TEDxYouth@TampaBay! November 20, 2010

TEDx Youth @ Tampa Bay was so much fun. Everyone had something great to say. You can see my interview here.

Here is a slide show that I also made for

TEDxYouth@TampaBay

TEDx slideshow Make a Chimp Smile!

View more presentations from Make A Chimp Smile.

If anyone wants to be part of tedx next year please visit

http://tedxyouthtampabay.com/

CHECK OUT MY NEW VIDEO!

Hey Everybody,
I am going to be a presenter at the TEDxYouth@TampaBay on November 20th. I made and submitted this video to be played at the event. I hope you guys like it and send it to your friends so they can learn about the Great Ape Protection Act too!




TAKE ACTION LINK https://secure.humanesociety.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=4665

"I BELIEVE...

We should all speak out for those who can't speak for themselves."

The images and audio of this video are copywritten and do not belong to me.
I was granted permission to use them for this video.

Information & Images
The Humane Society of the United States    
http://www.hsus.org/

Chimps Deserve Better Campaign    
http://www.chimpsdeservebetter.org/

Musician & Songwriter     Harry Hmura    
http://www.harryhmura.com/

Musicians for Apes    
http://www.musiciansforapes.com/

Song Title - Haven's Home

Special message to chimps still in medical labs.
I BELIEVE!

I wanted to say thank you to Jennifer & Harry for helping me out with the pictures and music to do this video. Also thank you to everyone who watched and supported the Great Ape Protection Act (H.R. 1326, S. 3694).  Please share this with your friends on facebook, twitter and email.

Please join my Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117790614931971

Thank you!
Brandon

I REACHED MY FIRST GOAL!!!

Hi Everybody!

For those that haven't seen yet. We did it!!! Thanks to everyone who supported Make a Chimp Smile we raised $2500 to migrate a chimp. Save the Chimps Sanctuary will be announcing it soon. I will post it too!
I am really happy and everyone was so nice that donated. I couldn't have done it without everyone helping me spread the word.

I started this blog last December to migrate a chimp name Boy to Save the Chimps. He was lucky enough to be migrated before I raised enough money. Now he is able to spend the rest of his life being free on his island. If he wants to he can sleep under the stars. Or he can climb to the top of a platform and lay in the sun. He is getting good food to eat, breathing fresh air and spending time with his family. I can't wait for the new chimp to get there!

Boy at Save the Chimps Sanctuary

Fort Pierce, Florida

I have raised my goal up another $2500 to migrate another chimp. I have lots of ideas on new fundraisers so I will let you know when I post them. I will also put them up on the Make a Chimp Smile facebook group and twitter page.

There are still 60 more chimps that need to be migrated from New Mexico to Florida. I am so happy that Save the Chimps was able to rescue them from The Coulston Foundation. I am hoping more people will learn about what these chimps went through and want to help migrate them to one of the islands at Save the Chimps Sanctuary.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Come back Soon!

your chimp friend,

Brandon



Make A Chimp Smile in Africa Day 5

AFRICA WEEKS FOR THE ANIMALS

August 2 - 15, 2010

I am having fun working with

Art of Conservation, Inc. in Rwanda

I wanted to show you some pictures of the kids wearing chimpanzee and gorilla masks. Julie from Art of Conservation was nice to send me some. The masks are really cool! The students wear them and put on song and dance performances.

Putting on a show with the gorilla masks

another show wearing chimp masks

I really like these masks and everyone looks like they are having fun!  They have other cool masks on their website on the merchandise page. They have orangutans, elephants, lions and more. If you really like one you can buy one! Click on the link!

Julie has posted more art work done by the students on her blog Art for Gorillas. The kids did gorillas with different expressions like happy, sad, angry and sleepy. They are really good. They also did art with tissue paper. I like all the colors. I might do that on my next mask.

I finished my chimp mask and I am working on a new one. It takes a long time to make one because the paper mache takes a long time to dry. It took almost 2 weeks for me to finish this one.

me wearing my chimp mask

guess what kind of great ape mask this will be?

FUNDRAISER

SUPPORTING THE KIDS OF RWANDA

&

THE MOUNTAIN GORILLAS!

 

First I want to thank everyone who has already donated and supported our fundraiser. I am really excited to send the kids in Rwanda friendship bracelets and write them letters. Please ask your friends to support this cause and send them to http://www.etsy.com/shop/metamorphis2010 so they can get a friendship bracelet too!

