"People Helping Parrots, Parrots Helping People"
Thank you EVERYONE for supporting World Parrot Expo! Missed the talks? You can still see them at
World Parrot TV (sign up)!!!
About Flight Club Foundation
Parrots are a fundamentally iconic species of animal that represents the health of the planet and the communities of people who affect them. Parrots can be owned as pets, yet are endangered, exotic species as well. This website and the Foundation were created to help the general public and the parrot community understand all aspects of how parrots impact people's lives.
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The Flight Club, on which this Foundation is based, is a membership-based organization similiar in nature to Bird Clubs in our area. Flight Club created the notion of the need for parrots to participate in PARROT PLAYDATES. To not only learn to possibly fly but also to socialize both birds and people alike.
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The relaxed, social atmosphere of the club for the people and birds often tantalizes regular members of the public to watch the birds antics and socialization. We offer our Playdates for anyone to attend, but restrict parrot attendance to needing veterinary exams and first time non bird visits.
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People who had no idea about our program have shown up at the two community centers we rent monthly walk away remembering us for years. Many comments such as "I had no idea..." or "I did not care until now..." pervade the many events we attend as Flight Club Foundation.
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Parrots are a critical ambassador for people to fully understand environmental awareness and lift the blind of typical NIMBY attitudes--"Not In My Back Yard". We have had great success learning more about what we need to do to change when we have animals that are so alien from us yet can speak like us.
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Flight Club Foundation has since spread it's wings from being a social club to being a vast networking agency to help parrots and people everywhere. Equally realizing how important all forms of parrot care and acquisition are needed for a healthy future. This includes the need to support humane care in legislation to promoting breeding to linking to quality adoption programs to sanctuary to educational outreach and more. No one part of the wheel can break as all are needed.
Flight Club History
The Flight Club Foundation was created by Debbie Goodrich, Kathy Morrison and Jackie Cottrell in December of 2012.
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Debbie Goodrich, Current President and CEO of Flight Club Foundation, has been a professional bird trainer, educator and Curator of Birds since 1996. She is a professional member of IAATE, ABMA, IAABC. She has owned her own business, Parrot Ambassadors, that has been operational since 2001. Before 1996, she received her BA in Psychobiology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, specializing in animal behavior and cognition.
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Kathy Morrison, Current Treasurer of Flight Club Foundation, is working on her PhD thesis, has a reintroduction program with Buffon's Macaws in Columbia and has raised two sons who also have their PhDs. She brings many of the sciences and discpline and in situ conservation work to Flight Club Foundation's information base.
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Jackie Cottrell was the one who actually started the entire concept of having parrots flying indoors after working many years with Chris Biro. With his tutalage, Jackie learned about the many aspects of flying parrots require, including the most important one--how to get them back if they fly off. She has had pet parrots since very young and currently houses over 13 greenwing macaws in outdoor aviaries as well as in her home. She's the one who has kept Fly Days going, no matter what and we will always honor that tradition and foundation!
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Together, they created a very small, invite-only Flight Club that really acted more like "Fight Club" that no one talked about. There were other, larger clubs in the area promoting indoor flight and we felt we did not want to compete and remain exclusive to close friends. The cost of renting our property was low at the time.
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Things changed abruptly when many of the bird clubs of the area and bird based events of the area began collapsing and then disappearing entirely. More members became interested in joining us. Then, interested in starting a bird-based event from scratch.
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From an invite-only band of friends to an international philanthropy helping parrots, we cannot wait to see what our future brings for both people and parrots!
What Flight Club Does Now
Created in 2013 as a part of the founding of Flight Club Foundation, World Parrot Expo has operated in full or in part consecutively every year. Seattle Parrot Expo features the following "Areas": Exhibitor Hall, Featured Speaker Room, Live Bird Area, Photo Booth, FCF Store, Auction, Raffle, Parrot Games, and Hall of Knowledge and Parrot Tales. Many volunteers have contributing to helping create new educational ideas for World Parrot Expo! We look forward to your ideas!
