Shelter Shorts July 2014

2014 BOARD 2

TREASURER’S REPORT 2

PAST FUNDRAISER UPDATES

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UPCOMING FUNDRAISERS 4

OTHER NEWS 6

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

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RABAS MEMBERS 8

SSSSHELTERHELTERHELTERHELTER SHORTSSHORTSSHORTSSHORTS

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This Issue

Coming up 2014201420142014

InsideInsideInsideInside

July

17th-RABAS Gen-eral Meeting

JULY 2014

Adoptions, Losses, People Looking for a New Pet, Pets in Need of a Forever Home

Flicka, a beautiful cat in need of a home is currently being cared for at Tender Care Animal Hospi-tal. A family had adopted Flicka, but it seems that Flicka was quite happy being one of the “clinic” cats at Tender Care, and did not adjust as well as everyone had hoped she would. So once again she is back at Tender Care Animal Hospital joining Surry and Hope.

Our sympathy goes out to June Burns in the loss of her cat, Sneakers. We are truly sorry for your loss. But as the saying goes, when one door closes another door opens. In this case, two doors opened – the one at Tender Care and June’s door. Alexis, June’s daughter who works at Tender Care saw a golden opportunity in helping her mom fill the void left by the loss of Sneakers and also giving Marie (another Tender Care “clinic” cat in need of a home) a chance at a “forever home”. According to Alexis, June and Marie were meant for each other, but it was touch and go for the first few days as Marie went into hiding as she adjusted to her new home. Thanks to June’s pa-tience as well as the socialization from Tender Care Staff, Marie has come a long ways since this past March when she was a feral cat and would not allow anyone to pet her. As you may recall, Marie was 1 of 3 feral cats living on the deck of Sandy and Sam Halverson. Through money raised from dog obedience classes, the cats were spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and tested for FIV and feline leukemia. Dr. Jami and staff tried to tame all 3, but 2 of the 3 could not be tamed and so-cialized well enough to be placed in homes. They were returned to Sandy’s and will be outside cats. But Sandy provides care, food, water and shelter for them. Even though Sandy cannot yet pick them up, they do allow Sandy to pet them. Even though this was not the outcome Sandy and I had hoped for, we both feel that these two cats are happy and healthy. Thanks once again to Ten-der Care for trying to tame them and to everyone who took Dog Obedience Classes as it is because of you that we were able to provide the care needed for the cats.

Chaz, a registered, purebred 1 year old black lab was in need of a new home. Chaz’ owner could no longer care for him. Thanks to the PDC Police Department, some concerned citizens, and RABAS member, Julie Whyte, Chaz now has a loving home!

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President- Randy Paske

1300 East Wells Street

Prairie du Chien, WI 53821

608-622-7855-– [email protected]

Vice-President / Newsletter Editor— Bev Pozega

32398 Gran Grae Road


608-326-2914– wyalusing [email protected]

Treasurer—Jill Cipra

1014 South17th Street


608-326-4870– [email protected]

Secretary—Merilee Pleggenkuhle

815 North Wacouta Avenue

Prairie du Chien, WI

647-330-2675– merileepleggenkuhle@

Board Member- Julie Whyte

322 South Wacouta Avenue


608-306-0499- [email protected]

Board Member- John Ryan

12890 Markley Hollow Road

Bagley, WI 53801

608-996-2281

Board Member- Donna Heilmann

1702 East Fowler Street


Current balance as of June 19, 2014

$144,062.23

Checking Account Balance - $5070.19; Total C.D.s- $138,992.04

Treasurer’s ReportTreasurer’s ReportTreasurer’s ReportTreasurer’s Report Jill Cipra Treasurer

Check us out on the WebCheck us out on the WebCheck us out on the WebCheck us out on the Web www.riversandbluffsanimalshelter.org

Thanks to randy Paske for keeping this website up to date!

Like us on FacebookLike us on FacebookLike us on FacebookLike us on Facebook

Rivers and Bluffs animal shelter-pdc

2014 Board of Directors

RIVERS AND BLUFFS ANIMAL SHELTERRIVERS AND BLUFFS ANIMAL SHELTERRIVERS AND BLUFFS ANIMAL SHELTERRIVERS AND BLUFFS ANIMAL SHELTER

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SHELTER SHORTS is a monthly newsletter intended to keep Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter volunteers and sup-porters connected. With everyone’s hectic schedules, we know it is often difficult, if not impossible to attend month-ly meetings or to work at all of our fundraisers.

Everyone is invited to submit articles for the newsletter. To do so, please call Bev at 608-326-2914 or email her at [email protected].

Monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Thurs-day of every month at the Prairie du Chien City Hall. Meetings begin at 6:00 p.m. Please use the back door. Everyone is welcome and encour-aged to attend. The next general meeting is Ju-ly 17th. Board Meetings will now be held on an as needed basis. The only scheduled board meeting will be the annual meeting which will be held on the 2nd Thursday in January.