MAKE A CHIMP SMILE IN AFRICA

  MAKE A CHIMP SMILE IN AFRICA

August 2-15, 2010

I have been really excited about doing the weeks in Africa with Animal World USA-International.         " Animal World USA-International is pleased to announce that the 1st Africa Weeks for the Animals is scheduled for August 2-15, 2010. This time will highlight the importance that African animals play in our world and bring communities together on behalf of the animals and help African organizations to help the animals. " http://animalworldusa.blogspot.com/2010/07/1st-africa-weeks-for-animals-august-2.html

Through Animal World USA I learned about about the organization Art of Conservation, Inc. they are located in Rwanda and they are having an official Africa Week for the Animals event.

They teach kids about having a good environment for people and animals. They have a cool website and blog you should check it out. I really like that the kids get to learn about the gorillas and do things to protect and care for them. 

When you click on the link http://www.art-of-conservation.com/  you can see a great video of the kids singing "Saving Gorilla Habitat, One Song at a Time."  The kids singing are also dancing with masks. I really liked the masks so I thought I would like to make one for them.

My brother Christian helping me

Here is my finished mask.

Julie Ghrist is the founder of Art of Conservation and she is going to be celebrating Gorilla Art Weeks. She is going to be sharing pictures that the kids have done on her blog. Each day a blog post will have different pictures made by kids in her classes of the endangered mountain gorilla. Monday August 2nd will be the first day.

WE CAN SUPPORT THE KIDS OF RWANDA &

THE MOUNTAIN GORILLAS TOO!

I really wanted to do something for Animal World & Art of Conservation. So I started selling friendship bracelets. I have already sold a few.

The friendship bracelets are only $5 and shipping is free. But when you buy one I am going to send you one and also send one to a student in Rwanda. The bracelet will be a gift from you. I thought it would be cool to send them friendship bracelets to show them that we support everything they are doing.



I hope everyone will be a part of this fundraiser because it is for a really good cause. The bracelets will be listed on Etsy on Tuesday the 3rd. The web address is  http://www.etsy.com/shop/metamorphis2010.


To learn more about Africa Weeks for the Animals please call 877-454-0807 or visit the website at http://africaanimals.org/ .

WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING THIS SUMMER!

North Dakota

Hey Everybody!

I’m sorry I haven’t written lately but I have been real busy. I had lots of end of the school year projects and then my Dad got to come home from Afghanistan to visit us. We had so much fun! We went to my grandparents in North Dakota and did lots of fun stuff!  We also drove to Canada and spent a week and on our drive back to North Dakota we walked through the Peace Gardens. That was really cool!

Christian, Dad, Me & Denver at the Peace Gardens

Making s'mores with Grandma & Christian

Me & Granddaddy

I wanted to thank everyone for all the Birthday Wishes & Birthday Donations that were made to Save the Chimps. I didn’t know that turning 10 was going to be so much fun!!!  I  really loved the Birthday Party the chimps had for me at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute .
That was the coolest!!! Click on the Birthday Party and go see the pictures. Thank you CHCI!!!

Cool Cake!!!

We blew out the candles! It was Granddaddy's birthday too!

I also want to give special thanks to my Mom & Dad, Grandma & Granddaddy, Theresa, Tamela, Jennifer and Triana for thinking of me on my birthday and for loving the chimps.

MY TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY!

I had so much fun in New York! I went to a special lunch at the Four Seasons for Save the Chimps and got to speak to everyone about how I got started with the chimps. Everyone I met was really nice there and they do a lot to help the chimps. After the lunch they brought out a really big plate of cotton candy and that was the best!

In this picture is Triana Romero, Irene Crowe, me and the biggest plate of cotton candy!!!

I also got to meet Jon Stryker from the Arcus Foundation. He is really nice and he has done a lot to help chimpanzees. You can go to his website http://www.arcusfoundation.org/ and read about how they support chimpanzees and human rights.

Me and Jon Stryker

When I was in New York I also went to the top of the Empire State Building. You can see everything from up there. So I took lots of pictures. Also I went to this fun place called Mars 2112. It is a restaurant where you take a spaceship to Mars and when you get inside they have aliens walking around and a game room.  This was so much fun!

Alien and me at Mars 2112

New York City is a really cool place to visit and I hope I get to go back again real soon!