Flight Club Foundation opened their membership to the public officially in 2014 after several other public clubs closed. We felt the need to continuing gathering live with our parrots to be fundamentally important for parrots' psyche as well as their owners. Before the pandemic, we peaked our number of times and locations to 4 Playdates a month. We currently operate to Playdates a month at our Tacoma Location. All non-bird attendance is FREE. Please file veterinary information about your bird before attending as well as coming without your bird to visit our members first.
Flight Club Foundation has been a corestone in supporting all the local bird club, reptile and national events that we can afford to attend, sponsor, volunteer or whatever at. We feel attending and seeing each other in person is fundamentally important to the future of better understanding and stewardship of parrots and people. Pictured is one of many events we do with PACNWRS.
World Parrot Expo fundraising efforts provides our sole ability to provide this small grant specifically and only for parrot-based organizations to receive recogition. The criteria for our Parrot Grant is that the organization works with in situ or ex situ parrot conservation projects that help both parrots and the local community or that the organization is a scientific body researching the next improved welfare discovery for parrots. Take a look at the grants we have given out so far on our Parrot Grant Page!
We assist either in person, on email, on phone call, dozens of annual fly offs of parrots across the country. We have walked over 300 miles helping owners of the local WA community look for parrots including climbing roofs and trees. Our extensive team of long-term outdoor flying and understanding work we did in recoveries from the days of Chris Biro's Yahoo group. Jackie, one of our founders worked with Chris directly for years and our knowledge comes from them and the further personal recoveries we have done now for over a decade as a group. Pictured is the phone assistance recovery of Pan the Yellow Naped Amazon.
P = Parrot
A = Adoption
R = Rescue (and recovery)
R = Rehabilitation
O= Organization
T= Triage
PARROT PROGRAM: Flight Club Foundation is an officially licensed Parrot Humane Society of Washington State. Unlike the typical humane societies for dogs and cats, we are a field-based society that assists and partners with local humane societies like Kitsap Humane, Kent PAWS program, Macaw Rescue and Sancutary, Mollywood, 9 Lives Rescue, Everlasting Hope Rescue, and so many more. Every year, we take on cases of fly offs, behavioral assistance, rescue of abandoned or neglected aninmals, rehomes, rehabilitation. World Parrot Expo and ongoing support all year long helps expand our network that is based in our Membership's ability to help with foster and care until we find the next amazing place for our parrots to roost and enjoy. Our goals of this program:
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1. Receive a large operational grant and approval of the City to host a "small exotic animal" humane society that does focus on very popular pets that are not dogs cats or rabbits.
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2. Provide a disaster location that can quarantine large quantites of parrots.
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It is our goal to provide a measurable, quantifiable unit and standard to hold all emitters to, the Global Carbon Index (GCI) and approach emitters with small, accomplishable goals toward carbon neutrality vs. total restructuring of current infrastructure. The approach allows investments to grow carbon sinking technology and focus on small, attainable accomplishments leading to greener outcomes vs. contemporary approaches of bans or system-wide changes that are not attainable with the immediacy required.
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Future Program Goals
Some of the Program goals of our Future:
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Federal Service registration for Parrots .
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Creating a "Parrot Trainer" as an attainable career goal like a dog, horse or dolphin trainer.
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Content creating and influencing.
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More workshops or classes in conjunction with partners.
Officers
Flight Club Foundation Board
Debbie Goodrich
President
Jackie Cottrell
Vice President
Ellen Lane
Secretary
Dawn Anderson
Co-President
Kathy Morrison
Treasurer
Renee Landin
Co-Secretary
Board of Directors
Melody Hennigh
Behavioral Advisor
Ali Morland
Ombudsman
Ron Jellum
Director of Acquisitions
George Olah PhD
Scientific Advisor
Bob Dawson
Sanctuary Advisor
Erica Max
Avicultural Director
Dr. Brigdget Ferguson DVM, ABVP - Avian
Veterinary Director