It all started with a sick lion.

Athos the 8-year-old lion lives at In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue & Education Center. When he was was diagnosed with histoplasmosis, a chronic, non-contagious fungal infection, he started a treatment of daily medication. Medicating a lion isn’t easy, and his medicine was hidden in the 10 pounds of meat he was eating every day.

Between feeling under the weather and not liking the taste of the medicine in the meat, Athos stopped eating his regular diet of ground meat. The keepers at In-Sync Exotics had to get creative, and they found themselves stopping by Wild Fork Foods to purchase unique meats, with new flavors, to encourage the sick lion to eat.

Lon Ricker of Ricker Dynamics, a consulting company that assists nonprofits with fundraising and other marketing and engagement opportunities, stepped in to help. In-Sync has been a client of Ricker’s for five years, in which time he’s helped to secure many in-kind donations in addition to financial support for the rescue nonprofit.  “I’m all about relationship building.”, said Ricker, “but its also important that when someone supports a client with a gift, whether financially or in-kind, that they receive the recognition they deserve.”

When Wild Fork Foods found out, they stepped up and donated two pallets of a variety of meats to In-Sync (not only was Athos on a special diet, but many of the 75 big cats at the sanctuary are geriatric and require game meat to keep them eating).

Wild Fork was so happy to assist the In-Sync with this very specific need, that they decided to continue with their support by hosting a special event to benefit both In-Sync Exotics and 5 Loaves Food Pantry.

“As with any food supplier, we will occasionally have product that is near the ‘use by date’ that we can’t put on the shelves,” says Brittany Holder, Field Marketing Manager Southwest Region.  “Everything is frozen and great quality, but we just can’t put it on the shelves.  When Lon contacted us about In-Sync Exotics we were excited about the opportunity to help Athos.”

On February 22nd, 2023, from 5-7PM, Wild Fork committed to donating 15% of the sales to In-sync Exotics and 5 Loaves Food Pantry. In addition to donating proceeds, they donated pallets of food to both In-Sync and 5 Loaves, which directly put food on the tables of people in our community.

Today, Athos the lion has recovered from his illness and is doing well, thanks in part to the kindness of a local merchant that rallied around his care. It’s the Wylie Way!