Volunteer hours will be collected by Randy P. at monthly meetings or you can email your hours to Randy at [email protected].

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fundraisers

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Additional Ways to Help RABAS – As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, Rivers & Bluffs Animal Shelter has recently been accepted and enrolled as a participating organization in Thrivent Choice. Thrivent Choice is a charitable grant program that allows eligible members to recommend where Thrivent Financial distributes part of its charitable outreach grant funds each year. RABAS will be listed in the searchable online catalog program. When eligible Thrivent Financial members direct Choice Dollars to RABAS in a particular month, Thrivent Financial re-views the recommendation and makes an electronic contribution by the 10th of the following month. These funds may be used to carryout educational or charitable purposes of RABAS. If you have any questions about Thrivent Choice, please call the Member Connection Center at 1-800-847-4836 and say Thrivent Choice at the prompt or email [email protected]. For more information about the Choice Dollars plan, please go to: www.thrivent.com/thriventchoice and click on Choice Dollars. If you are not registered, there are directions to do so on the first page. . For more info on this program, please feel free to contact me by replying to this email or by phone at 326-2914. Thrivent is a national financial organization.

In addition to the Thrivent Choice Dollars Program, both Jill and Randy have been busy with additional ways to help our favorite non-profit organization.

Randy has registered RABAS with Schwan’s through their Schwan’s Cares Program.

This program will launch on or about July 15th or 16th. RABAS will make 20% of purchases as

well as $10 for each $25 gift card purchased. This is an easy way to support RABAS, espe-

cially if you are already a customer of Schwan’s. There is no labor involved for RABAS volun-

teers – money is collected through the use of a credit card and products are delivered by the

Schwan’s delivery trucks. The website to order delicious Schwan’s products delivered right to

your doo.r with 20% of the purchase price donated to RABAS is listed below.

https://schwans.flipgive.com/c/11785#.U7QGs-Z5E31.gmail

Continued on page 6

upcoming fundraisers

Speaking of Volunteers – I did not receive any replies to my request for more active volunteers at our monthly events. Please, if you can commit just a few hours for one fundraiser, it would be a big help.

January – no events February – Valentines Day Bake Sale at Tractor Supply, Nelson True Value Pet Expo

March – no events April – Pasta for Pets, Princess for an Evening

May – Nelson True Value Food Stand and Bake Sale, Rooster Andy’s Chicken Q June – Nothing on a regular basis – this year I would like to do something on June 28th at Tractor Supply

July – Nothing on a regular basis – Nothing planned for July and we are almost to the middle of the month, so probably nothing will take place.

August – Prairie Pool Puppy Paddle September – some type of dinner at Huckleberry’s

October – McGregor Fall Arts and Crafts the first 2 weekends in October November – no events

December – Wake Up Santa, Tractor Supply Bake Sale I believe that this is all that we have – many of these just involve showing up and working for a few hours. If there are any of you who would like to get more involved in Rivers & Bluffs Animal Shelter by committing to volunteering at one or more of these events, please let me know. I hope to hear from you.

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Kwik Trip gas cards

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Please continue ordering cat and dog treats from USBones.com. They donate 25% of each or-der placed, to RABAS!

RabasRabasRabasRabas---- ongoing fundraisersongoing fundraisersongoing fundraisersongoing fundraisers

phoneraiser

U. s. bones

Attention business owners!!!!

Would you like to advertise your business to hundreds of animal lovers, who spend lots of money on their faithful companions? RABAS is now offering advertising spots in the monthly, Shelter Shorts newsletter!

Contact Bev at 608-326-2914 for more information.

Describe your location by landmark or area of town.

List your hours or the time and date of your event.

Describe your special offer, and tell readers to bring in the ad to qualify.

00% OFF

Organizat ion Tel: 555 555 5555

Expiration Date: 00/00/00

ADVERTISEMENT HEADING

Organization Name


ADVERTISEMENT HEADING

Organization Name


Phoneraiser Please continue to save and donate your old cell phones, smart phones and ink car-tridges. They can be dropped off at Tender Care Animal Hospital, Radio Shack or just bring them to a RABAS meeting. Donna, thank you for your time and effort in this project.

Kwik Trip Gas Card Sales totaled $4405.00 for a donation of $440.50 for the period of May 15th through June 19th. Thanks to everyone who continues to support our efforts through the purchase of these cards. If more would purchase these cards from us, we could realize our goal of a functional building in the near future and possibly do away with labor intensive $300-$400 food stands. I realize that everyone is tired of me trying to get them to purchase Kwik Trip cards. But the fact is that if we want an animal shelter in the near future, the KT cards remain our easiest and most profitable fundraiser. With the number of active volunteers dwindling, the KT cards could keep us active in the 2nd phase of our fundraising efforts – building construction - as well as provide income once the shelter is functional. Food stands are very labor intensive. It takes a number of trips to our storage shed in hot, humid weather to get all of the items necessary and then to clean up many of those same items and return to the shed. There is a lot of behind the scene work that goes unnoticed in setting up a food stand. Please help us by contacting me through this email or by phone – 326-2914, Jill at 326-4870 or Donna at 608-379-2112. As we enter the building phase of the shelter project, the KT cards could certainly make a difference in how soon we can start construction. If just a few more people would purchase gas cards, I believe we could be realizing $500 profit every month. Again thanks to our “regular customers” who purchase cards on a monthly or weekly basis. And thanks to both Erin and Cheryl for trying to promote the KT cards to their friends and relatives. Remember, cards will be delivered to you on the same day or possibly the next day. You can email me at [email protected] or call, Jill, Donna or myself at the above numbers.

