Champaign County Humane Society Volunteer Newsletter - June 2005

The CCHS GIANT Garage Sale has been a lot of hard work, and a lot of fun! A GIANT thanks to those who were able to make it out to the fairgrounds to help with intakes, pricing and cleaning. As of this writing the sale is still one day away, but I'm sure by the time you read this we will have had a great sale. Many of the faithful garage sale volunteers that we have have been working the sale for many years, some since the very beginning! This year we have seen a lot of new faces, too! We all owe a huge thank you to these volunteers for helping to raise tens of thousands of dollars each year with this great sale!

Extra thanks to Mare Payne - the event chair for putting in countless hours at the fairgrounds and beyond! The event would not be moving as smoothly if we didn't have Mare on our side.

Great News - Special Animal Adoptions

May was a HUGE month for animal adoptions! Some of our very favorite long term residents finally got their chance in a forever home! Everyone knows Kramer, the spunky little orange and white tabby that has been with us for many months; well he finally found a home! Some of the other cats that we saw find great homes are Pacha, Chips Ahoy, Ivan, and everyone's favorite Sarah! Let's not forget about the dogs that found families. We saw Lovergirl and Foxy Lady, the cute little Pit Bull type dogs get great homes along with Goliath and Hotpants!

Announcements

 Don't forget, I will be out of the office from May 30th through June 5th, if you have general questions or need to sign up for junior/apprentice hours you can speak with a front desk staff member. If you have urgent problems your contact people are Michelle McKnight and Melissia Wilson. They can be reached at the shelter by phone or by e-mail at michelle@cuhumane.org and melissia@cuhumane.org

 We need volunteers for the Kitten Shower! For those of you who haven't been around for our Kitten Shower, it is a great adoptathon and fundraiser that we hold every summer after 'kitten season'. We hold the event at Lincoln Square Mall in Urbana and take donations of money, food and supplies. The date of the actual event is July 16th from 10:00am-3:00pm. We need LOTS of volunteers for the event, but we also need volunteers in the days before the Kitten Shower to help clip nails, groom, add collars and make cage cards. The day before the shower we need volunteers to help transport supplies to the Mall. The morning of the 16th we will be starting at 8:30 at the mall and will be there until around 5:30 cleaning up and transporting back. I will have more details at the Volunteer Center at the humane society for you to sign up for your shifts. (This will be available the second week of June.) Look for updates while you are here!

 We need volunteers to commit to cleaning cages in the morning with our front desk staff to give the staff more time to spend time with the animals and work on kennel enrichment projects. We clean cages in the mornings from 8:00am - 11:00am. Please let me know if you are interested in this!

The humane society relies on foster volunteers to care for our young, sick or injured animals. If you are interested in becoming a foster volunteer, contact Amy Kinnett at foster@cuhumane.or foster@cuhumane.org for details!

 Now that kitten season has begun, we have closed off the cat room behind the dog adoption room. During the next few months this room will be used to house our kittens and mom cats until they are available for adoption. These cats should not be socialized with and visitors are not allowed in this room. If you are interested in being trained to work with these kittens (weighing, treating, etc.) let me know! You will need to commit to a schedule of volunteering for this position.

 Reminders

 In order to remain active within the volunteer program at the humane society you are asked to volunteer at least once every four months. We would prefer to see you more often, but we understand that many of you have other obligations and can not make it out here as often as you would like. If you do not log volunteer hours in a four month time period, you will be contacted via e-mail or mail letting you know that. If you are unable to volunteer due to extenuating circumstances you will be kept on the active list. If you have any questions about this, just let me know.

 Dog Walkers: If you notice any dogs that are particularly hard to handle (pulls a lot, mouthy, etc.) go to the dog walker corner and fill out a PhD suggestion sheet. Our PhD coordinator will take all recommendations into consideration when choosing dogs for the program!

 When using the grooming room, please be sure that you do not remove any supplies from the room. Our grooming volunteers rely on their scissors, brushes and other supplies to groom our animals and it is difficult to do so without proper supplies. If you notice any supplies in the shelter that have 'grooming room' on them, please take them back to the grooming room.

 Now that summer is here we need to review the volunteer dress code. You should NEVER wear sandals or high heeled shoes to the shelter because you run the risk of falling on wet floors or tripping over animals. Shorts should be worn only at your own risk - even if you are doing cat socializing, you still come in contact with dogs and there is a good chance that they can jump and scratch you accidentally. Please keep in mind that you need to make sure that your shorts aren't too short while volunteering, as well. Use your best judgment when choosing tank tops or sleeveless shirts. Do not wear shirts with offensive words on them or shirts that are too revealing. Please keep in mind that while you are volunteering with us you are a representative of the humane society and we would appreciate compliance with these dress guidelines.

 Notable Notes

 A big thank you to Marlene Walker who was the event chair for our annual Bark in the Park - Canine Carnival. Marlene donated a lot of time and energy to make that a great event. A lot of volunteers had a great time and the dogs did, too! We raised over a thousand dollars!!

 As the weather gets warmer we need your help to make sure each animal has clean, fresh water at all times. We also need you to keep your eyes out for signs of exhaustion which include open-mouth panting, listlessness and erratic behavior. Open-mouth panting in dogs is common after walks outside, but if you notice them doing it for longer than a few minutes after returning inside, alert a staff member. If a cat does ANY open-mouth panting alert a staff member immediately.

 Quotable Quotes

Don't forget to send me your favorite quotes for a chance to have yours entered into our newsletter. At the end of the year we will choose the best quote of the year and provide a small prize! Your quotable quote for the month comes from a very devoted foster mom, Judi Nordstrom!

 "To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace." ~ Milan Kundera

Thanks for all that you do ~ Katie Widlacki Katie Widlacki Volunteer Coordinator Champaign County Humane Society 1911 East Main Street Urbana, Il 61802

2.volunteer@cuhumane.org

www.cuhumane.org

Phone: (217) 344-7297 ~ Fax: (217) 344-7299