A WILDLY SUCCESSFUL 2022 ANNUAL GALA
It was a wildly successful night on Friday November 11th at the Edison Ballroom in New York City for Wild Tomorrow Fund’s 2022 Annual Gala. We were thrilled to be joined by two hundred and thirty guests who came out to show their support for our conservation work, and our Umvikeli Wildlife Protector honoree, Dr Anne Innis Dagg. Read more about our fabulous evening for wildlife in our story below, and scroll down to see the event gallery.
Some of the amazing faces that came out to support Wild Tomorrow Fund and cheer on our 2022 conservation achievements at Edison Ballroom.
It was a warm New York City evening as our guests arrived to join us on Broadway for Wild Tomorrow Fund’s 2022 Annual Gala at The Edison Ballroom. The evening was a night to celebrate the many conservation achievements Wild Tomorrow Fund made in 2022 – all thanks to our supporters around the world!
As John and Wendy, co-founders of Wild Tomorrow Fund, mentioned in the Gala program message, biodiversity around the world is in crisis. The latest Living Planet Report revealed a staggering 69% decline in populations of wild species since 1970. That’s more than two out of every three wild animals on our planet gone. In just fifty years.
But rather than despair we must take action. And 230 people did exactly that on Friday night, raising a record-breaking $220,000 for Wild Tomorrow Fund and our mission to save wildlife by protecting and restoring their habitat.
We were especially proud this year to raise a toast to Wild Tomorrow Fund’s Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve, which is becoming more and more ‘wild’ as its ecosystems are restored: we’ve seen the arrival of new wild-born giraffe calves, many traversing leopards, crocodile hatchlings, vultures, and hundreds of bird species. The next step will see elephant, rhino, lion, cheetah arriving to explore Ukuwela’s flood plain, wetlands, and endangered sand forest when we open up one side of our corridor - a major milestone we look forward to hopefully celebrating next year!
A very special moment of the evening was the presentation of the 2022 Umvikeli Protector Award to Dr. Anne Innis Dagg, the world’s first giraffologist, and a trailblazing feminist, who is an inspiration for all budding zoologists, biologists, and conservationists - particularly women in these fields. The award was presented by Wild Tomorrow Fund’s co-founder Wendy Hapgood, who acknowledges the path Anne has helped to forge forward for all women in science.
“Thank you very much for presenting me with this wonderful award,” said Dr. Ann Dagg. “I am very proud to be the first woman to receive the Umvikeli Award. All my life I have tried my best to be a protector of giraffe through education, research, and advocacy. I am here with you today, just shy of my 90th birthday, to show that I will never give up on my beloved giraffe.
I think it is fantastic that the Wild Tomorrow Fund has a focus on habitat conservation so that all creatures in the ecosystem have a chance to survive and thrive. I want to thank everyone for their contribution in simply attending this thoughtful event. I would like to thank Wendy and John and their Board of Directors who are doing all the work behind the scenes.
It has always been my dream to have a place where giraffe are safe to roam freely. With your help, we can make that dream come true.”
Our guests gave Dr. Anne Dagg a full standing ovation - congratulations Dr. Anne Innis Dagg!
Click the image above to flip through our program for the evening.
Left to Right: Mary Dagg, Board Member of the Ann Innis Dagg Foundation together with her Mother, Dr Ann Innis Dagg (center) and Wild Tomorrow Fund co-founder, Wendy Hapgood who presented the 2022 Umvikeli Wildlife Protector Award.
Our Board Member, Louis Buckworth, returned to the stage as our emcee and auctioneer!
The Honey Taps added jazz age glamour and energy to the evening at the art-deco Edison Ballroom.
SONNY created a gorgeous artwork live on stage throughout the evening, auctioned off for $10,000 to help protect habitat for the big cats he loves.
Another very special guest of the evening was SONNY, a well-known international artist who creates majestic and intricate large-scale wildlife murals that are scattered across the globe. He flew in from LA to create a mixed-media leopard artwork live during our event. It was a fitting mammal for the evening, as Leopard are vulnerable to extinction in South Africa due to ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation. At our Ukuwela Reserve in South Africa, the leopard is our reserve’s logo. We provide safe passage for the leopard of our region as they traverse our wildlife corridor, free from snares.
One thing connected us all on our special evening in NYC: “Hope”. In the five years since we first set foot on what is now our legally protected nature reserve, Ukuweka, we have saved 3,200 acres for threatened species. And we have improved the lives of eight rangers, fifteen women (our Green Mambas team), and hundreds of families in the neighboring community. At the Greater Ukuwela Nature Reserve, we have seen how nature can bounce back if given a chance.
Thank you to all who attended our special event, participated remotely in our virtual auction, bid in our live auction, and donated in support of the event - including our sponsors and auction item donors.
Together, you created hope for nature and made the evening our most successful yet, enabling us to continue our work protecting wildlife and wild spaces.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
GUEST PHOTO GALLERY
Click on the image to see a larger version, then click to download. Thank you to our Ambassador, Charles Chessler at Charles Chessler Photography for the professional event photography! Follow on Instagram @charleschesslerphotography
