|
We from BSBCC would like to thank Land Empowerment Animal People (LEAP Spiral) for the invitation to their social initiative KeTAMU 4 Pangolins. This event was held in collaboration with the Sabah Art Gallery and the Sabah Wildlife Department over the weekend of World Pangolin Day 2020, on the 15th and 16th of February. The event featured multiple ways to celebrate these amazing wildlife as to secure their future as part of the Sabahan heritage; and by being organized in an open space so everyone and anyone can bring their wares and fares, sharing their creativity and curiosity. It was fun for BSBCC to be a part of this wildlife awareness initiative and thanks to all who said hi at our booth!
1 Comment
In preparation for our upcoming sixth year of operating as the BSBCC, and our transition into being a fully-functioning education center that will be open to the public 7 days a week, we took an important day-and-a-half out of our busy bear schedule for a staff retreat. We were very grateful to accept facilitation for the retreat from our partner organization LEAP (Land Empowerment Animal People) and leadership in team communication throughout the retreat from LEAP’s CEO and founder, Cynthia Ong.
During our time at the retreat, we created a timeline of each team member’s introduction with the centre, along with positive and negative experiences, which was inspiring and enlightening for us all. We also spend time discussing various aspects of the BSBCC that affect our overall progress, our ideals for successful rehabilitation and centre management, as well as, aspects that we look forward to developing. It was an engaging opportunity for the BSBCC team and LEAP to reiterate our mission, goals and vision for a successful centre and healthy transition into the new and improved Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre of 2014 and beyond. SOS From Borneo to the world!
Thanks to Cynthia Ong of LEAP, and the Green SURF coalition of Sabah, Malaysia, a proposed coal-fired power plant has gone from "done deal" to being debated in the Malaysian Parliament! To continue this important work, LEAP needs your support and action NOW! Please share the petition with your network! We need to keep pressure up until the Prime Minister reverses his position! http://environment.change.org/petitions/view/sos_from_borneo_say_no_2_coal Thank YOU!! Land Empowerment Animals People P/S: Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre is a LEAP project http://nocoalsabah.blogspot.com/  Dear friends of the sun bears, I am pleased to announce that the beneficiary of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Cause <http://www.causes.com/causes/95651> has changed from Wildlife Direct to Land Empowerment Animal People (LEAP), an NGO that is based in both Sabah and US. With this change, LEAP will help BSBCC collect all the donations from this cause. LEAP is the "mother" of BSBCC who gave birth to this project to help save sun bears in Borneo. Over the past few years, the LEAP team in both Sabah and USA have been working around to clock to help us secure funding, facilitate fund raising efforts, and running the project on the ground. I would like to take this opportunity to thank both Wildlife Direct and LEAP for their help to bring a better future for sun bears. Today I am surprised and happy to see the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre facebook causes has successfully recruited 3,350 members. This number means a lot to us because the sun bear, being the least known bear and a forgotten bear species, has at least three thousand people across the world aware of their plight and our work to help sun bears from suffering and disappearing from the wild. Thanks to all of you, we have come this far. Please continue helping us to spread the word about sun bears and our work. By simply repost our bulletins and blogs on your facebook or other networking tools, you are helping sun bears by raising the conservation awareness and the plight of this little cute but unknown bear species. Even better, actively ask your friends to join this cause so that they become a member of the sun bear family too! Additionally, you can help us raise funds to help the sun bear from your birthday wishes! I know all of you love sun bears. I am sure that the sun bears love you too. With the completion of Phase 1 of the project last month, we are leaping a big step forward to help sun bears. Your support is always needed to help us bring a better future for the sun bears. Besides this facebook cause<http://www.causes.com/causes/95651> , we also have a twitter page for BSBCC at http://twitter.com/BSBCC_SunBear. Please feel free to tweet us! Thank you! Big sun bear hugs, Wong  Dear friends and partners in conservation, We have arrived at a pivotal moment for sun bear conservation in Borneo: the completion of Phase 1 of the Borneon Sun Bear Conservation Centre. After more than two years of dreaming and hard work by many of us around the world, the bears are at this very moment being moved http://www.bsbcc.org.my/bear-talk-blog/three-bears-moved-9-to-go to their new home with forest enclosures within the virgin jungle reserve of Sepilok. For most of these bears, it will be their first "home-coming" into the forest since their captivity into the pet trade at infancy. In November 2008, we raised RM1.3 million (approx. USD400,000) at the Bear Necessities fundraiser in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, through private sector, philanthropic and government funding. This was the cost of construction for Phase 1. Construction began in early 2009 and the attached annual report documents the work throughout the year. We are now raising funds for Phase 2 which requires RM1,000,000 (approx. USD300,000). Please find attached conceptual perspectives of the visitor/education centre and observation deck/gallery, which are the Phase 2 components that will enable us to open to public and generate revenue to help the centre towards self-sustainability. The beauty of this project has been the collaboration between government, NGO, industry, scientists, zoos, the philanthropic community and volunteers-- no one group could have achieved alone what we have achieved together. The government matched one-to-one the funds we raised for Phase 1. In a recent meeting with government leadership, I received the pledge and assurance that they