It’s a year’s pass to a fun place with the family AND –

It’s our family holiday tradition of Zoo Lights AND -

It’s admission to a water park, special member previews, and exciting events AND –

It’s discounts on the Safari Train, Stingray Bay, the carousel, and even discounted or free admission to over 160 other zoos and aquariums worldwide, AND –

It’s the place our sons came to for school dioramas and science fair inspiration, AND –

It’s the Early Childhood Breakfasts that engaged my grandson’s imagination and connected the two of us with mutual amazement at the abilities of animals, BUT –

Our membership to the Phoenix Zoo extends well beyond our single family and so far beyond the valley.

Funny how I skimmed past the Zoo’s vision and mission statements in the 90’s “Arizoo” magazine and the current member magazine “Wild Times” until I started volunteering to write feature articles for the Zoo e-news in 2005. Well, maybe not so funny, because there are so many interesting articles that catch my attention. But as Zoo members, it was our vision and mission, too, though we never realized how hard or in how many places our membership monies were working while we were having fun at the Zoo.

Now I know we’re part of a community dedicated to improving people’s lives through interaction with nature and excelling in conservation, education, exhibition and recreation. We help provide a healthy, safe, stimulating and respect-filled home to over a thousand individual animals. We supply classroom resources to educators http://edventures.phoenixzoo.org/teachers.html , send animal experts and animals all over the state to classrooms, clubs, senior centers and community organizations, teach tens of thousands of children who come to the Zoo for family programs, school field trips, guided tours, workshops, and exciting home-schooling adventures, and even provide homework help at http://edventures.phoenixzoo.org/pHomeworkHelp.html

My membership dollars are at work ensuring healthy and satisfying lives for the individual animals in the Zoo’s collection, but they’re also busy in Arizona and around the world funding and helping research and conservation efforts, too, around the globe. “As zoos struggle to define what they are supposed to be and do, they’re finding an ever-greater role in saving animals in the wild,” says Michael Hutchins, director for conservation and science at the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. “Zoos are becoming protectors rather than collectors of wildlife.”

http://www.phoenixzoo.org/learn/conservation_efforts.aspx

http://www.phoenixzoo.org/learn/conservation_efforts_detail.aspx?ARTICLE_ID=100637

And as Zoo members, that’s what we all are, too! My heart as a mom and grandma, my passion as someone who cares about the world, and my thanks go to the Phoenix Zoo for making us part of something so much greater than we could ever do on our own.

About the author ~ Rose is a Program Assistant for the School and Family Programs at the Phoenix Zoo