Hoo Haven receives grant award from the
Lauren Townsend Memorial Wildlife Fund!
By Tina Miller

Lauren Dawn “Lulu” Townsend
January 17, 1981 - April 20, 1999
Born
two months premature in 1981, Lauren Dawn
Townsend fought to live. She survived
prematurity and grew into a wonderful young
woman with strong values and a deep love for
animals and nature. Her strong spirit allowed
her to accomplish great things throughout her
lifetime including a 4.0 grade point average and
a talent for athletics, particularly volleyball.
Lauren was the Captain of her high school
volleyball team (her mother became her coach)
and she was to be her Senior class valedictorian
at her graduation in May 1999.&
She had earned
scholarships to attend
Colorado
State
University
with lifelong dreams of becoming a wildlife
biologist.
On
April 20, 1999, two boys entered the library at
Columbine
High School
and opened fire. Lauren was among the 12
students and one teacher killed at the school on
that fateful day. The nation mourned with her
family and this tragedy will never be forgotten.
However, through this dark and horrific event,
Lauren’s family is determined to bring something
positive to the world ~ in her memory. Hoo Haven
is proud to be a part of Lauren’s legacy. Here
is the story of how Hoo Haven came to know
Lauren and her family years later.

Eastern Screech Owl “Lulu” & Tina
Hoo Haven Raptor Ambassador 2008
Last
fall, we decided that we would try something new
to enhance the Raptor Ambassador Program for
schools. We created several Wildlife Discovery
Trunks filled with books, games, videos and such
that students could explore in the classroom in
the weeks before their Raptor program. The
trunks were a huge hit at the trial school and
we were searching for grant funding to pay for
the expenses involved. In November, as I flipped
between American Idol commercial breaks, I
caught a few minutes of a new Lifetime Original
Movie entitled, “Dawn Anna.” It was the
true-life story of a single mother, her
unbelievable recovery from brain surgery, and
the sudden death of her daughter.
It was the story of
Lauren Townsend’s
mother. For reasons unknown (but probably
well-known to God), I was urged to not only
watch the movie, but learn more about Dawn Anna
and Lauren. As I went to the Internet in the wee
hours of the morning, I did a Google search and
thousands of possible websites appeared. Would
you believe that the very first website listed
was for the “Lauren Townsend Memorial Wildlife
Fund?” God had certainly planned for me to see
this! I immediately started writing the grant
proposal on behalf of Hoo Haven. Strangely, just
days prior to this, one of Hoo Haven’s beloved
educational birds (LucyLu) passed away from
natural causes – just before we were to do
several programs at
my
high school. We was decided that LucyLu’s
successor would be another sweet little screech
owl who had been with Hoo Haven for 2 years as a
surrogate mother. It was odd for us to have a
bird that long without giving it a name ~ now we
knew why. Her
name would be
“Lulu,” the nickname that Lauren’s family had
given her as a child. It is our prayer that our
feathered Lulu will help Hoo Haven share a part
of Lauren’s caring spirit each time she teaches
children (and all people) about owls and other
wildlife. As her family recalls, “We taught our
children to love and respect nature and animals.
Lauren loved all animals and nurtured that love
through her work at an animal hospital/kennel.
She had many pets over her lifetime that
included two dogs, frogs, snakes, birds,
gerbils, hamsters, Moo-Shu the baby chick,
several fish, and even Jim the Rooster for a
short time! She hated the thought of
anyone doing harm to God’s creatures and felt we
should all do what we can to protect them.” This
is Hoo Haven’s way to continue Lauren’s dream to
conserve wildlife and educate children. We are
absolutely honored to have the support of
Lauren’s family as we make the Raptor Ambassador
Program and Wildlife Discovery Trunks better
than ever with funds from her memorial! I love
to think that LucyLu and Lauren are both in
heaven, enjoying what we have done to keep their
memories alive. And, I anxiously wait for the
day that I can meet Lauren in the presence of
God ~ and thank her for touching my life and so
many others’. Wind to your wings, my
friend….wind to your wings! God Bless you,
Lauren, LucyLu and our
newest feathered teacher “Lulu!”



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BEHR
RECYCLING
FOR "HOO"
Now everyone
can help.
Take your aluminum cans to
the following Behr Recycling stations in Beloit,
Machesney
Park, Freeport, and Rockford and say these cans are for "Hoo" and
they will see to it that "Hoo" Haven receives the cash.
We are so
excited that Behr wants to help "Hoo" and would like to
say thank you.
So everyone get your cans and tell
everyone else and collect for "Hoo".
1100 Seminary Street, Rockford
8409 N. 2nd St., Machesney Park
201 Wheeler Ave., South Beloit
1319 Highway 75 E. , Freeport
Karen

PROGRAMS PROGRAMS AND
TOURS
I am pleased to say our programs and tours are fast
becoming a HUGE. SUCESS. By the end of this year we
will have done over 100 programs and tours.
Here is the list of the UP-COMING PROGRAMS.
Marquette School 10-28
at 6pm
November 8, 2:00 PM til ?
Spaghetti Dinner Town
Hall 5624 N. 2nd $10 for adults children
under 12 are free: There will be a band Dancing and
a Silent Auction. Read on for more details
November 14th Washington
School 4 programs
November 29th Burpee:
Put this one on the Calendar Bigger and Better than
last year
December 13th 3pm Jarrett
Prairie Center Byron, IL
Please remember Tours are given Wednesday, Thursday,
Saturdays and Sundays by Appointment. it is best to
call 2 weeks in advance. $10.00 for adults. The cost
of the tours and programs help us further our
Endeavors in Rehab, Release and Education. Thank you
for all your support.
The Programs for 2009 will be listed on the next
update.
Sincerely,
Karen
More
to come in the Winter The Website for Updates.
"Hoo" Haven has received
another Grant for Education.
If your school would like a program Please
call 815-629-2212 and leave your name, school, date
you are thinking about and a GOOD PHONE NUMBER WHERE
YOU CAN BE REACHED EARLY IN THE AM OR LATE IN THE
EVENING.
We are booking into October so call now.
THANK YOU
KAREN

PICK UPS AND VOLUNTEERS
"Hoo" Haven does very few pick ups any
more let us explain.
Between the number of mammals and birds
we do, treatments, feeding, cleaning and running "Hoo"
Haven fit in-between, before and after our full time jobs
and all of our volunteers full time jobs. It is not
feasible.
We do have volunteers to the west who
pick up birds of prey and animals for Hoo and transport
them. They are called Transport Volunteers We would be
glad to teach individuals how to do this if anyone is
interested.
At "Hoo" there are all different kinds of
volunteers because we are solely run by volunteers and
supported by the generous donations of the People, Who
Believe In What We Are Doing.
Please do not punish an animal or bird
and do nothing because we do not pick up. We will walk you
thru it and you will feel good at the end. No one person or
facility can do it all. If we all work together we can make
Rockford and all Mother Earth a better place to live for all
future generations. It is not everyone else's job, it is
everyone's job to help.
It truly saddens me when individuals get
angry on the phone.
Thank you
Karen, RN,WLR
Director
"Hoo" Haven

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