Hey Everyone! So, Kristin and I have finally made it happen and are and celebrating our birthdays this May by going to Thailand to volunteer with elephants at an amazing sanctuary outside of Chiang Mai called the Elephant Nature Park. I know, we've been planning it for a while - and life in the big city being what it is, it's only just come about. But come about it has!
The Elephant Park is run by a Thai woman named Lek who has taken in over 30 elephants from abusive situations (as well as numerous dogs, cats and a water buffalo!) and created a beautiful open refuge for them to live out their lives. No tourists riding their backs, no menial labor. She also works with the local tribes to educate them about elephant care and herbal treatments for their elephants, and has started a rain forest restoration and protection project in her area.
We are so passionate about this place and Lek’s work that we thought, instead of all the lavish gifts you were planning for our birthdays, we would ask if you would like to donate to the elephants. We will put everyone’s donations together and bring them to the sanctuary in person in May.
It would be a great gift to the elephants, and since there are only 30,000 Asian elephants left on the planet, they need all the help they can get. Even a $10 gift goes a long way… and it’s tax deductible!! :)
There are several options to get your donation into our pooled fund:
If you have a PayPal account, you can donate to: jdsasser@juno.com via PayPal’s secure server. We’ll send you a receipt for your donation.
If you don’t have a PayPal account, send us an email mentioning how much you’d like to donate and we’ll send you a link to an invoice you can use to donate on PayPal without being a member.
Or you can email us to make other arrangements.
Thanks so much! Send us any questions and check out The Sanctuary’s site at www.elephantnaturepark.org/index.htm
More stories and plenty of pictures to come.
