I think it’s harder now because there are so many needs in the communities, not just the Zoo and sometimes it’s a children’s hospital or some humanitarian thing that really is important community wise. And for the zoo to go waltzing in there asking for money at the same time… Read More
Were you able to use the political process to raise money?… Read More
Well, I dove into it head first because I saw all these things that had to be done and I wanted to get right at it. That was my job. And it just seems to be, it came so naturally that it didn’t bother me a bit. And I had… Read More
So if you wanna go up there, we’ll go up.” And we did. And that 10 minutes, I worked my tail off in 10 minutes and we got what we were after with him. So it was very good that I had somebody to give me a little boost at… Read More
Well then how would you say that, or what’d you say that fundraising over the years now for a zoo director has changed?… Read More
It was an ostrich egg. Read More
And what did you do that made it so special?… Read More
We would either carve a scene into the egg or paint the egg with a favorite animal of that person on it, and then have a little testimonial in the back why they received the Good Egg Award. One year we gave away two Good Egg Awards, one to the… Read More
How did you adjust to this role of fundraising?… Read More
Your idea?… Read More
My idea, with the help of our docents, and by the way, the docent chairman always got the Good Egg Award each year, one of the Good Egg Awards, and they worked hard to get it. So, and my board members, the board members who were exemplary in their efforts… Read More
Was it a goose egg?… Read More
Well, not a week would go by without something about the zoo in the newspaper, especially at the week’s end, Friday, getting ready for the Saturday crowd, holidays, prior to the holidays. That was a plan and it worked very well. We had planned that we could reach that million… Read More
They got, I forget now what we gave them, but it was really a fun time. Read More
You didn’t give him the Good Egg Award, did you?… Read More
Oh no, no. The Good Egg Award had to go– Talk about that. It had to go to something very special and even a millionth person wasn’t gonna get the Good Egg Award. Read More
That was your call with the support of the board?… Read More
Right. In 1982, the San Antonio Zoo hit the 1 million mark. Best attendance ever. Read More
Why was the zoo so successful that year and what did you do to draw people that sticks in your mind maybe that it hit that mark?… Read More
Honestly, I can’t remember. It’s been so long ago, but I know it wasn’t anywhere near what it is today. And I’m very pleased that Steve has been able to keep that figure so much higher and get the job done in this time when things are really expensive to… Read More