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Notes From
Previous Events
We do about 40-50 events a
year.
Here are notes from a sample
of our past events.
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Make a Wish Halloween
Party
Our animals did double duty at the event. SB started out as Mama
Bear and later transformed into Pooh Bear. Katie (Gail’s godchild)
was the Chicken, and Pete was our Rabbit. Bruce began the day as
Papa Bear and later in the day transformed into Pooh Bear for an
outside activity. Mary Ellen started the event as Stripes and ended
the event as our loveable Teletubby, Po. Helping on the floor whenever
and wherever they were needed were Gail and Lorraine. Also attending
the party were Carlee, Gail’s granddaughter, and Deryk, Lorraine’s
son. Dave was our photographer and Lynn and Jerry made the buttons.
America's Walk
For Diabetes
This event was short and sweet... Jerry Lynn and Phyllis made about
70 buttons of memories that the people will cherish for years...
Shirley was a master with her handcraft at face painting... There
were many happy painted faces... Dave donned the Pooh costume in
which he posed for several pictures with many happy families. One
can not get enough of Winnie the Pooh Bear... Jodie and Patty were
Papa and Moma Bear respectively. They hugged quite a few small children
and posed for a few pictures themselves. One small child particularly
wore a big smile around these two bears.. It was hard to leave his
happy face, beaming eyes, and ear to ear smile.. SB was an animal
trainer.. Frank and Honey made a guest appearance in the beginning
to ensure all was well and Bruce came in on the end to facilitate
a proper closure with his big smile and kind heart. Yep, another
wonderful event. We were all well received and will be asked to
come again. Thanks Big Animals ya done did good!
Foster Care Event
at Admiral Baker Field
The S.D. Foster Kids event on Oct. 16th at Admiral Baker Park was
fantastic! The kids and parents just had a ball with all of us.
I don't know who had more fun doing the Freeze dance. Kids? Animals?
or Frank leading it? He was so great as always with everyone. Pete
our Rabbit had a fun time dancing and peeking out behind all the
trees at the kids. He's such a natural! A special thanks to Franks
friend Terry who got to join us for the first time being our Pooh
along with Mary Ellen as Stripes and Scott as Poe. They brought
so much joy to all. Grossmont College donated all the film for this
event which we're so grateful for. We had Trish & Casper join
us for the first time also. Trish teamed up with Phyllis and Jerry
as the photographer for the button making. Casper teamed with Shirley
for face painting. They were such great assets to our teams. A special
thanks for all your hard work Jody helping me get everything set
up to keep our Animals dry in the rain and to Shirley for picking
up all the costumes and tent. Home Town Buffet supplied lunch for
all. Yum! Yum! We ended the event with our Animals leading the kids
in a parade all around the park. A fun time was had by all! Thanks
Jerry for coordinating this event. I'm so glad I got to be your
back up making it all happen for these kids and their families.
Annual Beach Party
Fundraiser
Each year we celebrate making a difference in peoples lives at our
annual beach party fundraiser. There was great music, lots of food,
and a raffle for some fabulous prizes!
March of Dimes
The March of Dimes event began early on Saturday, April 30th. We
had eleven volunteers. Dave and SB took pictures while Phyllis and
Jerry transformed the pictures into buttons. Mary put tattoos on
the kids and Shirley painted their faces. Greg was Po, our Teletubby,
Samantha was Stripes, Mary Ellen was Pooh, and Carlos was our Papa
Bear. Lynn kept the cameras loaded and did whatever needed to be
done. Several groups participated in the March of Dimes walk and
each group designed their own T-shirts. The staff from the March
of Dimes asked that our "animals" be the judges for the T-Shirt
contest. Our "animals" gladly obliged and sat in front of the stage
as ten groups modeled their T-Shirts. The Correia Crew (a family)
took third place, K-Mart took second place and first place went
to Paradise Valley Hospital. We all had a wonderful time and the
kids did too. And a "thank you" goes to the March of Dimes for all
they do to help bring healthy babies into this world.
Joan Kroc Village
There were 10 new volunteers. Shirley was tireless as the face painter.
Francisco’s mom helped out with balloons. Mitch’s sister came all
the way from Maine to be Mama Bear. (However, she forgot to bring
along Papa Bear and Baby Bear.) There were 170 homeless people at
the event.
Balboa Hospital
Visit with Make a Wish Foundation
SB, Pete, Maria, Gail and Frank visited the kids at Balboa Hospital.
There were about 15 children in various stages of recovery in the
pediatric ward. We put a lot of smiles on kids faces.
Kaiser
Hospital Visit with Make a Wish Foundation
This was our first hospital visit with the folks from Make a Wish.
The program is called "Smilemakers", and the animals walked around
the pediatric ward accompanied by the wonderful folks from Make
a Wish. We visited with children from the age of 3 to 16. One young
man was getting prepped for surgery and was a little worried, but
a few magic tricks put a smile on his face. We were thrilled to
be allowed to go into the neo-natal ward. We visited with families
and their newborn babies. The newborns didn't even know we were
there, but the brothers and sisters really enjoyed the animals.
Toys
For Tijuana
The Big Animals were invited to participate in this year's Toys
For Tijuana event. This is an incredible event and the animals provided
entertainment for over 3000 underprivileged children. To read more
about this amazing day click
here. To view the photos from the event click
here.
YWCA
Cortez Hill Family Center Christmas Eve Event
The Xmas Eve event at the YWCA Family Shelter was a huge success!
Twenty six teenagers from the San Pascal Academy dressed in the
animal costumes,painted faces, and put temporary tattoos on the
children at the center. We had a TRUCKLOAD of toys and gifts. You
guys did an awesome job of collecting toys! Lorraine's kids asked
their friends at school for toys and the response was large, and
the school would like to make a toy collection for us next year,
too. Thanks to all of you who collected toys, especially Jody, Mitch,
Lynn and Dave, Gail, Randy and Donna, and Misty Douglas for their
efforts. Santa Claus was busy giving out toys for well over an hour,
most kids got 3 toys each time they saw Santa, and some of them
returned again and again and again. Santa was played by our Big
Animal Benefactor from Brooklyn, and he had a great time, too.
Take
Wing
We made our 9th annual trip to Take Wing and they are looking forward
to our return next year. Bruce put on the Pooh costume and Pete
was, of course, our “wabbit”. Jody and Gail were our
animal trainers. Jerry took the pictures while Lynn and Phyllis
made the buttons. Dave came along too, but due to limited space
did not get into costume. He “babysat” our belongings
in the changing room. The buttons were something new for Take Wing
and they went over really well. I think we made about 60 buttons.
All we know is that Phyllis was really kept busy. We had some guests
join us too. Jody, please pass on to Casper our appreciation for
his face-painting. And Pete, please pass on our appreciation to
Abby and Chelsea. It was great to meet them and wonderful to have
them participate in our event.
Child Help
Village
The Big Animals made another trip up to Beaumont,
CA to do an event for the children at Child Help Village. Pooh Bear
was there, Tigger the Tiger was there as well as Katie the Kitty-Kat.
The kids were so sweet! They remember the animals from the last
visits and asked for their favorites. Poor Tigger got so dizzy spinning
kids around, he could hardly keep his feet.
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