Operation Ocelot

The HUB youth group have decided to accept the Operation Ocelot challenge on behalf of St Lawrence Church, Barnwood to raise enough money to save an area of rainforest the size of the Church field.  They came up with the idea having heard about the same challenge being undertaken at Barnwood C of E Primary School.

On Sunday 10 October 2021, the HUB group measured the church field to discover that it is 95 meters by 95 meters (with an area of 550 square meters missing in one corner).  By putting these dimensions into the Operation Ocelot calculator, on the World Land Trust (WLT) website, they found out the amount needed to save an equivalent area of rainforest is £1,200.

*** BIG MATCH FORTNIGHT HAS NOW ENDED SO DONATIONS ARE NO LONGER BEING QUADRUPLED, BUT DONATIONS CAN STILL BE ACCEPTED ***

Total funds raised up to £310 were quadrupled, due to combining an offer of matched funding from a private donor with WLT's Big Match Fortnight matching scheme.

So for every £1 raised on this JustGiving page between 6 and 19 October 2021 (both dates included), up to £310 in total, a private donor doubled this to £2 and WLT doubled this again to £4.

The HUB Group's Challenge

To raise sponsorship the HUB youth group have agreed to complete a variety of challenges during Big Match Fortnight:

• Harriet - who will become an honorary member of the group for a week will have 12 inches cut of her hair on 19 October, which she will donate to Little Princess Trust charity, who will make it into a wig for children who have lost their own hair due to cancer treatment or other conditions.
• Sam and family will be spending at least 2 hours collecting litter around Barnwood this weekend.

The explore Creation Group would have also been involved with this challenge, but as they won't meet until after Big Match Fortnight has ended, their role will be restricted to checking the field measurements later in October.

If 100% of the target is raised by 19 October (before matched funds are added), an area of rainforest the size of the church field will be saved.

How will the money raised be spent?

Operation Ocelot is raising money to pay for the three-fold expansion of an existing reserve, Laguna Grande, in Guatemala from 1,668 to nearly 5,000 acres.  This will buy and protect threatened rainforest around a network of lagoons, wetlands and carbon-absorbing mangroves which are home to many special species.  This is an area that has already lost 80% of its lowland forest but with your help, together we can make sure the destruction of nature doesn't go any further.

In total over 126 species of mammals live in the are including Jaguar, Tapir, American Manatee and Neotropical Otter.  There are also an estimated 359 different species of birds that live here, as well as being a perfect habitat for amphibians and reptiles.

The HUB group would like to thank you for any donation you would like to make.