Nr. 313/600
ERICA BROOKS

“I am Erica and 11 years old and I live in the Unites States of America. I stumbled upon the BJF homepage when I was searching for a black jaguar’s day. I have always loved black jaguars, especially how they looked and the fact that they were cats.

At school Mrs. Eden, my gifted teacher, told me about a Service Learning Project that I had to do for part of my grade. I had to choose an organization and raise money and/or awareness for it. I immediately thought of the BJF. I wanted to connect this beautiful animal to some greater goal, like the Green Corridor in Brazil. After a lot of brainstorming with Mrs. Eden, an idea started to take shape. I talked to my principal, and she thought it was a great idea.”

“Consequently, I have organized a drawing contest, where all grades participated. And, not only that! I also began writing a black jaguar alphabet book! I presented my project to my school, which was quite pleased with it. It was a lot of work, but I finally accomplished everything I set out to do.

Many pictures were submitted, many books were sold, and even more coins were counted. I even got to speak on a local radio station and at a local Rotary club. When I was done, I had raised nearly 600 dollars for the BJF! It was a lot of fun to write a book and organize a contest. But, the best part was being able to help the green corridor for the black jaguars.”