50 sets of uniform go to the Congo

£1,200 was sent out to the Congo last year to purchase these sets of uniform so desperately needed. The Virunga Park logo was also sewn onto the clothes and the rangers are now looking very smart! More importantly, the rangers in Jean Pierre’s patrol groups are now much more identifiable as official park staff and are, hopefully, less likely to be mistaken for an opposing militia group and shot at…….

Several items of equipment have been donated

These include three desk top computers, two cameras, binoculars, two pairs of walking boots, a dictation machine and several boxes of donated uniform no longer required by rangers here in England. Huge thanks go to those kind individuals and the equipment is about to be flown out on 4^th July!

How has the money been raised?

Charity Auction

Many people donated items to be auctioned at a public house in Dorset.

• Artform, who produce gorilla statues (donating part of the sale proceedings to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund) donated three stunning statues that attracted considerable interest!
• Complete strangers were kind enough to phone up and then deliver a range of articles for auction, having read a press release asking for help
• The public house in question generously donated several items
• An army and navy store in Charminster, Bournemouth donated items of clothing
• The Larmer Tree, an historic garden, Marwell Zoo and Bournemouth Football Club, amongst other attractions, all gave free entry tickets

After a very enjoyable evening, over £1,000 was raised!! Many thanks indeed to all those taking part and / or donating goods. A big thank you too, to the public house that generously gave time and a great deal of effort to help organize the evening.

Sponsored  walk - in gorilla suits…

Moors Valley Country Park, Dorset, kindly hosted this very tiring event! Rangers from Hampshire came across the border to join in the madness and five rather comical ‘gorillas’ strundled off through the Park…. Sponsorship money raised was paid into the bank account but the profile of the project was also raised through the Bournemouth Evening Echo who kindly ran a piece on the ‘Gearing Up for Gorillas’ project.

Display Boards

A very kind young lady produced two sets of display boards to promote the plight of the Mountain Gorillas and this project. There was no request made for this display, she simply took it upon herself to devise and produce the stunning boards. A huge thank you to her! The display has been used in several different locations and greatly assists in explaining about the gorillas and the rangers who try so hard to protect them.