This past Sunday, we were lucky to be a part of a service day at Project Chimps with our fellow Bullseye Rescue crew. To say it was an amazing experience would be an understatement. With a group of around thirty BullsEye vols from all over metro-Atlanta, we trekked an hour or so (depending on where everyone was driving from) north to the Blue Ridge area bright and early Saturday morning. It was cloudy, cool out and extra muddy from several days of rain, but we managed to arrive on time and ready to work!

The volunteer coordinators at Project Chimps were fantastic. They had a list of tasks, from cleaning up the planting areas at the guest check-in center, to building chimp play areas in the main habitats. We divided and conquered during our three hour stint to get quite a few things accomplished. Our particular group was responsible for the cleaning around the guest check-in center and we then got a fantastic walking tour of the four main chimp villas, as well as the other care areas in the sanctuary.

We rejoined the rest of the group, who had been hard at work in the main outdoor habitat. They were working on assembling a play platform, string trimming and removing limbs and debris. Some of the local fire departments had donated hundreds of feet of “retired” fire hoses, which our group worked to mount between trees for the chimps to climb and explore on. Our three hours of work was over before we knew it, but about half of the crew stuck around for another hour to wrap up the last few items.

The volunteers and staff at Project Chimps are astounding. Thank you for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!