The hard-working Alternative Break students take a pledge to perform community service instead of joining their partying classmates during spring break. They are a remarkable group of volunteers and have always accomplished amazing things for the animals

First to arrive were 10 students from the UCF for a week. The following week 15 hard workers from OSU and 10 more from UK joined forces to pick up where UCF left off.

They planted trees and thick landscaping to provide shade and visual barriers for the animals at the sanctuary. Then they dug holes 4-5 feet deep and helped to install some new 8′ tall fencing around the building site for our new Bob Barker Animal Care Building.

Stay tuned, more volunteers and photos coming this week!

On Saturday we had a wonderful group of 25 hard-working volunteers from Westbrook Services.

This is the same group that has helped us with electrical, water lines and so many other areas, their skill set is astounding! They brought tools, heavy equipment (even an auger to dig post holes!), work trucks and lots of smiling faces.

On Sunday, a group of 16 students from the University of Florida picked up where the Westbrook gang left off.

The volunteers represented the Healing Animals Division of Alpha Epsilon Delta, the University of Florida’s Pre-Health Honor Society. The put in a day of very hard work and the progress is amazing!

We love our Alternative Spring Break volunteers! Stay tuned for updates  – over the next month we have over 100 volunteers from all over the country arriving to each spend a week of work with us! 

If we can keep up with the materials as fast as the volunteers can build, we will finish one of the largest bear habitats in the country in record time!

If you would like to donate to keep the building materials coming for the new home for the bears at the sanctuary, simply put a note with you gift and we will use it for that purpose. Thank you!