April, Sharon, Linda, Whitney (a volunteer), Gretchen, and Bud the elephant!
To maintain good communication and achieve Asian Elephant Support’s goals, the board of directors has a monthly conference call to discuss on-going projects and a wide variety of other foundation business. However, once a year we have our annual meeting where we get together in person. This year we chose St. Louis, Missouri, the home of our president and the headquarters for Asian Elephant Support. On Friday, June 8th, Sharon arrived from Oregon, April from Virginia, and Gretchen from Washington.Once everyone had arrived we headed off to the only logical place for dinner, The Elephant Bar Restaurant.
We started our meeting early Saturday morning and worked for two and a half hours, then took a break and drove to Grant’s Farm, a special St. Louis venue. Thanks to Jenny and her team, we had a wonderful visit with the park’s elephants, Bud and Mickey.
It was back to work for a few hours before going to dinner at the Pasta House Company. As we continued our discussions during dinner, we were also helping Asian elephants because a portion of our bill was donated to Asian Elephant Support through the “Good Dining” Program. For more information on the “Good Dining” program, visit Goodsearch Shopping.
Sunday morning the computers were humming again. We spent the afternoon at the St. Louis Zoo and enjoyed watching their herd of Asian elephants and talking with the staff. The newest addition to the herd, Kenzi , was a joy to watch as she raced around her mother and grandmother while her older siblings enjoyed a swim in the pool.
Sunday evening, Linda hosted a get-together at her house for all the keepers from Grant’s Farm and the Zoo. We saw some old friends and made a lot of new friends that evening. Everyone enjoyed the conservation and helped support Asian Elephant Support by having dinner that was delivered by Pasta House Company. Monday morning we were back at the computers for our last working session. It was a great weekend of work and fun. Together we accomplished a lot of foundation business, enjoyed our elephant experiences, and enjoyed the social time with our St. Louis friends. That afternoon we headed to the airport with renewed enthusiasm and determination to do everything possible to save these magnificent animals.