Dear Wildwoods Family and Friends,

I hope this letter finds you and yours safe and sound as we enter the holiday season and inch closer to a new year. Here at Wildwoods, we are thankful for you and for all that you do to make sure that we can continue our work. This year, we admitted and cared for more than 1,270 orphaned, injured, and sick wildlife representing 125 species, responded to 1,090 inquiries regarding animals in potential distress, and provided educational programs to 128 people.

Looking forward, we have big plans for 2022. In addition to maintaining our current level of care, a couple of new projects will be on our minds! We will be:

• Moving from a novice to a general rehabilitation permit. A general permit will allow us to provide more medical care onsite. Immediate access to a higher level of care will increase positive outcomes for our trauma patients, and will increase the number of animals that remain in our care.
• Developing a three-year strategic plan. Wildwoods is entering a strategic planning period and will draw on the experiences and knowledge of the Wildwoods staff and board of directors, and select volunteers, rehabilitators, and funders to create a three-year strategic plan which will direct our work from 2022-2025.
• Expanding our outdoor cage area. Before an animal can return to the wild, whether orphaned or injured, they need to acclimate to the outdoors. We need to expand this area to accommodate our increasing animal volume, build a retaining wall, and add a perimeter fence.
• Celebrating 15 years of service to the community! We couldn’t celebrate our “real” anniversary date, which was in 2021, but we are looking forward to a belated face-to-face celebration with you next year!

As you can see, we have a busy year ahead of us! Wildwoods has been operating with a skeleton staff and on a shoestring budget for the duration of the pandemic. In order for us to be successful, we need to increase our end of year fundraising so that we start 2022 in a strong fiscal position. We have had highly successful fundraisers this year, and are fresh off of a momentous Give to the Max. With this final fundraiser, we are hoping to bring in $15,000 so that we will be well situated for 2022.

Please continue to join us on our journey of compassion and understanding. Your donation is crucial to us we continue to advance our work. If you have already donated to us this fall, thank you for your support!

Kind regards,

Jessica LaBumbard, Executive Director