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The Support Bonaire News - 2004-11-23
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Dear Friends of Support Bonaire,
Greetings from Support Bonaire! As autumn comes to a close and winter approaches, we hope many of you will come to Bonaire to enjoy the island’s wonderful people, warm breezes, and azure waters.
In this issue, we bring you highlights of an innovative new educational project sponsored by the Maria Hoppner Foundation. We have a report on the resounding success of the Bonaire Animal Shelter's recent canine sterilization drive. And don't miss our first reader story.
Here are this newsletter's topics:
- A Little Bit About Support Bonaire
- Project Highlight: Maria Hoppner Launches An Innovative Education Program
- A Big Success! The Bonaire Animal Shelter - Sterlization Project 2004
- Stories from Our Supporters - Keep 'em Coming'!
- Special Project Update...
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A Little Bit About Support Bonaire…..
Support Bonaire, Inc. contributes 100% of donations it receives to qualified charitable projects that we sponsor and which have been specifically designated by our donors. Contributions made to Support Bonaire's General Fund are used to cover our yearly operating expenses or may be applied to special projects designated by the Board.
Support Bonaire does not endorse any one sponsored projects or charities over another. We seek to build awareness and encourage contributions to all of the programs we support at any given time. Over the course of the coming year, we'll announce and promote special charitable events or programs. In each issue of our newsletter, we'll highlight a different project or special program so you can learn more about the activities and charitable work you're supporting.
Support Bonaire's Board of Directors reviews the work and status of each charitable organization to which funds are designated to ensure it maintains the level of standards and certification required for our organization to maintain its own tax-exempt status and for our donors to receive U.S. tax deductions for their gifts.
We thank our supporters and the many donors who have given generously this past year to worthy causes on Bonaire. Your contributions can and do make a difference! Please keep us in mind – and the charities we support – in your end of year giving plans.
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Look for our December newsletter with updates about the wonderful work and achievements of the projects we’ve sponsored this year!
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Project Highlight: Maria Hoppner Launches an Innovative Education Program
For children on Bonaire who are neglected, abused, or parentless, there is only one option - the foster home, Villa Candidus. Operated by the Maria Hoppner Foundation, the foster home provides a safe home for needy children on the island. While taking care of youngsters is their priority, it's not their only goal. Maria Hoppner has launched an ambitious, new educational program that offers specialized training and structured educational programs for the boys living at Villa Candidus.
The Maria Hoppner Foundation has partnered with a foundation named "Project" to start this exciting new program. The objective of the new program is to help the youngsters develop the skills and tools to become productive, self sufficient, and respected members of Bonairean society.
Boys up to nine years of age are given individualized attention and instruction at a range of different tasks to develop their skill levels. Older boys, between 10 and 17 years of age, are educated in a group setting, using social involvement with their peer group as a mean of furthering their development and educational skills. Lacking adequate upbringing and guidance, young boys often have such a profound mistrust of adults that they aren’t able to function well in personal relationships. Through a wide variety of activities, the boys are learning how to handle and cope with rules and regulations, cooperate with others, participate in team spirit, explore their own limits, and learn respect for one another.
In addition to providing a positive educational and social experience, the project has selected targeted work opportunities for the boys as rangers at Bonaire’s National Parks. Bonaire’s park system is well known and highly regarded – rangers are well-respected positions and demand high standards and values. Ranger training provides the young boys opportunities for outdoor adventure, physical conditioning, co-operation, and creativity. The inaugural training program includes eight boys and started in mid September. The program runs about a year.
Support Bonaire realizes that the work of the Sister Maria Hoppner Foundation is of high importance, not only for the boys involved, but also for Bonairean society at large. Without this education, many of the boys will have limited opportunities in society when they leave the foster home. This innovative new educational program can provide a new start in life for Bonaire’s young people and steer the island’s needy youth away from a life of crime and drugs.
We encourage our generous supporters to consider Maria Hoppner in their next donation. Support Bonaire provides a tax-deductible means to support charitable work and worthwhile organizations like Maria Hoppner who are making a difference for Bonaire!
If you would like to support this important project and make a contribution, please visit us online at www.SupportBonaire,org. Or, mail your donation to our address in the United States:
Support Bonaire, Inc.
101 W. Main Street, Suite 820
Norfolk, Virginia 23510 USA
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A Big Success! The Bonaire Animal Shelter – Sterilization Project 2004
The Bonaire Animal Shelter's Sterilization Project for 2004 was a tremendous success. In two short weeks, veterinarian teams from three countries donated their time, talents, and surgical instruments (and much more!) to sterilize 222 dogs (213 females and 9 males). Drs. Hans and Etty Lambeek came from Holland; Drs, Tom Nemetz, Trisha Durrence, and Charlie Brown came from the U.S.A. and Drs. Mary Lovie and Cheryl Yuill came all the way from Canada. A score of local volunteers also assisted with the pre-surgical preparation and the post-surgery recovery of the dogs.
Bringing It All Together
The Shelter's Manager, Jurrie Mellema, spent many months planning the drive. An old storeroom was converted into a sparkling white operating room with 3 operating tables.
