Another one in the bag. It’s that time again for the after action report from the Epilepsy Walk. Each year my company conducts numerous fundraising events from a chili cook off to a tailgating party to Superbowl squares to a gold tournament to various raffles to charity donations tied to the marathon to sneaky jeans passes to silent auctions. All of those efforts culminate in one donation to the Epilepsy Foundation that we hand over at the annual fundraising walk/stroll. Every year in spring, they hold the walk in various locations throughout Texas (Dallas, San Antonio, Houston) to spur donations to Epilepsy research and treatment. Last few years, the walk has been held in the Houston Zoo. It is not really a walk, but more of an amble/stroll/saunter as you mosey the zoo grounds for a couple of hours until the big wrap up event at 1100 where they announce the results and have the drawings for the big prizes. We did pretty well this year in twisting arms for donations. Through the efforts of many people, the company was able to hand over one of those Publisher’s Clearing House sized checks for – (drum roll, please).............$100,000. Not too bad for a year's work.
As with the past events, there was a very good turnout. Hard to determine the exact number of participants. From the website, our team had over 700 people signed up for our team alone and there were supposed to be 2000+ people total signed up for the stroll, but it did not look anywhere near 2k there yesterday. Our team wore red shirts – a good call since we could easily identify everyone in the zoo with that color. No matter where we went in the zoo, you were always seeing red. We even had a number of former NFL players there signing autographs and you could have your picture taken with a couple of Texans Cheerleaders. All for a good cause.
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| Prestroll registration pandemonium |
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| Up with the chickens |
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| Future cheerleader |
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| You lookin' at me, bub? |
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| Hanging around the water cooler |
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| Bored Leopard |
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| An old married couple? |
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| Looking at him reminded me of Abby's picture |
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| Albino Alligator |
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| Hanging out with my litter mates |
Now, I have said before, I am not a big fan of zoos. Something about lions and tigers and the larger animals caged up in pens has always seemed slightly depressing to me. The Houston zoo has done a nice job of developing areas for the animals that is supposed to simulate their natural habitat, so it is not the old tiger in the cage venue of the past, but I still can’t help but thinking they would be much happier, if not hungrier, in the wild. It may be that I no longer have kids to accompany me in the zoo. Something about seeing all those exotic animals up close and in person brings out the kid in a lot of people.
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| And it what's a zoo without a pirate? |
And, in keeping my winning streak intact, NO, I didn't wind the $!@#% i-Pad3 (again).
5 comments:
Oh, Agg! $100,000 = amazeballs!
And these photos = Awesome! I love the "old married couple" one!
PS: I haven't been to the zoo in AGES!
So sorry you didn't win the i-pad, but $100,000 donation? Awesome! I'm sure the foundation is very appreciative of all your company does throughout the year!
The St. Louis Zoo does a terrific job of stimulating the animals' natural habitats, so it's not as depressing anymore, but there are times I still feel sad for them. Kinda like Chancie now. She's not able to run around the living room now that we've taken the carpet out. We've destroyed her natural habitat and have inhibited her need to chase a ball for 2 minutes before lying down to rest the rest of the day.
Loved the pics. The "old married couple" cracked me up as well! :)
What a great event and what a result too!
I haven't been to a zoo for a while now either - we used to go quite a lot when the kids were younger. I think that modern zoos do a pretty good job of keeping the animals happy - certainly better than when I was a kid, seeing poor old Guy the Gorilla in London in his tiny cage.
Wow, nice turnout and nice earnings! Looks like a great day for such an event. The Houston zoo looks well maintained from your photos. And just what is the word for a "group" of flamingoes? Flock? Gaggle? I do like the giraffe :)!
Congrats on such a successful fundraising effort!
You got some great photos! I was at a zoo in Nebraska last summer and they had some beautiful exhibits. Most of them aren't bad, especially compared to what I remember about our local zoo way back when I was a kid. I remember those tiny cages and the animals pacing in the small spaces. Zoos have improved drastically since then!
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