.
As i mentioned before, we are giving trees (this makes me feel better about all the paper we’re using for STD’s and invits), and since we’re footing the bill, we decided we really can’t afford to donate although we’d really like to. However, we are registaring at Heifers International (heifersinternational.com). Guests can purchase a variety of farms animals for families in third world countries as a means of support. We are really excited about this and hope our guests make use of it! p.s. chimps rock!!
How cute would it be if you put the info on these monkey cards:
http://www.papermonkeypress.com/forsale.html
(about halfway down the page)
Hi guys! I love the previous donation ideas. So touching! And Kris, that WOULD be totally awesome! Thanks!
I love the idea of donating to a great ape cause for the wedding.
Can I suggest some alternatives to Chimp Haven, however? CH has an increasingly tarnished reputation among its peers for mismanagement (with a current lawsuit filed against them from donors and supporters claiming such) and a controversial leader in Linda Brent. The animals there definitely deserve to be supported, but there are also many other sanctuaries in North America and around the world that you might consider.
The Great Ape Project has a list of organizations and sanctuaries that you might find useful: http://www.greatapeproject.org/links.php.
Having worked with many of these groups, my personal recommendations include:
Great Ape Survival Project (GRASP)
Friends of Washoe
Bushmeat Crisis Task Force
Jane Goodall International
As for our wedding, we opened a registry with World Wildlife Fund so our guests can have the option of making a donation instead of buying a material gift.
I like the idea. Whichever org. you choose to use, maybe contact them for pictures and stories of as many chimps as you have tables at the reception. Then each table can have a framed picture and that chimp’s story. It could even be a conversation starter!
It’s like the commercials on TV that have the kids in underdeveloped countries walking barefoot in the streets. They send you the information and the picture, hoping you’ll be guilted enough into donating. Your guests might be so moved at your donation and by the work that’s being done that they might match your gift!
But I definitely think a visual and more of an explanation is needed.
Wow, Willa, I had no idea! That makes me really sad, though. I like WWF (not wrestling)!
Great idea. What ever organization you use you can make individual cards for the guest or put a note at each table. Brides for Breast Cancer sends cards to use as favors for guests that make a favor donation.
Definitely research the organization you support like the pp said.
I really wanted to do a green wedding, but it is a destination affair now and we are making a donation to a Costa Rican reforestation project as a way of off-setting our carbon pollution from the planes and ground transportation. It is not a perfect green solution, but it is what we can do given the wedding location.
My guests have been really receptive to this so some are cool with actually doing a 1/2 day volunteer project with the reforestation organization or working with a program that assists some of the few remaining indigenous people in the country. I left a poll open on our wedding blog so they can decide which organization they would want to spend time with if they choose to do this 1/2 day of work.
We are also including a wish list for the latter program so that guests can bring down materials for the kids that need supplies for school. This way they can do some good and insure they have room in their suitcases for things they buy on their way home. The wish list is on our “packing” page on our website.
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Mrs. Kiwi, Los Angeles Age and Occupation in 06: 27, Bookkeeper Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LA Engagement Date: March 31, 2006 Wedding Date: November 3, 2007 Venue: Radisson Hotel About Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
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