Veterinarians had to be recruited, accommodations and transportation arranged. Community awareness was raised by means of articles in the local papers such as the EXTRA and the Bonaire Reporter. TV and radio spots were used, as well as hundreds of flyers posted on local store bulletin boards and passed out at Regatta.
The project could not have happened without financial support from local and foreign businesses, as well as generous donations from private individuals and non-profit organizations like Support Bonaire. The Animal Shelter's Board of Directors, as always, contributed freely of their time and talents. The names of all those who donated money and equipment, as well as the volunteers who helped, are just too numerous to be listed here. A comprehensive list of these generous folks will be listed in the Shelter's web site at: www.BonaireAnimalShelter.org. A “Recognition Board”, citing the major contributors, has been mounted at the entrance to the Shelter's parking lot.
Positive Results Yield Future Impact
An interview with Jurrie Mellema yielded the following information about the "nuts and bolts" of the project. Owners were given an opportunity to reserve a space for their dogs. Over 150 reservations were received before the clinic even started. Word of mouth spread the news and soon, the veterinarians had all the dogs they could handle. The owners themselves brought in about 80% of the dogs. For other owners who did not have transportation, the dogs were brought to the clinic and returned to their homes by volunteers. Dog owners who came in were given basic advice on how to care for their dogs, including how to treat mange and prevent (or reduce) ticks and fleas and how to handle other health care issues.
Jurrie was extremely pleased with the community's response to the project. Members of the community pulled together to make it happen. A new awareness that sterilization leads to a better life for the island’s dogs has been fostered. It is well documented that sterilized animals lead healthier, longer, and happier lives without the burden of multiple pregnancies. Conservatively speaking, a huge impact has been made in the number of puppies that would have been born without the intervention of this project. A typical female dog has two litters per year, averaging six puppies per litter. That translates into over 2,500 puppies in the next 12 months alone!
When asked what is next for the Shelter, Jurrie said, "Now that a good dent has been made in the puppy bearing population, we want this trend to continue. The Shelter has had an ongoing special Sterilization Fund that has already sterilized over 50 dogs this year for owners who were unable to pay for the procedure. We plan to use the Sterilization Fund to perpetuate the responsible practice of animal sterilization and work toward the goal of having no unwanted puppies born on Bonaire."
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Stories from Our Supporters – Keep 'em Comin'!
In our last newsletter, we invited our readers to share stories about a fulfilling experience they had with a charity while visiting Bonaire. Here's one heartwarming story we received. Please keep your stories coming so we may share your experiences and interest others!
"My husband and I are divers and go to Captain Don's to dive. We stay at the Oasis mainly because we get our own cat family. We bring cat food and treats every time we come. Our cat family moves to our porch while we stay there. Since we are lovers it brings a little bit of home to us.
Captain Don is a great supporter of the Animal Shelter and each time we have been there the shelter has come to Habitat. We buy the t-shirts and donate money. This year was even better because we had two iguanas with our cat family. We had lots of laughs seeing the cats and iguanas interacting. Have you ever seen a cat chase a (large) iguana? It is a sight to see. Did you know iguanas nibble on your toes to get attention? We were sitting out on the porch and felt nibbling on our toes and it was the iguanas. We laughed so hard. We gave them some fruit. They loved it! I have awoken to the sound of roosters, but Bonaire is the only place where I have awoken to the sound of donkeys! We love Bonaire – it is so great to get to dive and have the animals with us too. We can't wait to come back next year.
We are so happy Captain Don’s is a supporter of the Animal Shelter…We also appreciate their kindness and caring to the animals of Bonaire.
C. & J. Woodward
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Special Project Update…
Foundation for the Preservation of Klein Bonaire Reaches Fundraising Milestone.
Support Bonaire is pleased to report that the Foundation for the Preservation of Klein Bonaire has achieved its fundraising goals to support the purchase and conservation of Klein Bonaire. Bruce Bowker, the Foundation’s President, shared the good news:
"Having achieved its primary goal, the Foundation for the Preservation of Klein Bonaire is no longer actively soliciting donations and would encourage everyone to support the other worthwhile projects represented by Support Bonaire."
Our congratulations go to the Foundation for its outstanding achievement and noteworthy efforts on behalf of Klein Bonaire. With this good news, Support Bonaire will no longer actively sponsor this project and invites our generous supporters to give to one of the other projects we sponsor.
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When you plan your end of year giving, please keep in mind, that any size donation, no matter how small or large, can be put to good use by target organizations on Bonaire.
Please note that should you wish to distribute a donation to multiple organizations, even though our Web form for credit card donations only allows you to select one project, you merely need to describe the distribution by project in the comment box of the form, and we will take it from there. There's no need to submit multiple donation requests.
Also, if you do not have a U.S. address, please put your correct international address in the comment field.
Thank you for your on-going support, and please let us know if you have any questions!
The Support Bonaire Board of Directors
news@supportbonaire.org
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By Jake Richter (Moderator - Post #5280) on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 8:38 am: 
