The Friends Behind the Zoo
At 50, a Once-Small Group Is a Source of Financial and Volunteer Help

By Sopan Joshi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2008; DZ01

It was 50 years ago that Max Kampelman returned home to a surprise. His wife told him she didn't know he had agreed to head a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping the zoo.

Neither did Kampelman.

Some neighbors active in a Cleveland Park residents group had just formed Friends of the National Zoo to help run the Smithsonian National Zoological Park along Connecticut Avenue NW. They nominated Kampelman to be the first president of FONZ.

"They nominated me without informing me," he said, adding that he would have persuaded them to find someone else. "I was active in the community and had my hands full." Kampelman had become friends with Theodore Reed, then associate director of the zoo. He had sold Reed his house in Chevy Chase. Sometimes, when Reed stopped by, he would bring a surprise for the Kampelman kids, such as a tiger cub.

So he agreed to head FONZ, realizing that he didn't want to "abandon something as useful for the community as the zoo," especially considering that he had five children.

Kampelman, now 88, went on to be appointed ambassador to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe from 1980 to 1983 and, from 1985 to 1989, was head of the U.S. delegation that negotiated the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Soviet Union.

FONZ, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, grew from four members in 1958 to the current 100,000 . FONZ had six part-time officers in 1958. Today, 1,800 volunteers and more than 300 paid staff members (about 90 of them permanent) provide vital zoo services.

"We couldn't run this place without FONZ," said John Berry, zoo director. "There just aren't enough federal employees or funds to do all the work that needs to be done here." The zoo has about 350 staff members including veterinarians and public relations specialists. The zoo doesn't charge an entrance fee. It's one of only four major zoos among the more than 200 accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in the United States that don't.

The Friends support virtually all the operations of the zoo in one way or another, including managing the parking and food concessions, providing perambulators for visitors and posting interpreters at exhibits to answer visitors' queries. Its volunteers help zookeepers clean droppings in the exhibits and record animal behavior for studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

In 2006, the nonprofit organization's support to the zoo in cash and services was worth $9.3 million, up from $2.4 million in 1998. Apart from paying members, FONZ also raises money through events such as Friday's Guppy Gala.

The Friends' involvement began with helping the zoo's finances, which were in dire straits in the late 1950s. Its budget included funds from the federal government and the District. In the late 1950s, when FONZ was created, the federal share had fallen to 8 percent.

"After looking into the matter, I concluded that the best thing would be to turn the budget over to the Smithsonian, that was clear to me," Kampelman said. A zoo should not compete for funds against other District agencies such as the school system or the relief system, he argued at the Capitol, emphasizing that the District should not have to shoulder the burden of a national zoo.

Kampelman had influence. He had come to the District in 1949 as an aide to his friend then-Sen. Hubert Humphrey Jr. (D-Minn.). Six years later, he began his legal practice. In 1963, Kampelman and FONZ persuaded Congress to provide $950,000 for a master plan for the zoo. This transformed the zoo, leading to much-needed money for infrastructure.

From there, FONZ got involved in supporting conservation efforts. In 1967, the group made its first grant to support the zoo's elephant research in Sri Lanka. Robert J. Lamb, FONZ executive director, said the organization makes an annual grant to the zoo over and above other services and support. It was $960,000 in 2006, 5 percent of the support group's budget. This is, at times, a lifeline for the zoo.

"This year, we did not have enough money in our food budget to cover our food bill. But I don't have a choice; I gotta feed the animals. So, when [FONZ's] payment came, I took out of it the money I needed to cover our food bill," Berry said. The budget, prepared 2 1/2 years ago, does not reflect the sharp increase in gas prices, he explained. "Thanks to FONZ our animals are still well fed."

Sometimes, the Friends' independence is a challenge. Berry mentioned a proposal six years ago from the Smithsonian to sell the zoo's 3,200-acre conservation research facility in Front Royal, Va. "That's where we do all our science, where we breed endangered animals like the cheetah," Berry said. The then zoo director did not agree with this, but he could not oppose his bosses at the Smithsonian, Berry said.

The Friends opposed the plan, calling it a disaster. That pressure led to the proposal getting dropped. Berry said it is important to have independent organizations like FONZ.

The Friends' zeal is reflected in its volunteers. "Each volunteer treats it as seriously as a regular job. There is no attitude like 'that's not my job,' " said Julia van Reeven, who has volunteered for two years as a keeper's aide in the invertebrate exhibit. One of the joys of volunteering, she said, is to watch fellow volunteer Travis Harper, 23, at work.

"Travis has a gift," said Tamie DeWitt, biologist and zookeeper. "He's got a real good hand, he's very careful with animals." Harper said he is thinking about going to college and becoming a police officer. DeWitt said she'll try to find him a regular job in the zoo. "We really need him here. I think I'll give him a bad [recommendation] so that he doesn't get a job anywhere else," she joked.

And then there are Elizabeth Lyons, elephant keeper aide, and Andrew Vitols, interpreter at the cheetah exhibit. They met over their volunteer duties, dated for a year, were engaged for six months and eloped to Las Vegas in 2005. Now, their 1-year-old daughter, Ellie, sometimes accompanies them to voluntary duty at the zoo.

Lyons said FONZ provides a social space to find people with shared interests: animals. Kampelman described it another way, "This is one of the ways people identify themselves with a better world."