About 3 months ago, Gloria Fantin from Calgary came to visit the sanctuary. She was amazed by what she saw and felt here, and offered her services to become the volunteer membership director. Whilst here, she could not help but notice that our laundry equipment is caged in for protection from enquiring beaks. She also noticed that it was taking all day to keep up with the endless towels and sheets. On returning to Calgary, she showed her photographs to Enid, a lady who has virtually adopted Ethan, the Blue-Fronted Amazon. Enid was happy to see Ethan looking so well, and enjoyed the stories about the sanctuary. She also decided that she could help in a way that no-one else could. She decided to donate a commercial laundry set. Wow - was all we could say! Wow - and - Can you imagine it? The thought of having new equipment that will cut down on the time spent doing laundry by hours is a dream come true. Gloria got to work and contacted the distributors to send out a representative to see what we needed - and now we know. This equipment is very specialized and uses high power. It also requires a different form of drainage. We decided to build the laundry equipment its very own house just outside the side door.

Then Craig and Fay Hofmaster came to visit their macaw, Bella. Craig saw that we had little to no refrigeration since the parrots have destroyed so many pieces of equipment. He asked what plans we had. I told him that in our dreams we see a walk-in cooler. We want to buy the walnuts directly from California, and save thousands of dollars, but we really need a large cool storage room for such an investment. Craig smiled and said he would look into it for us. Two days later, Craig and Fay came back with a name and phone number for us. I called Tom Richardson in Nanaimo, and he invited me over to see a walk-in cooler. It is absolutely perfect for our requirements. Tom listened to our plans and was very impressed with the work we do saving the lives of so many parrots. He wants to be part of our work - and he donated an enormous 13 x 20 x 10 foot-high walk-in cooler! Can you imagine it?

So, happily, our plans had to change a little. We now have to build the outside laundry room somewhat larger to accommodate the cooler as well.

As if that wasn't enough, Craig said that he would look into finding a commercial dishwasher for us to cut down on the enormous amount of hours spent washing hundreds of dishes.

So the plans had to change a little more... and the new building has to be built a bit larger...

Well, the more we looked at this, we figured that we may as well do a complete addition to the side of the building, to incorporate the food preparation kitchen and the lovely stainless steel sink that Larry and Ann Neil had donated. Although it will prove difficult to prepare food without the assistance of 200 beaks, there is the possibility that it could speed things up! Lucy, the Hyacinth Macaw - just to name one - loves to fly in and use 50 freshly prepared dishes of fruits and veggies as her landing strip. She has even learned to laugh when they crash to the floor.

Doug Jones is now looking for new cupboards and shelves for the new addition. Imagine having cupboards with door knobs and shelves. Imagine having clean laundry stay folded until we need it - food stored safely inside a cooler - dishes sterilized and neatly stacked - WOW!

We already have some huge windows we can incorporate into the design. Horst Neumann has the steel and the equipment to make the steel siding. We need electrical boxes, faucets, copper pipe for plumbing and plastic pipe too. We need 2 x 4s for the construction, rebar for the concrete floor - and concrete too - let's hope we can get a great deal on that commodity. The new addition will be about 35 feet long by 18 feet wide.

If you or anyone you know can help with this project - we would love to have you on our volunteer team! Please phone Wendy Huntbatch at 250 951 1166.

And to think it all began as the Laundry Project!

Calling all current and prospective volunteers! One of our special volunteers, Sandy, is coordinating with our volunteer crew, and would love to meet you and find out what everyone is doing, or would like to do! She would like to hold a meeting of volunteers before the end of the month!

Sandy wants to put together a fund-raiser garage sale. If you remember the very successful one put together last year by Larry, Ann, Doug, Val, and friends, there's nothing a dedicated group of volunteers can't do. Our first beautiful outdoor flight is the the fruits of their labours.

If you would like to connect with Sandy and the other volunteers, please contact me - Jane, the webmaster - using the form on our Contact Us page, and I'll put you in touch with Sandy directly!

Thank you!

Pictures of our staff and volunteers hard at work, with thanks to Lea Hoorn, who worked so tirelessly in our gift shop. Thanks Lea!

As I sat down for the first time today and looked out of the window, I noticed that the flags were starting to rest too. The bright colourful rainbow fabric sails that flap so wildly during the day also needed to sleep. Sadly, resting will not help the flags to heal: the wind has shredded them this year. Maybe we should get some new ones. It seems to be such a short time since we bought them and proudly put them on display to show people where to find us. So much has happened since that week. In fact so much has happened since our last newsletter that I decided to try and pull it all together, so that others could glimpse the busy life we have here at the World Parrot Refuge.

Larry Neil, one of our special volunteers, erected all the steel piping and chain link fencing in the new Macaw House. He did an incredible job and stretched the fencing really tight. Even with cuts, bruises, and very sore hands he didn’t give up until it was finished. Thank you Larry from all of the humans here at the sanctuary. When the Macaws finally get in there, you will hear the cheers as far away as Victoria!

The newly constructed Macaw House, thanks to Larry Neil and Andy Breslin.

The next step is to get trees and branches for the compounds – especially arbutus. If anyone has some that they don’t want - we will be happy to put it to good use. We have a large number of Macaws all waiting to move into the new Macaw House - but we have to build forests first. We can use fallen trees of all kinds, except cedar. Parrots need to have family roosts to call their own. Each small flock that makes up the larger flock prefers their own special home in the forest.

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If you are in the Nanaimo area this Saturday, May 10, how about heading out to the Country Club Mall for the 2nd Annual SPCA Pet Show? Sasha and Dixie will be there representing the Refuge, and will be chaperoned by some feathered ambassadors. Memberships and other goodies will be on sale. Sasha and Dixie will be looking for hard-working volunteers to join our team. They will also be providing information about the virtual adoption program, and other facets of the Refuge operation.

The SPCA asked Esther if he would make the draw for their raffle. Esther agreed graciously, and is getting his beak polished for the occasion.

Likewise, if you are in Parksville on Saturday, May 10, our founder, Wendy Huntbatch, will be operating a display at the Parksville SPCA open house, and will be available to answer your questions.

Please click on the thumbnails below to learn how you can help some special birds have a home for life through our "Virtual Adoption" program!

Birds who are now partly sponsored, thank you!

Birds who are now fully sponsored, thank you!

"The World Parrot Refuge is a true sanctuary where parrots live out their lives in a loving, spacious and happy environment under the guidance of extraordinarily caring people. The many visitors destined to pass through the refuge will come to understand that parrots are not toys or trophies, but beings with needs and emotions as real as our own."

– Rosemary Low (author of more than 30 books on parrots)

"This is, in a word, a great place and these miraculous creatures deserve no less, but few places can deliver it this well. It is, indeed, 'world class'."

– Stewart Metz (author and Director of the Indonesian Parrot Project), after his visit at the Grand Opening of the Refuge on August 13, 2005.