September is fast approaching and so is the annual fundraising and awareness campaign Save the Koala Month (STKM) from the Australian Koala Foundation. This year the AKF’s theme for Save the Koala Month is “I Need a Hero.” Chairman of the AKF, Deborah Tabart OAM says: “everyone who stands up to protect Koalas and participates in STKM is a hero in our eyes and this year we want to celebrate them.”
There are many ways to participate in Save the Koala Month and a great way to is by ordering a donation box for your school or workplace. The AKF welcomes all creativity when it comes to fundraising for Koalas. Why not hold a bake sale, fun event or raise money with our official STKM certificate kit? Be a hero this September and participate in Save the Koala Month!
Hero of the Month
This month’s hero is Penelope from Florida, USA. Penelope read a book in school about Koalas and the threats they face such as cars and dogs. Immediately deciding she needed to help Koalas, Penelope, with the help of her mother Tiffany found the AKF website and shared it with her class mates. With the AKF “Koalas for Kids” printout in hand Penelope educated her peers and encouraged them to be kind to the environment and help Koalas. Penelope started an online fundraiser to donate to our ‘Plant a Tree’ program raising over $500. When asked what Penelope would like to do when she is older her response was: “I want to move to Australia and help the Koalas.” Thank you for being a hero Penelope, all the way from the USA!
Global Support
The first half of 2019 has been tremendous for receiving global support for the AKF. Recently we published a press release entitled “AKF calls on the new Prime Minister to protect the Koala.” This release has been quoted all around Australia, USA, UK, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. It is so important that the Koala receives this worldwide coverage and we hope it will increase pressure on the new PM to finally enact the Koala Protection Act. The AKF often receive requests from organisations wanting to support our non-profit organisation with a percentage of their proceeds. This month the AKF was generously gifted a significant donation from Scio Nature operating in Munich, Germany. Scio sells medicinal skincare containing eucalyptus oil which is to be applied on the chest when sick. All of the money raised was donated to our “Plant a Tree” program and 50 eucalyptus trees will be planted and maintained in their name! Thank you Scio Nature for your amazing contribution to eucalyptus trees and Koalas!
If your company would like to donate to the AKF please email akf@savethekoala.com
In other news, the AKF was sent an inspiring recount of a young ‘Koala Club’ in Cheddar, South-West England. The club consists of 15 girls aged 7 to 8 years old and grew their love for Koalas by playing ‘Koalas’ in the playground and researching them online. After learning Koalas were listed as vulnerable they wrote to their head teacher about their aim to help save the Koalas and a fundraiser was born! Consisting of crafts, lucky dip, ‘guess the name of the Koala’, a bake sale and handmade knitted Koalas it is safe to say this would have been an amazing day at school! The Koala Club raised $420 and adopted the very cute ‘Nooka’. Michelle, one of the parents said: “I think I can speak on behalf of other parents, family members and pupils at the school to say we had no idea that the Koala needed protecting. While the fundraiser was held in a small town, we like to think that the awareness for Koalas has spread much further.” The Australian Koala Foundation would like to publicly thank the Koala Club and all that were involved for their amazing efforts. This year one of our goals is to keep our loyal supporters updated with Koala news throughout the year. Hopefully, you will have already been receiving ‘Deborah’s Diary’ and Koala Army News and if not you can subscribe on our website. This newsletter is written to celebrate you, our supporters, whilst still showing you very cute Koalas. If you have a supporter story to share please send an email to pr@savethekoala.com, we can’t wait to hear from you!