by Weldon Lee
My life and passion are my wild brothers and sisters. I’m at home in their presence. It’s where I belong. For years, one of the items on my planning calendar for the coming year was to form an organization for their protection. But what? I never had a direction.
Finally, last December, I decided 2016 would be different. It was time to tune in to my wild brothers and sisters and learn what they had to say.
Organizations have been working for years to save wildlife. There have been successes, but problems continue to exist—and in many cases, even escalate. What is being done is helping, but it’s not solving the root problem. I decided to put my focus on a world where it’s no longer necessary to protect wildlife; a world where we can live in harmony as I believe was originally intended.
To do this, we have to change people’s thinking. We must reach children during their formative years and provide opportunities for them to experience “meaning-full” relationships with our wild brothers and sisters. The love they will experience from these relationships will grow and blossom as they mature. People will not destroy something they love.
Not only did I now have direction and focus for a new organization, I had a name: MISSION: New Earth.
That was in March. Since then, Articles of Incorporation have been filed with the State of Colorado. MISSION: New Earth is now recognized as a non-profit corporation. Volunteers have been established in Colorado, Ohio and Arizona ready to provide opportunities for children to connect with wildlife. In addition, we hope to take our program into Botswana and Kenya by year’s end.
Our initial plan is to have speakers—including falconers, handlers and individuals working with animals in zoos and wildlife rehabilitation facilities—introduce children one-on-one to the animals at their facilities. Wildlife art classes and wildlife photography workshops will also be conducted.
In the beginning, children will come from charter and religious schools, along with day-care facilities. Later, as funding permits, we plan to reach out to innercity youth. We want to involve older children and teens from 4H, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, etc., to act (with adult supervision) as leaders and teach the younger children.
If you or any of your friends would like to join us on this new and exciting journey and can help in any way, please contact me at 303.747.2074 or weldon@weldonlee.com.
Our goal is “No Cost to the Children.” You can make this possible by joining our grass-roots campaign to help children create a new Earth for our wild brothers and sisters. If you wish to support this effort monetarily, go to http://www.gofundme.com/MISSION-NewEarth.
Weldon Lee is a professional wildlife photographer from Allenspark, Colorado. His website is: http://www.weldonlee.com.
