Champaign County Humane Society Volunteer Newsletter
July 2005
July is a very busy month for us at the humane society, so bear with me if this newsletter is a bit lengthy. We have two big events happening this month, and we need your help!! As you already know, we are holding our annual Kitten Shower on July 16th (10:00am - 3:00pm) at Lincoln Square Village in Urbana. We need volunteers to help with grooming in the weeks before the Kitten Shower. We also need help setting up at the event site the night before. Most importantly, we need your help at the event. We need as many volunteers as we can get to help keep an eye on the animals and help adopters. If you are interested in this event, there is a sign up sheet in the Volunteer Center, or you can e-mail me with your shifts. You will find an attachment of the Kitten Shower flyer with this newsletter. Please feel free to distribute it to your friends, coworkers and family. You can also hang the flyers in your area, but please make sure to get permission before putting flyers up on private property. Check out the announcement section of this newsletter for information on the other big July event!
Great News - Special Animal Adoptions
July saw many special animals find great homes! All of our cat socializers know Babs, the cute calico cat who was here for a very long time, well Babs was adopted this month! Along with Babs we said fond goodbyes to Jada and Nine West. Our dog walkers will be happy to know that Disco Inferno was adopted into a great home, too! We also placed Calayla and Wrigley into great homes (the little guys need families, too!).
Announcements
* As many of you may know, there has been a lot of discussion in the news regarding the humane society's relationship with local animal control agencies. We have been in contract with the animal control agencies of Champaign County, the City of Champaign and the City of Urbana for many years. This means that we have been accepting stray animals on behalf of these agencies. As of July 1st, there will be a change in the procedure for stray animals in our area. If a stray animal is found, it will be directed to the building (currently referred to as the Physical Plant) where Art Bartell Road intersects with the humane society entrance.
For the first few weeks, if a community member is looking for their lost pet, they should contact Animal Control at the county's Brookens Administration Building (384-3798) for information, as the new facility will not have computers on site for a few weeks. The humane society will continue to accept owner surrendered animals, but animals picked up by animal control officers and those brought in by finder will go through this new facility.
We will accept animals deemed adoptable by the county staff from the new facility after their stray time is over so we can place them for adoption. Please contact our shelter manager Michelle McKnight michelle@cuhumane.org with any questions.
* The humane society will be closed on July 4th for the holiday. Our staff will still be here and we would love to see you! We still need animal socializers, dog walkers and cage cleaners on holidays. Please come visitus after 8:30am on the 4th of July!
* Don't forget, I will be out of the office from July 7th through July 11th. If you have any general questions or need to schedule Junior or Apprentice volunteer hours, feel free to speak with any front desk staff member. If you have urgent problems your contacts are Michelle McKnight (michelle@cuhumane.org) and Melissia Wilson ( melissia@cuhumane.org). You can reach them at the humane society by phone as well.
* ANIMAL PLANET EXPO: Animal Planet and cable companies across the country have teamed up to offer Animal Planet Expo - a fun and free event with special guests and activities the entire family can enjoy, including a tent for CCHS! The Expo will visit 15 cities in 2005, and will be in Champaign's Dodds Park on July 9th. It's a one-of-a- kind family-oriented program that is both entertaining and informative. We will be there with information about our shelter, interactive humane education games and more! We will need volunteers to help us transport our animals back and forth between the humane society and the event site throughout the day. Visit our website for details on the expo.
* We are still in need of volunteers to commit to cleaning cages with our staff in the morning. The hours between 8:00am and 11:00am are dedicated to cleaning all of the cages in our shelter, and we would be able to concentrate on shelter improvement projects if we had extra help in the mornings. If you are available in the mornings, just let me know!
* We are planning a lot of great shelter improvement projects in the next few months. We will need groups of volunteers to do different tasks like weeding the garden, cleaning up the yard, digging out the driveway, painting in the shelter, and lots of other great assignments. I will send out a message when we have details about these projects, but keep us in mind!
