Our mission is to educate students about mountain gorillas and the threat of extinction that they face. It is hoped that, through education, students will feel compelled to take action themselves and help to raise funds for the Gorilla Doctors. The Gorilla Doctors have been operating in Africa since 1986 and began a partnership with UC Davis in April 2009.

igorilla.org was founded in 2008 by Tony Hartman who first saw mountain gorillas in Zaire (now the DR Congo) in 1989. Making eye contact with the gorillas left him profoundly moved, with the undeniable feeling that they are intelligent, conscious creatures, with emotions not unlike those of us humans. 19 years later his passion for them led him back to Africa to document their struggle to survive as a species. This time he visited them twice - in Uganda and Rwanda. He is pictured here shooting video of gorillas in Rwanda in July 2008.

Tony's bio

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On December 4, 2009, igorilla.org held its first annual fundraiser at Ortega School in Pacifica, California. 170 kindergarten through 5th grade students signed up for the event, which raised $1000 for The Gorilla Doctors. As second grader Nate Azzopardi said, "That's more dollars than there are mountain gorillas in the whole world!" After an intensely competitive game of capture the flag, the unruly mob headed for a massive ice cream sundae after party and raffle. igorilla.org wishes to thank all those who participated and volunteered, especially Angie Gibbs, Lee Byrd, Kathy Fugitt, and Coleen Dillon.
Photos courtesy of Brigett Gauthier.

The huge crowd gets pumped up before taking the field.

Devon Freeman, Rebecca Villalobos, Isabella Castellanos, Tony Hartman, Andrew Ross,
Chris Arnberger, and Nicholas Gladio stand in front of the colorful banner created by Kathy Fugitt with help from Mr. Hartman's 2nd grade class.

Lee Byrd manages to contol the chaos.

Watching the action is Victoria Martinez, Nate Azzopardi, Tommy Andre, and Will Shives.

Taylor Wolff and Noah Grimaldo move in for the kill.

Conor Hickey springs Justin Gauthier, Giovanni Keller, and Emma Frederick from jail.

Mr. Lorenzen obliges Tony Esfandiary for a photo while Steve Garibaldi has one thing on his mind- ice cream.

Tommy Andre and Austyn Hall square off while Ian Thomas looks on.

Toshi Hensley runs wild and lets the hair fly.

Brian Shives flashes a million dollar smile for the paparazzi.

Vince Struckman, Justin Gauthier, and Justin Granillo chill out while Juliana Wullenjohn looks on.

Maggie Modina, Bella and Scala Reyes, Reese Campbell, Nina Morasky, Paige Kumlin,
Jordyn Freutel, and Kate Alvarez head for the locker room after a hard fought battle with the boys.

Racing for ice cream sundaes!

The line for ice cream stretched around the playground. Hey, no cuts!

Suzie Struckman, Coleen Dillon, Kathy Fugitt, and Lee Byrd served up a storm and kept the line moving.

Teagan O'Donnell, Kaylee Gauthier, and Ellie Grubb, gobble down their sundaes.

Raffle winners Michael Reyes, Anthony Kavanaugh, and Giovanni Keller take home
stretchy gorilla toys. Rico Berthold also won but was camera shy.

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