As soon as the gates opened, a steady stream of people made their way into Hope for Wildlife for their annual open house Sunday.
This is the 16th year the event has taken place. Each year, it grows in size.
“It started very small. I think our first open house we had about 40 or 50 attend,” said Hope Swinimer, founder of Hope for Wildlife.
This year, thousands of people took the time to visit the rehabilitation centre and learn about the work volunteers do to help injured and orphaned wildlife.
For many, it was their first opportunity to see a new multi-million dollar facility the centre recently built. It also served as an opportunity for people to meet the woman behind the rehab.
With the popular television show Hope for Wildlife reaching millions around the world…she’s become a household name.
“I so enjoy people, especially young people,” said Swinimer.
“So when people do stop to say hi and say they enjoy the show, its great because I couldn’t have picked a better audience because we have every age group. It feels really good to know they enjoy the show and learn from it.”
READ MORE: Film credit cuts could hurt us too: Hope for Wildlife
People travelled from across North America to take part in the open house, which also serves one of the organization’s main fundraising events.
“We’re from Niagara Falls area,” said Dan Beauparlant. “We just wanted to make a donation because of all the good things that Hope does here and all the volunteers.”
“It was exciting,” said Claire Beauparlant, a fan of the Hope for Wildlife show, who had the chance to meet Swinimer and get a photo with her. “I was happy that I got to give the donation to her.”
“We’re just retiring here to Nova Scotia,” said Bonnie McCann, who came from the Yukon. “So we decided, I’ve always wanted to come here and see everything that’s going on and maybe even volunteer here some day.”
Hope for Wildlife helps provide medical care, food and shelter for more than 20,000 animals since its founding in 1997.
Besides helping wildlife, the rehab also helps provide awareness about the importance of animals and their habitats. That’s something Swinimer hopes people take from the open house.
“Our first goal is to connect people back to their natural world and educate them on what goes wrong in their natural world each and every day and what role they can play to make it better. So, when I see that many people, there’s still a lot of interest out there, so that’s really good.”
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