Education is Our Priority
When the founders of All Things Wild Rehabilitation wrote the mission statement for the new organization in 2012, they put education before rehabilitation because they felt strongly that wildlife education should be a continuing priority.
Fast-forward 10 years after the founders put education first in the mission statement, and ATW is about to open our first education center. Located next to our rehabilitation center, the building was donated to us by a Georgetown family. We are preparing it to open in late April 2023 after we add a disability ramp and repair some minor damage inside. We will paint it red to match the rehabilitation building and call it The Little Red Schoolhouse.
Our dream is to someday have an adjacent building that will hold a couple of bathrooms, a small kitchen for catered events, and an administration office for the organization. However, currently, we don’t have the funds for the “auxiliary” building with an estimated cost of $49,000, but that will not stop us from starting to hold programs in our new, wonderful education building.
We envision the center to be a place where education programs can be held for audiences of all ages from young children to senior citizens. Everyone attending an ATW education program will not only learn about various species of wild animals but how to co-exist with wild animals and how to stay safe while respecting and treating the animals with kindness and compassion. With the center co-located to the rehabilitation facility, it will be easier and less stressful for education animals to participate in the programs.