Our Young Ambassador programme is aimed at children who want to make a positive contribution towards conserving the cheetah in the wild. Our Young Ambassadors fundraise in many ways including participating in our exciting events, organising bake sales, creating greetings cards and auctioning their cheetah-inspired artwork, and help us raise awareness on social media. If you know a young person that may like to become a Young Ambassador please email us – we would love to welcome them to the CCF UK Family.
Sara
By eight years old, Sara she had read every cheetah book she could get her hands on and Sara started her very own website and Facebook page to share all the information she had gathered and start collecting donations. Sara has written articles for WWF, CCF US, Artenshutz and regularly visits the Ree Park Safari in her home country of Denmark, where she had a cheetah named after her because of her dedication, and she dreams of being a zookeeper there, or a wildlife vet in Africa.
Katie
Katie joined our Young Ambassadors after participating in our Crafty Cheetahs kids art challenge in 2020, which she created a fantastic mask for. Katie and her friend Olivia spent their covid lockdown and selling cookies and cakes to their friends and neighbours to raise money for CCF UK, making almost £250 and being featured on the local news for her incredible fundraising effort! Katie regularly organises bake sales to raise money for CCF UK, with her specialities including chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes.
Jeremy
At our last count, Jeremy had raised over £2,000 for cheetahs, by making beautiful cheetah-themed greetings cards which he sells at any opportunity he gets – at his paretns workplaces, at a bazaar, on the pavement and door-to-door around Cheltenham. Jeremy is another Young Ambassador who has made the news with his efforts, being featured on BBC Radio Gloucester, his local news and newspaper. ‘It’s not fun when people say that they don’t want a card or to donate, but I just think about the cheetahs and knock on the next door.’
Chloe
Chloe has been fascinated with cheetahs from the age of three and has recently become passionate about cheetah conservation, in particular relating to illegal trading of cubs and human conflict. The rapid reduction in cheetah numbers worldwide has inspired her to raise money for them and spread the word about cheetah conservation. Her favourite cheetah fact is that the babies are born with their tear drop marking around their eyes and she loves the cheetah cubs because they are cute but understands they are wild animals that should be left in their own habitat. Chloe loves to bake and raised £35 at one of her bake sales.
Thalia
Thalia has loved cheetahs since she was four years old because they are cute, fast, beautiful, and wild, and she really wants to help the cheetahs survive on this planet. This photo shows Thalia with her beloved cheetah stuffed toy, supplied by her Mum.
Thalia and her family sent us some photos of them wearing their awesome CCF UK sustainable t-shirts! If you want to check out the collection, you can do so here.
Archie
Archie’s love for cheetahs came from a visit to West Midlands Safari Park. ‘I remember watching one having a drink and was fascinated.’ This is also where his much loved cheetah teddy came from. He love how fast cheetahs can run. Archie joined as a Young Ambassador after taking part in Crafty Cheetahs, organised by CCF UK, and you can see his drawing in the photo above, and he also joined our Tour de Cheetah cycle event, cycling 20 miles! ‘I really want to continue to raise money and awareness about cheetahs to help save this amazing animal.’
Lily
Lily’s obsession with cats began when she adopted her rescue cat. Since then her love for cheetahs developed and for her birthday one year, she decided that she would like to sponsor a cheetah. She’s spent many hours watching and learning about them and decided she wanted to do more than simply sponsor one. So, with the help of a friend, she created leaflets and posted them through their neighbour’s doors informing them of an upcoming cake sale to help save cheetahs, then made cakes, biscuits and bookmarks and went door to door selling their goods.
Constance
Constance read an article in The Week Junior about the plight of the cheetah and how they may become extinct if we don’t act now. As cheetahs are Constance’s favourite animal, she decided to do something to help. Constance hit the kitchen and baked fairy cakes, flapjacks and even homemade jam, then took her produce, along with the article she had read and a sign to attract customers, and went around her village making sales. Constance’s hard work is one step towards making sure cheetah numbers are plentiful when she grows up.
Ivy
Ivy absolutely loves cats, but cheetahs are her favourite. She sold some of her preloved teddies to raise funds for the cheetahs and was keen to participate in our dog walking challenge, Paws4Claws. Ivy climbed England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, with her border collie Bill, and her friend Thomas, even though the weather was terrible, raising over £500. She was very proud of her achievement and hopes the money she has raised will help conserve the endangered cheetah in its natural habitat. Ivy is hoping to go to Africa one day to see cheetahs in the wild and when she grows up she wants to be a “Cheetah Doctor”.
Leo
Leo has a youtube channel called Leo’s Animal Planet about endangered animals, and his first ever video was about cheetahs because he loves cheetahs so much and they are so endangered. ‘Being a Young Cheetah Ambassador makes me very proud. I try to fundraise money to save cheetahs and tell everyone to save cheetahs everyday.’ Leo recently organised a Race for Cheetahs event at his school with lots of fun activities and made badges to sell, and raised £420. Leo has also raised money by teaching French online to friends. He hopes that one day he can visit cheetahs in their natural habitat and see them run fast.