Shelter Rewind – What have we been doing?
I would first like to thank each and every volunteer for all of the hard work you do for the animals at the humane society.  This spring has been a prime example of how important volunteers are to the success of our organization.  May 26th and 27th marked our annual GIANT Garage Sale held at the Champaign County Fairgrounds.  This year, our volunteers were out in full force and helped accept, sort, organize, price and sell all of our donated merchandise.  All told, the humane society raised $38,000…$3,000 more than in 2005!  A big thank you to all of our garage sale volunteers, especially Mare Payne who organized the whole effort!  Another annual event that we hold during spring is our Kitten Shower, which was held at Lincoln Square Village on June 17th.  Through the extra effort of groomers, medical assistants, cat socializers and many more, we had another successful event.  Countless community members stopped by to visit with cats, make donations and adopt pets.  A great deal of volunteer effort went into the event, and we had tremendous community exposure because of it.  An extra round of applause to the event’s coordinator, Karen Koenig and all of the volunteers that came together for the Kitten Shower.  Volunteers are the heart of this organization and we thank you all for your continued support.
 
Special Animals – Look who’s been adopted!
Since I have been out of the office, I have been unable to produce a volunteer newsletter for quite some time, so I have plenty of good news for you!  We have seen some fantastic cats find new homes including Meatball, Zima, Maverick, Sweeps, Chubs, Aiden and Pavarotti.  Some of our long term resident cats to find homes include Cleo, Butler and Felix J.  Don’t forget about the tail waggers!  Sasha, Gizmo, Pikachu, Boomer, Xavier, Josh and those two older brothers, Jake and Elwood found homes as well!  I don’t have room to list all of the animals that have been adopted, so if you’re wondering about that special friend you made while volunteering, I’m happy to look it up for you!
 
Announcements – What’s New?
 We have a new volunteer position available!  The humane society is currently looking for a volunteer gardener to help us keep our gardens watered and weeded.  The gardening volunteer will need to be available at least twice a week.  Contact Michelle at michelle@cuhumane.org or 344-7297 for more information or to offer your services!

 The communal cat room has been reopened, and we all need to take extra care when working with these cats.  Remember, if germs are brought into the room, we are running the risk of infecting all 20 cats because they all share food bowls, toys, litter boxes and beds.  If you are going to socialize with the communal cat room cats, please try to work with them before you interact with caged cats.  That you to everyone for your cooperation!

A big humane society thank you to the UI Companion Animals Club for organizing and holding a Walk-a-Thon in our honor.  Through the hard work of their members and supporters, they were able to raise $2,000 to benefit the animals in our care.

 As you may have noticed, we have new High Efficiency washers and dryers in the laundry room.  These machines are very expensive so we must all be sure we use them properly.  When washing laundry, it is very important that you do not overfill the soap cup because it has a negative effect on the washer.  There is a very clearly marked MAX line in the cup that you should use.  If you aren’t sure what to do, please ask a staff member.  We need to make these machines last as long as we can.  Thanks!
 

Dog walkers:  Please note that the ‘choke chains’ that are hanging from the dog runs are NOT to be used while walking dogs.  Our kennel staff use those chains to restrain dogs and keep them separated while they are having their runs cleaned in the morning.  Dogs should be walked with collars and leashes.  We do not use choke chains or prong collars.
 

You have probably noticed that there is no longer a rack of leashes next to the laundry room door.  We have removed this rack to discourage visitors from taking dogs out of the runs on their own.  We would like a staff member or trained volunteer to remove dogs from their run for visitors to ensure the collar is tight or loose enough and that the proper equipment is being used.  When walking dogs, you can get a leash from the rack behind the front desk.

The ‘dog days of summer’ are here and we need more dog walkers to visit the humane society every day.  Many of our trained dog walkers are students that leave the area this time of year, so we need to have extra help to make sure all of the dogs get walked as much as possible.  If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by to walk a few four legged friends! (Remember, volunteers must be 18 years or older to walk dogs.)
 

If you collect a fecal sample from a cage or run, please remember that the filled fecal cup should be put in the medical lab, not back into the cage card protector.  If you have any questions, please let me know.

