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FRIENDS OF THE PANA'EWA ZOO
March 16, 2007 ANon-Profit Organization
The Honorable Harry Kim, Mayor
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Dear Mayor Kim,
I want to ask you for your support for a new position of Education Specialist at the
Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo & Gardens. This position was listed in the Parks & Recreation
Dept. budget, but it just missed the final cut. I hope that you and the County Council
can put it back in the budget for this coming year. To date I have met and toured
Councilman Yagong and Councilman Yoshimoto around the zoo and discussed its
progress and needs. I hope to meet you there some day soon too.
The zoo has become an important educational and recreational resource for our
students and families. Last year over 172,000 people visited the zoo; we toured 2,273
students from 50 schools. I train docents every year to lead school tours, and many
other volunteers help in animal enrichment, petting zoo, our gift shop, and special
events. However, volunteers come and go, as you know. An Education Specialist
would provide stability for these programs and an anchor for our volunteers. This
person would be in charge of training and maintaining docents, developing educational
materials for teachers as well as the public, help maintain and update signage, work to
implement ADA improvements, help with educational classes and events, and help
provide safety, security, and visitor information around the zoo by being another staff
presence in the zoo.
I hope that this position will receive serious consideration and support from yourself and
the County Council. Our zoo has become a real treasure for our county and we all want
to support it.
Please contact me for further information; and I hope to meet you at the zoo soon!
However, I will be out of town until April 9, 2007.
Mahalos~a,
Jean A. Curtis Comm, No. ~ ~ 3 '
President Ref. 70: h ~Ci
eC: P`f-R ~ Ref. Uate. 2 8 2007
Post Office Box 738 Kea'au, Hawaii 96749 (808) 959-9233
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