Our 2022 Support Through The Seasons monthly donor drive wrapped up last week. To celebrate, we're checking in with a few of our amazing supporters: Breanna Erlenmeyer and her awesome kids Celeste and Silas!
Breanna learned about PWC in 2020, when she brought Celeste and Silas to one of our Fly-Through events. Since then, the Erlenmeyer family have become big fans of PWC - and especially our raven Edgar! This September marks Breanna's 1-year anniversary as a PWC monthly donor. She recently shared her story with us:
When we first got hit by the pandemic, we had two small children - a 3-year-old and newborn. My daughter loved going to the zoo, museum, anywhere that had animals, and all of a sudden everything shut down. The hardest part for us was not being able to have outings and enjoy animals anymore.
When Earth Day 2020 was approaching, I did some searching and found that PWC was going to have a drive through event, or Fly-Thru - and it did NOT disappoint. Celeste was so ecstatic to see such amazing animals and meet such caring and compassionate people from our car. After that, I researched PWC more and grew to fall in love with how loving the volunteers and staff are. I am so honored that my children get to grow up visiting such beautiful animals.
After a couple visits, my daughter especially took a liking to Edgar. After numerous visits of Celeste running to Edgar, sometimes bringing him books she wanted to read to him, she asked if we could get him a toy. [Office Administrator] Sam was the first of the PWC family that we got to speak with, and she is one of the kindest people I’ve ever spoken with. She let us know Edgar’s favorite types of toys and Celeste was excited to bring it and a picture she drew for Edgar.
I think the thing we find so intriguing about Edgar is how inquisitive he is. He never seemed scared of us, but it’s been SO neat to see over the past two years him go from staying near the back of his home while my daughter talks to him, to slowly moving closer to her, and he now makes noises almost like he’s talking to her. And now our little boy gets so excited to see him too! The whole walk to Edgar, Silas excitedly proclaims, “See Edgar!! See Edgar!!”
Our most recent visit to see Edgar was when Celeste started kindergarten, she wanted to show him her artwork and worksheets. He sat right up at the front and kept cocking his head as she told him all about her first couple days at school. I never thought a raven would feel like part of the family, but the closeness I see developing between Edgar and my children is the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen.
We look forward to many more memories to be made with Edgar, the growing PWC family, and the literal angels that work and volunteer there. There was no doubt in my mind that we wanted to give monthly to them-they deserve any amount anyone can give them. No matter how seemingly small, a little goes a long way in these animals lives.
We're not crying, you're crying...! Breanna, your family's friendship with Edgar never fails to brighten our team's day and reminds us why we do what we do. Thank you for your kind words and your support.
