The Story of Phil Anthropist coming to PI.

It was nearly two months since Fred had told us that he was leaving the iam1ru group and things weren’t looking good for a replacement.
I (Scott...son of the Freakshow) was flying home from the Amazon Rainforest and had to stay in Philadelphia for a night before I could catch a flight to Kitchener the next morning. I was sitting out on the porch one evening and I happened to see a figure running down the street. A little surprised, I tried to follow the strange figure down the street. Whatever it was, it was fast. It ran up one street and down another, almost faster than I could follow. Just when I started to catch up to it, ZOOM! It was gone again.

I was out of breath and ready to give up the chase when suddenly the strange figure turned into the zoo. I watched as the shape ran deep into the zoo and jumped inside a one of the cages. Exhausted, I went home.

The next day, I got up early and went to the zoo. I found the cage and was surprised to find that it was full of monkeys! I was puzzled. What was a monkey doing in the city at night? How did it get out of the cage? As I stood there scratching my head, one of the fuzzy critters came to me and asked if I was the one following him the night before. (It’s a good thing I speak perfect monkey, huh?). Over the next few hours, this monkey explained that all he saw during the day were lonely people. He told me of how he lived at the zoo and saved all the peanuts that the customers would give him and how he would escape the zoo at night to bring food to the hungry. In shock, I asked the obvious question: “Why?” The monkey answered “I just think that there is more to life than getting handouts from the peanut gallery.”

I was so happy about finding a monkey that loved helping people that I almost forgot about my plane ride back to Canada! The monkey, whose name was Phil, said that he had heard about the iam1ru team and wanted to join. He even made a short video for me to show our friends. When I got home, I quickly showed the video he made, to the team. Everyone agreed that Phil was perfect for our new mascot! Hooray for Phil!  
You can view Phil's video here.
Phil is looking for more friends on Facebook.  Become a friend here.

Well boys & girls, it has finally happened: Fred the monkey has gone Hollywood! He left our small operation here at Possibilities International and headed for the big screen.   I know, I know... it’s shocking! One minute he’s traveling overseas with our teams making children smile and the next he’s caught up in fame and fortune - making millions for his starring role in “Monkey Mayhem 2: The Chimp Strikes Back.”

What happened you ask?

I remember like it was yesterday..

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining on the fresh coat of snow that had appeared overnight and there were some song birds singing sweetly in the morning air. Fred was doing what he did best: throwing parties for orphans. There were balloons, sparklers, fireworks, photographers – the works. All of the sudden, a little girl named Ari came over to Fred with an unusual request.

“Will you help me get my kitty?” Ari asked with tears in her eyes, “She’s stuck up in that tree”.  Fred simply nodded and bolted from the crowd, scaling the tree in a matter of seconds. The crowd that had gathered stared up in amazement as Fred jumped from limb to limb. It was as if he were made for climbing trees. Just as Fred got to the top where the kitty was, a violent wind started blowing, almost ripping the tree from the earth. The crowd shouted in terror as Fred grabbed hold of Ari’s kitty and clung to the top branch with all his might. The photographers whipped out their cameras and started snapping pictures of the heroic rescue and the crowd shouted and cheered as the monkey slowly brought the kitty down to its owner.

It just so happened that a man in the crowd was a film director and, having witnessed the bravery and general studliness of Fred the monkey, approached him with an opportunity. Over the next few months, we began to see less and less of Fred. He didn’t seem quite like himself. When someone would invite him to another party for orphans or a fundraiser, he would make up excuses to stay home. He bought a cell phone (something that monkeys do not need) and some sunglasses that were too big for his face. Once I went to go see him, but he said that he couldn’t hang out because he had to “hit the clubs” and “shake what his mamma gave him”. I don’t know what any of that means but it doesn’t sound good. Needless to say, Fred was showing up less and less often and then one day, he announced that he was done.

And so began the search for our new mascot. But not just any funky monkey will do.  We’re looking for a monkey with a BIG heart.  A monkey that cares more about helping others and less about seeing his face on billboards all over the country.  Our search has taken us all over the world and we think we may have finally found some monkey who’s JUST right for PI.  Stay tuned to this website to find out who he is! AND for additional breaking info, join the iam1ru Facebook group and become a FAN.