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On Tuesday August 14th, 18 employees from Harry’s
Farmer’s Market (Whole Foods) in Marietta, Georgia, volunteered at Gorilla
Haven. Harry’s has been a good friend to Gorilla Haven, donating produce to
help feed our gorillas, as well as fund-raising so we can help support
in-situ conservation and gorilla projects in Africa. They decided they’d
like to do more, and we had just the project for them. |
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Up on Tebe’s Trail by our electrified
perimeter fence, small white pine trees have started to grow faster than we
anticipated, shorting out the fence when limbs got too close, etc. For
almost 3 years, cutting down those saplings was on our “to-do” list, but we
never had a big enough crew to get it done, until Harry’s kindly
volunteered. |
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The perimeter fence encompasses about 60 acres, but the
area on Paris Mountain was in most need of immediate attention. I was
thinking if we got half of it done, we’d be lucky, but the amazing crew of
Harry’s surprised me and knocked it all out in one short day of hard and
sweaty work. While the mountains are experiencing a heat wave, with
temperatures in the mid to high 90’s, the folk from Harry’s said it was much
cooler than asphalt covered Hotlanta and Marietta, so with lots of water and
hard work, they managed to cut down literally hundreds of saplings and brush
along the fence line. |
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After a hard day of work, it was hard to say if Joe or
the Harry’s staff enjoyed the visit to Silverback Villa more … Joe had never
seen so many adults in his villa before, and was mesmerized, studying the
mask-covered-faces of all the good looking people – especially the shirtless
men!  Time was limited, so
we did a quick visit to Oliver too, who made an appearance briefly, until we
drove away – then he followed us to the viewing window and seemed totally
amazed to see so many people! |
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To all our local friends, please patronize Harry’s as
often as you can. After blogging about selfish people and corporations out
to get as much money as possible with little to no regard for good customer
services (banks, gas stations, etc), it’s so wonderful and refreshing to see
a group of people like the Harry’s staff, willing to help make a difference.
A special thanks to Matt Bagby – who spear-headed the drive to help Gorilla
Haven and continues to spread his enthusiasm and good cheer. And heartfelt
thanks to all who participated in what promises to be the first of many
Harry’s Volunteer days at Gorilla Haven, including: |
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Matt Bagby |
Rick James |
Tatjana Ramic |
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Justin Balmes |
Shondra Jenkins |
Andi Smith
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Ronald Elkins |
Alan Lee |
Jacinth Thomas |
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Brittany Fulton |
Jocelyn Mauricio |
D’Andrea Williams |
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Jacob Hill |
Charlene Morgan |
Joe Wright |
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Cory Hutchins |
Caleb Orekoya |
John Wyman |
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