* When school begins in August we are going to get more requests for guided tours at the humane society. Since we are still in the development stages of our humane education program, we do not have staff members available to guide these tours. If you have experience or interest in working with children contact me and we can train you to guide tours through the humane society!
Reminders
* All volunteers, please remember to sign in and out each and every time
you are in the humane society. It is important that we keep track of where
our volunteers are spending their time. If you need a new timesheet, they
are located on the west wall of the Volunteer Center.
* As I mentioned last month, the Nursery (the room behind the large dog
adoption room) is now closed for the summer. During 'kitten season' we get
many litters of kittens that need special care, so we devote the room to
them. We are in need of volunteers to help us care for these little guys.
Nursery Volunteers will need to commit to a two to three hour schedule at
least once a week. You will be responsible for weighing the kittens,
cleaning cages when needed, giving treatments when needed and helping our
medical staff with various tasks involving the kittens. If you are
interested in this tough, yet rewarding job, just let me know!
* Just to repeat, in order to remain active in our volunteer program you
are asked to volunteer at least one hour every four months. We would, of
course, prefer to see you more often, but we do understand that you have
several different things going on at once. If you are unable to volunteer
due to extenuating circumstances, you will be kept on the active list if I
am notified in a timely manner.
* Dog walkers - if it rains and you are walking dogs, please remember to
bring your paw towel in the building when you are done for the day. You
should NOT leave towels at the front door at any time.
* If you notice newspapers or supplies left at the front door or at the
counter, please notify a staff member and assist them in bringing the
donations in the building.
* Don't forget that volunteers are not to use the front door before we
open to the public at 11:00am or on holidays.
* JUNIOR AND APPRENTICE VOLUNTEERS: You must be 18 years old to walk
dogs (no exceptions). We have had several young volunteers walking dogs on
their own and there are several problems with this. Some of our dogs are
too strong for small hands to hold on to. There is potential for the dog
getting away, hurting the volunteer or running toward another dog. If a
junior volunteer has a mentor that has gone through dog walking training
with Marlene, they can walk the dog and have the junior volunteer with them,
but the adult must have the dog under their control at all times. Thank you
for your cooperation on this one.
* Don't forget to keep an eye out for heat exhaustion as the weather gets
warmer. If a dog breathes with an open mouth for an extended period of time
after a walk, alert a staff member. If you see a cat open-mouth breathing
at any time, alert a staff member. Please help us keep all water bowls full
of cool, fresh water at all times.
* If you are volunteering and notice something that needs to be done,
please pitch in and give us a hand! Volunteers are welcome to clean cages,
replenish water, clean get acquainted rooms, put away newspapers and any
other tasks that need to be done. If you aren't certain about a specific
task, just ask a staff member!
* If you are volunteering before we open at 11:00am, please be courteous
of the staff. We have a lot of work to do before we are ready to open to
the public, and it is helpful to have volunteers give us a hand. If you are
going to be using the get acquainted rooms before we open, it would be
helpful if you cleaned (swept, put away toys) the room before and after you
use them. Oftentimes our front desk staff will have to keep moving
volunteers around to get finished with their cleaning. It would make the
morning cleaning a lot quicker if you pitched in with this. Thanks!
* I have mentioned this in the last few months at orientations, but for
those of you who may not have heard, I would appreciate it if you would make
an effort to fold your nametags before throwing them away. We have been
scrubbing nametag residue off of the volunteer desk almost daily. In order
to keep the Volunteer Center clean and presentable, it would be helpful to
keep nametags off of the desk surface.
Notable Notes
* A big thank you to Karen Koenig, who is the event chair for our Kitten Shower. Karen is devoting a great deal of time and energy in this event to help us raise money for the humane society and get some animals adopted. We would not be able to hold such great events if not for our fantastic volunteers!
Quotable Quotes
This month's quote comes from the greatest mother/daughter volunteer team we have. The dynamic duo, Peggy & Joanne!
"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole." ~ Roger Caras
Volunteers are worth their weight in gold. ~ Katie Widlacki