Donor Spotlight: Holy Name Catholic School

Red Panda Network’s red panda adoption program is a great way to support the preservation of red pandas. It offers an opportunity to symbolically adopt any of six wild pandas that we have identified living in our project area in Nepal. All donations directly support the protection of their habitat, the availability of bamboo (their preferred source of food), and anti-poaching initiatives. On May 20th 2015, students of Holy Name Catholic School (HNCS) adopted five red pandas from our red panda adoption program, and helped ensure the survival of this threatened species.

This wonderful story began when an HNCS student read a National Geographic article called: “Will the Red Panda Survive?” The students asked Mrs. McLaughlin, their teacher, if they could help save the red panda. She said yes but the students needed to wait until February when their current project and work was finished. Meanwhile, students formed a red panda group, where they gave up some of their recesses and quiet reading time to research all about red pandas.Mrs. McLaughlin continues the story,”the students had a meeting where they brainstormed ideas on how to save the red panda. They decided to hold a raffle to raise $50 to adopt a red panda from the Red Panda Network.” They also asked their principal Mr. Finn for permission to host a Red Panda day at their school. The class, which consisted of 2nd and 3rd grades, donated items for the Red Panda Raffle: soccer ball, Operation and Sorry board games, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Tassimo machine and Tassimo teas and coffees. Tickets for the raffle were $1.00 for 2 tickets and 5 tickets for $2.00. They created red panda posters, announcements, drawings, slide shows and facts to help save the red pandas.

On Red Panda Day students wore red, black and white and the class picked the winners of the red panda raffle. They raised a total of $251.35 and were able to adopt five red pandas! “They were so excited and happy,” says Mrs. McLaughlin. “They looked on the Red Panda Network website and there were 6 red pandas up for adoption. The class chose to adopt a family of 3 (Bhim, Sita, & Niyati) and then they surveyed the entire school to choose the final red pandas for adoption (Pinju & Tenzing).”