will match us one-to-one for Phase 2! I am writing to call on that spirit of collaboration and ask if you will join us on this journey to freedom for the sun bears. Once they are in the centre they will be studied and prepared for eventual release, where appropriate and ready, into safe, wild areas. Phase 2 is essential for us to transition away from donor-funded operations and bring in revenue that will be ploughed back into the running of the centre. We need to raise RM500,000 (approx. USD150,000) and the government one-to-one match will bring us to the total need for Phase 2. If you wish to see the proposal and budget for this, I will be glad to email it to you. Help us make this dream happen. Take a moment and watch this video which will show you why the bears need a safe space and a safe future -- the closing images will give you a sense of what the centre will offer the bears. http://www.youtube.com/user/Leapspiral#p/a/u/1/beDtX6KMA5E Anuual report of BSBCC is available at http://www.leapspiral.org/pdf/BSBCC_Report09.pdf Please let us know if you would like to make a gift, and know that it will be matched one-to-one by the State Government of Sabah. For the sun bears, Cynthia Cynthia Ong Founding President and Executive Director of LEAP Director of BSBCC http://www.leapspiral.org/content/home.php http://www.bsbcc.org.my/    Special thanks to Life in Borneo for this report on our fundraising event last Friday: http://lifeinborneo.com/2008/11/20/bsbcc-bear-necessities-fundraiser-event/ ==================================================== BSBCC ‘Bear Necessities’ Fundraiser Event Posted by Xander on November 20th, 2008 in Events, Wildlife Friday, November 14th 2008 marks a historical and monumental day in which the first major collaboration between conservationists, several corporate companies and the government took place. The BSBCC (Borneo Sun Bears Conservation Center) Fundraiser Event was held at the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru Resort & Spa at 6.30 pm and it was attended by the Chief Minister of Sabah, Yang Amat Berhormat Datuk Seri Panglima Musa Haji Aman, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment, Datuk Masidi Manjun and Kota Kinabalu Mayor Datuk Iliyas Ibrahim.  It was a night equivalent of the Grammys night where all the distinguished guests and the socialites from all over Malaysia graced the event with their presence. The stage was set in an extravagant and picturesque manner identical to the forests of Borneo and the ambiance imbued throughout the grand ballroom was unlike any other.
Posted by Xander on November 13th, 2008 in Wildlife Upon reaching LEAP office, I was warmly greeted by Wong Siew Te who heads the conservation efforts with the Sun Bears. As I walked in, the place was full of energy where there were a handful of people working hard to make this event a momentous occasion. I was also greeted by Cynthia Ong, which is the Executive Director and founder of LEAP.  Lifeinborneo.com was given this enormous opportunity to meet up with these individuals whom are energetic, passionate, enthusiastic and fervent people that have put their whole hearts into the efforts with the Sun Bears also known as Helarctos malayanus.
 Lina (right) and Sam auctioning the painting title ‘natural habitat and sun bears’ by Wong Siew Lee which fetched RM36,000 16th November, 2008 KOTA KINABALU: Efforts to raise fund for the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) received overwhelming support from generous donors and the state government on Friday night.
Some RM1.3 million was raised through the auction of four paintings and a sculpture, sales of dinner tickets and a matching grant from the state government during the Bear Necessities Fund Raising Event at a resort here. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman who graced the function announced that the state government would give a matching grant based on the amount of money raised during the event. According to the Land Empowerment of Animal & People (LEAP) executive director Cynthia Ong, the BSBCC will cost about RM2.1 million. It will be built next to the Sepilok Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre in Sandakan and it will be carried out in three phases with phase one costing RM1.1 million, phase two RM600,000 and RM900,000 is needed for phase three. Besides that, she said they have also received RM130,000 from international donors. Daily Express News
Kota Kinabalu: The State Government has pledged RM600,000 to the setting up of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre in Sandakan. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman made the pledge at a fund-raising dinner at a hotel here on Friday to match the about RM600,000 raised by the organiser, Bornean Sun Bear Trust Fund, during the event. The proceeds came from the sales of tables for the dinner as well as auction sales of five artworks that raised a total of RM151,000. According to Bornean Sun Bear Trust Fund’s Executive Director, Cynthia Ong, it also managed to raise RM129,600 from international donors and the total raised so far, including the proceeds from the fundraiser, stood at about RM1.3 million. Ong said RM2.6 million was needed to set up the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, which would carried out in three stages. Phase One, she said, would involve the setting up of an enclosure to accommodate 27 bears on a one-hectare plot adjacent to the Sepilok Orang-utan Rehabilitation Centre, estimated to cost RM1.1 million. I do not know what to say. There are two phrases that I wanted to scream to the world: Thank you! And Yes! We did it! Yes, we did it!  After months of preparation, our fundraising event, Bear Necessities that was held last night here at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, finally ended with the finale song, Kenny Loggins’s Conviction of the Heart, led by Amir Yussof.
Yes! We did it! We have raised about RM1.3 million (USD380,000) during last night event from selling of tables, auctions of art works, individuals donations, plus a one to one matching fund from Sabah State Government! |
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed
|
|
Write to us at our
Postal Address BSBCC,
PPM 219, Elopura, 90000 Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia |
Contact us on our Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
|