 I am very excited to tell you that we have just gotten in our latest delivery of CCHS Volunteer T-shirts!  We have small, medium, large and XL available in both red and grey.  The shirts are available for $5.00 each and the humane society accepts cash, checks and credit.  Ask Rachel, Katie or Michelle to purchase yours today!

 When you are cleaning the small animal cages, please keep in mind that any small animals housed in aquariums should get shredded paper as their bedding instead of using the shredded pine chips.

 Don’t forget, we are still looking for adult volunteers to fill the following positions: medical lab assistant, cat isolation assistant, dog isolation assistant, nursery assistant and event coordinator.  There is detailed information available on the Announcement board in the Volunteer Center.
 
Reminders – Don’t forget!
 Adult volunteers should wear white nametags, apprentice volunteers should wear purple nametags and junior volunteers should wear orange nametags.  The blue ‘team’ tags are for students that visit us from Cunningham Children’s Home.  We have gotten a new batch of white tags and they are in the top drawer, so please use those instead of the blue ones.  Remember, you should wear a nametag at all times, even if you are wearing a CCHS t-shirt.

 The humane society will be closing at 4:00pm on Monday, July 3rd and will be closed on Tuesday, July 4th.  Volunteers should be out of the building on the 3rd by 4:00pm.  We encourage volunteers to work with us on the holiday between 8:00am and 12:00pm.  Let me know if you have any questions.
 

If you clean up fecal matter, urine or vomit, please dispose of it in the laundry room garbage cans only.  This type of garbage should not be disposed of at the front desk because it causes the unpleasant odor to linger and is offensive to our visitors, staff and volunteers.
 

Soiled laundry should be placed in the large, white laundry bin only.  If soiled laundry is left any where else (outside the door, on the washing machines, etc.) it may be mistaken as clean and used on a different animal.  Thank you!
 

Please use the west door when taking dogs in and out of the building as much as you can to prevent traffic jams at the front door.  Remember, you should not be using the front doors at all before we open for the day.
 

Along the same line, please make every effort to keep dogs on short leashes when walking through the shelter.  Dogs that are not housed in the same run should not come in contact with one another.
 

The Announcement board in the Volunteer Center is a great source of information about new positions, upcoming events and exciting humane society information.  Please make sure to consult this board every time you volunteer to keep informed!
 

Cat socializers:  The shower curtain rings should be used only on cat cages.  We do not need to mark small animal cages with them.  Remember, if you socialize a cat for the second time in a day, they do no need a second ring.  One per cage per day is all we need!
 

Part of volunteering with the humane society includes helping staff keep adoption rooms and visitor areas clean and tidy.  If you see newspapers or donations that need to be put away, please pitch in!  If there is a mess on the floor, we count on you to help us.  Thank you so much for all that you do throughout the day.  It’s the little things that make the big difference.
 

If you have medical concerns about animals, please be sure to use the health communication log located next to the medical lab.  If these concerns are marked on animal information update sheets, the lab staff may not find out about them in time.  On the same note, if you have an emergency situation, speak to a member of our staff immediately.  If you have any questions about the different communication logs, please let me know!
 

Please keep an eye on the hallway that leads to the adoptable dog area.  There should not be garbage cans, dirty laundry or other debris in the hallway.  All of those things belong in the laundry room.  Having garbage in the hallway is not attractive to potential adopters.
 
Notable Notes – Did you know?
 Our first annual volunteer recognition dinner, “Our Volunteers Are Stars!” was a smashing success!  We would like to thank everyone for coming and congratulate our award winners.  We all had a really great time celebrating the achievements of humane society volunteers and look forward to doing it each year!  If you were at this event and have any suggestions on how to improve the event, or tell us about something that you liked, please send me a note.  We appreciate your input.
 We have a volunteer who is looking for fabric to make doggy bandanas.  If you are interested in making a contribution, contact mcmaster@soltec.net.
 
The World Needs Volunteers…
“A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full.  But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty.” ~ G. Donald Gale.

Katie Widlacki
Volunteer Coordinator
Champaign County Humane Society
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
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