The Journey Begins!

Welcome to my new blog! Here I will document my progress, successes, setbacks, and tiny victories along the way as I shed pounds for primates.

Here's the story...

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There are two things I've been wanting to do lately: get back in the world of helping animals, and get back in shape and lose the extra weight I've been carrying around. So, when a friend told me about the Pounds for Primates fundraising project, I knew it was destiny calling my name!

Pounds for Primates is a fundraising program to benefit the Chimpanzee Retirement Sanctuary Northwest (http://www.retireachimp.org/). Each of us on the Pounds for Primates team is committing to lose a certain amount of weight, and we're asking our friends and families to support us--and the sanctuary--by sponsoring us per pound.

Pounds for Primates is a five-month program that starts on June 25 and ends on November 25. I invite you to support us and spread the word to others you know who might be interested in sponsoring us in this effort to lose a bunch of unwanted pounds and raise a bunch of much-needed money for these wonderful retired chimps.

Here's how it works: If you decide to sponsor me, you'll decide on a dollar amount that you'll donate for each pound that I lose over the five-month program. For example, if you sponsor me at $3 per pound, and I lose 30 pounds during the program, your total donation amount will be $90. You can sponsor me (or increase your sponsorship amount) at any point during the program, but the earlier sponsors will be the ones who really help me with some much-needed early motivation! The actual donations--the amount of which will be determined by how much weight I ultimately lose during these five months--will be collected after the program ends on November 25, 2007.

We're in the process of setting up a web site to track and collect donations. I will send you a link to the official site as soon as it's set up. If you are eager to sponsor me now (which would be wonderful!), contact me directly by email or post a comment in the Comments section of this blog. Thank you in advance for your generosity and compassion for these beautiful animals.

The Chimpanzee Retirement Sanctuary Northwest is a 26-acre facility in eastern Washington that was founded by a group of dedicated and passionate people I know. Their mission is to guarantee a lifetime of quality care to captive chimpanzees, end the use of apes in entertainment, and facilitate collaboration among sanctuary care providers to continuously improve the care of captive apes. For more information about this organization, visit their web site at http://www.retireachimp.org/ .

Let me know if you have any questions about the Pounds for Primates challenge. If you want to sponsor me, either contact me now (by email or by posting a comment here) or be on the lookout for another email in the next few weeks; I'll let you know then how the sponsorship process works.

Thanks so much for your interest in this good cause!

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More details:

MY PROGRAM BIO
Deb has loved animals her entire life. Over the course of her lifetime, Deb has enjoyed the companionship of many special dogs and cats, as well as some other assorted animals. Deb volunteered for many years at the PAWS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, and she also worked at PAWS training new volunteers for just under a year. Deb currently works as a technical writer for a software company. She lives in Seattle with her boyfriend, their two cats, and the sweetest dog ever--a rescued Samoyed named Bear.

WHY I'M PARTICIPATING
After a few years of frustrating yo-yo dieting, I'm ready to accept the fact that I need to make healthful eating and regular exercise a life-long commitment rather than a temporary fix. I also really miss being involved with the world of animal advocacy and hands-on volunteering. While my job makes regular hands-on volunteering a challenge for the time-being, I figured that there must be something extra that I can do to help animals in the meantime. The Pounds for Primates program came along at just the right time. I can do something positive to improve and protect my health--something I need to do anyway--and I can help animals in need at the same time. If the welfare of these wonderful chimps can't motivate me, nothing can!

MY GOALS
Ultimately, I want to form healthy eating and exercise habits that will last me a lifetime. However, because this is a time-constrained fund-raising effort, my goal is to lose as much weight as possible (in a healthy way) so I can raise as much money as possible for the chimps. My goal is to lose approximately 30 pounds during the Pounds for Primates program. The more you sponsor, the more motivation and determination I'll have! Thank you in advance for your generosity. The chimps thank you too!