As we go into our 5th month of running the volunteer project at the Nyaru Menteng Orangutan Sanctuary, I want to look back over this time and some of the generous donations we have received from our fabulous volunteers and say a big thank you to them all.
One of our volunteers, Deborah Gaunt, stayed with us for a month back in April and won everyone over with her warm heart. After getting on so well with the enrichment team, whom she spent a lot of time working with, she saw how much they needed an extra freezer to store all the enrichment being made by both the local staff and team of volunteers. She was brave enough to jump out of an aeroplane to raise money for charities close to her heart and donated some of her funds to the fabulous enrichment team so they could finally get that much-needed freezer. Everyone would love to say a big thank you to Deb for her generosity and we hope to have her back on the team again one day!
Here at Nyaru Menteng, we have had some wonderful volunteers come through our doors, all who created friendships with the people here and who are missed by everyone. Not only have the volunteers given their time to help enrich the lives of the orangutans, but they have also been extremely generous with helping to buy much-needed items for the staff here.
In just the first few months of running the project, the vets have had 20 pairs of Crocs given to them to wear when in the clinic by Phoebe Woodward...
An electric dental scaler from Sarah Dursley...
And the welding team received a grinder from Brydie Stone.
We have also had numerous other donations from volunteers, including pill cutters from Daniel Harrison, and some new weighing scales for the enrichment team from Lucia Lambertino-Davis.
Many other volunteers have also donated funds to support the enrichment team and enable them to get any items they need for the orangutans. All of the support from the volunteers has been fantastic and I just wanted to say a big thank you to them all from me and the rest of the staff here, and we all hope to see them here again!!