COVINGTON, Ga. - The public is invited to a free coloring book release party with the local artist and some of the book’s stars at WildArt on the Covington square Sunday, Sept. 17 from 3 to 5 p.m.
Illustrator Lavendar Harris is a 16-year-old home school student, and the book is a fundraiser for Bear Hollow Zoo in Athens as part of her Georgia 4-H Leadership in Action project.
When Bear Hollow Zoo coordinator Clint Murphy approached a 14-year-old girl about volunteering, he probably never imagined that two years later he’d be visiting Covington with the animal stars of her coloring book.
Back in 2014, Harris convinced her mom, Jackie, to let her apply as a docent, which required six weeks of training. Then they added the monthly volunteer date into their home school schedule.
By the summer, Harris was invited to join the summer intern program where she volunteered weekly in animal care. She quickly moved up to Junior Intern Supervisor, where she now trains volunteers, leads tours, and provides animal care for deer, turkey and bobcats.
She is also cross-trained for the other exhibits and works with the training and animal behavior teams for otters, bears, fawns, rabbits, rats and squirrels.
The zoo does not charge admission, and instead relies on donations to support the care and rehabilitation of non-releasable wildlife and for educational programs. They sell a small selection of items in the gift shop.
The zoo also provides educational programing to children in a county with the fifth highest poverty rate in the nation.
Harris noticed that children enjoyed coloring in the reptile house, but the coloring sheets were generic ones from store-bought coloring books.
So, she drew new ones based on reptiles living at Bear Hollow. Now, children can take home free coloring sheets of animals they learned about on the same day.
Harris said she hopes to “spread awareness that all living things have value, no matter how intimidating they may seem.”
The free coloring sheets are also used to promote the zoo at events such as the UGA Vet School open house, and given to teachers to reproduce in the classroom. An estimated 2,500 coloring sheets have been distributed in the last 2 years.
But the 4-H member kept looking for ways to help the zoo in its mission to serve non-releasable wildlife and to educate the public.
She developed her 4-H demonstration around the zoo’s blue tongued skink, a lizard found in Australia, and has earned two trips to State 4-H Congress. She presented environmental education programs to the Pilot Club of Covington, 4-H groups, Scouts and other organizations.
Harris invited fellow 4-H’ers to volunteer at the zoo’s special events, expanding their volunteer base, and has hosted 4-H educational days at the zoo. This summer, Newton 4-H officers and members spent a day building a floating platform for the otter enclosure.
She hosted a “flapjack fundraiser” at Applebee’s to raise money to adopt one of the animals, and at the same time invited other 4-H’ers to raise funds for their camp funds or service projects.
She more than doubled her goal, allowing her to sponsor 3 animals at the zoo, and helped 4 other members earn $125 for camps and conferences.
But she had even bigger ideas for the coloring sheets, and this summer she got a call from the zoo that some year-end printing funds were suddenly available, if she was ready with her coloring sheets.
She was ready – and today you can purchase a Bear Hollow Zoo coloring book for only $8 at the zoo’s gift shop or at Wild Art (1105 Washington Street SW, Covington) during the release party.
Zoo Coordinator Clint Murphy will be on hand to exhibit some of the coloring book’s stars from the zoo, and locals are invited to enjoy free coloring sheets.
This isn’t the end of Harris’ plans for the zoo, however: “I have started on a young children’s book series I will author and illustrate to educate children about the animals around them.”
The first book features one of Bear Hollow’s deer and teaches readers to tell if a baby deer is really abandoned.
To learn more about local 4-H programs, contact Terri Fullerton at 770-784-2010 or tkimble@uga.edu. Visit Bear Hollow Zoo at 293 Gran Ellen Drive, Athens, Ga.
