And the Winners are…

I am extremely excited to announce that my two-part fundraiser for the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers, British Columbia raised an amazing $22,888 for the shelter, which is well beyond any of our expectations.  The shelter owners Peter and Angelika Langen were overjoyed with the number of donations and the success of the campaign and would like to personally pass along their thanks to each and every one of you that donated or promoted the contest through your Facebook and Twitter accounts.  In total, over 7 days in June 2013 and 10 days in May 2014, 163 of you donated money towards the care and rehabilitation of little guys like Norman (pictured below on Friday, May 9th when I visited the shelter on the final day of the fundraiser) so that they can be released back into the wild in their home ranges (Norman will be released back into the Penticton area in Spring 2015).

Norman photographed in his enclosure at the Shelter on May 9th, 2014

I was overwhelmed with the generosity of all of you and honestly had no idea we could have such a positive impact on the shelter.  Not only will this provide much-needed funding for projects such as the completion of their volunteer staff quarters and the new grizzly bear enclosure, but most importantly it gave Angelika and Peter and their staff the money they needed to purchase milk for all of the babies they’ll be taking in over the coming months (milk is one of the Shelter’s most costly day-to-day expenses).

So as a huge ‘thank you’ to all of you, it’s time to announce the various winners of the fundraising contest!  The Shelter staff did a draw on Sunday morning to determine each of the winners, and they are as follows:

Day in the Field Photographing with Me (which automatically went to the highest donation):

– Corrine Tocher of Shawnigan Lake, BC

The Trip to the Shelter (drawn out of all donations of $100 or more — and sponsored by Hawkair and Chez Josette Bed and Breakfast):

– Noriko Hessman of Edmonton, AB

20″x30″ Photo Prints (drawn out of all donations of $25 or more):

– Candice Hueppelsheuesr of Blackfalds, AB

– Dietlinde Wall of Calgary, AB

– Shirley Anderson of Pentiction, BC

And I also added two additional 20″x30″ prints to be drawn from all donations of $200 or more (because of the number of large donations the fundraiser received, I felt it was only fair to add a few more prizes for some of the biggest donators).  The winners of these two additional prints are:

– Kyle Breckenridge of Calgary, AB

– Jonathan Huyer of Canmore, AB

Congratulations to all of the winners, I’ll be in touch with each of you to arrange your prize when I return from my Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Photo Tour after May 19th/20th.  And thank you once again to Hawkair and Chez Josette B&B for their generous donations towards the Trip to the Shelter for our winner, Noriko Hessman!  I would highly recommend either business to any of you traveling to the Smithers region (for Chez Josette) or flying from Calgary or Vancouver to Smithers, Terrace, or Prince Rupert (I use Hawkair each year for my Spirit Bear Photography trips).

Thank you again everyone, wish me luck on my grizzly bear trip!!

Sincerely,

John