“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”  This quote, taken from the book “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss, was used by Alyssa in her bat mitzvah speech and is one she believes all of us should remember and live by.  

Daughter of Leslie and Ray Lutker of unincorporated St. Louis in the Creve Coeur area, Alyssa has always had a strong passion for animals and the environment.  She chose to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world’s leading conservation organization, for her bat mitzvah project.  “I felt that this project, in some small way, will make up for those species that are already extinct, lost to us and future generations as a direct result of humans,” she said.

In another part of her bat mitzvah speech, Alyssa commented, “Many of our world’s animals are being driven out of their natural habitats due to our world’s progression and growth…Animals have no where to go and are not so gradually going extinct. We will grow up in a world where our generations to come will see only pictures of these great animals but will never actually get to see the real thing.”

She continues: “In order to break this old chain we need to start a new chain of ‘going green.’ We will probably never be able to bring back the animals that have already died out, but we can stop more from doing so, and make up for what humans have done to our planet one step at a time.”

Over the course of a few months, Alyssa placed collection boxes in various businesses in the community. She also created a Panda page, “Alyssa’s Project for Wildlife”, on the WWF web site where her friends and family could make on-line donations.  And, during the B’nai El Purim carnival, Alyssa had set up a collection station.  After contributing some of her monetary gifts, Alyssa, a student at Parkway Northeast Middle School, donated $540 to the World Wildlife Fund.

For more information about the World Wildlife Fund, visit www.worldwildlife.org.  You can find Alyssa’s Panda page under the Donate button.