by Jack Dalton, the Kid Conservationist.
Cox Conserves Heroes is an environmental initiative from Cox Enterprises’ which recognizes and funds people and nonprofits working to make our world a more sustainable place to live. A total of $150,000 is given out every year. In October, the finalists for the 2024 Cox Conserves Heroes recognition were announced. With three winners per category, the voting phase began. In the youth category, Jack Dalton (me!), The Kid Conservationist and Orang Utan Republik’s Youth Ambassador, received so much support, that the second place prize of $15,000 was sent directly to OURF. I am forever grateful to everyone for their support of orangutans and the environment. These much-needed funds will go towards donating books, planting hundreds of trees, sending kids to college, and other great education and conservation initiatives over the next two years.
Kawan The Orangutan, Lost In The Rainforest - Book Donations
My children’s book, Kawan The Orangutan, Lost In The Rainforest, aims to educate and inspire kids from a young age to care about animals and our world. For every copy sold or donated a tree is planted in the rainforest critical to orangutan survival. A portion of the funds from Cox Conserves will go towards donating 500 copies of this book to schools both in The US and Indonesia, and 500 trees will also be planted. I’m so proud of this book and the impact it has had over the years; I can’t wait to get even more books out, and get even more kids to care and to take action for animals!
Learn more here: https://www.kidconservationist.com/book
Orangutan Haven - Sanctuary
Orangutan Haven is an ecopark in Indonesia designed to take care of orangutans who can no longer be released into the wild. They design orangutan homes with enrichment and natural flora life to make it as close to their natural homes in the wild as possible. Orangutan Haven is still fairly new, having only started in 2017, but is already making a difference and is open to visitors. This is a pretty unique orangutan sanctuary, and I hope to visit it someday to see the incredible work being done first-hand.
Learn more here: https://orangutanhaven.com/
Orangutan Caring Scholarships and Eco-Tour
The Orangutan Caring Scholarship program is a beautiful initiative that allows for passionate Indonesians to attend college, achieve their goals, and be able to implement their skills with orangutan conservation. It directly funds the education of the next generation of conservationists in Indonesia. A part of the award funding will be put towards these scholarships. In the summer of 2026, Dr. Gary Shapiro, OURF Founder, and I will be hosting an eco-tour around Indonesia to allow for the Orangutan Caring Scholars to see the importance of the application of their education on orangutan-specific conservation endeavors.
Learn more here: https://www.orangutanrepublik.org/what-we-do/orangutan-caring-scholarship-program/
R.O.C.K.E.T. - Technology Based Education Program
A new addition to Orangutan Caring Scholarships (OCS) is R.O.C.K.E.T., which is “Rainforest Orangutan Conservation Knowledge and Education with Technology.” This project is for select students within OCS who want to ‘blast off’ (get it?) into their conservation journeys and ‘launch’ (I’m on a roll!) into high-tech field work with orangutans. It gives participants direct connections to programs, organizations, and fellow passionate individuals in conservation. I encourage you to check out more details about the initiatives involved in this program, it has a lot of really good stuff going for it.
Learn more here: https://www.orangutanrepublik.org/what-we-do/partnership-programs/rocket/
These initiatives are critical to education and orangutan survival. Thank you for your continued support and for helping to fund the future of conservation.