Business owners – Kwik Trip gas cards are excellent ways to show appreciation for a job well done or to recognize an employee’s birthday.

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Past fundraisers

Rooster Andy’s Chicken Q was held on Thursday, May 29th. Thanks to everyone who helped. The profit was not included in the June issue of Shelter Shorts Chicken Dinner Sales - $2800.00, Donation Jar - $183.67 for a total take in of $2983.67. Expenses – Courier Press Ad - $121.80 – Rooster Andy’s $820.00 for a net profit of $1,041.87. Again, thanks to everyone who helped by working that day, purchasing delicious chicken dinners or promoting the event.

Tractor Supply – Dog Olympics, Dog Wash and Food Stand was held on July 28th. It was last minute almost as far as planning. But thanks to a number of new volunteers (Cheryl, Steve, Erin, Peggy, Seth, Wade and Tina) as well as tried and true volunteers (Julie, Donna, Bev and Tristan) we pulled it off. I believe Cheryl, Steve, Seth, Wade and Tristan washed 12 or 13 dogs and I think there was $152 in the donation box. Donation box for food stand totaled $43. I have not yet heard from Jill how much we made on the food stand, but I believe we sold 50 brats, about 35 hot dogs and quite a bit of the pop and water left over from True Value. We did not do any advertising oth-er than the press release I wrote for local papers. Cheryl and Steve have some good ideas for the next one we do. Thanks, also to Crisse Reynolds, Crawford County’s new Animal Control Officer for coming to Tractor Supply. I know everyone enjoyed meeting Crisse and talking to her. Again, thanks to all who helped as well as to Tractor Supply for always being so willing to help us in our cause. Tractor Supply staff is great.

Beer Tasting – Due to the fact that summer is almost half over with, I really doubt if a Beer Tasting event will actually happen this summer. But, I would really like to make Yappy Hour more of a fundraiser than what it has been in the past. More on this later as well as at the August meeting.

Yappy Hour – As I said above, I would like to try to make Yappy Hour more of a fund raiser than just people showing up with their dogs and putting a few bucks in the donation jar. I have been researching Yappy Hours online and many of them sell tickets which include a drink and some type of food. I am also trying to line up some type of free entertainment – have already asked someone and if the date we pick works for him, it will be a go. It may be a bit more work, but I feel we should try something else in addition to what we have done in the past. Any comments or ideas? I will try to touch base with Bonnie from the Sawmill to see if she would be willing to help us.

Kids & Canines Summer Camp will be held on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, July 14 – 16 at Hoffman Hall, from 6-7:30. Program topics will include: Cooking for Your Dog, meet the Therapy Dogs, Doggie Arts and Crafts, Safety Around Dogs, Dis-cover & Identify Different Breeds and Bring Your Dog to Camp (Wednesday only and adults need to be present). I am excited about this and hope we will have a good turnout. Class size is limited to 10. If anyone would like to help with this, I would ap-preciate it. Or if any of you with Therapy Dogs would like to come for the kids to meet your dogs that would also be appreciat-ed. I do have one craft lined up – picture frames made out of plastic straws and cereal boxes. The frames are cute and easy and quick to make. If you know of any more fun and simple dog crafts or would like to help with the craft or cooking part of the program, please know that I won’t turn you down. Registration fee is $20. Mike U. will take care of registration. RABAS will make $15 of each registration fee. The remaining $5 will go to PdC Park and Rec.

Pounds Off People and Pets Community Dog Walk (POPP) continues, but with not many participants. I believe that Randy, Kathy and Digger and Bob and Diane Witt and Molly are the only ones walking this year. If anyone is interested, the group meets on Tuesday evenings at 6 p.m. in the parking lot just east of the Villa Louis and north of the Sculpture Park. As I write this, I am wondering if the dog walk will be held this Tuesday, July 8th because of high water. Randy usually posts status of dog walk on our website (www.riversandbluffsanimalshelter.org) or Facebook.

Foster Dogs and Prisoners –Crisse Reynolds and I did meet in June to talk about the foster dog program at the prison in PdC. Crisse continues to work with prison personnel to get this program up and running. A Memorandum of Understanding between CASA and the prison has been completed. I am still hoping to be involved with this program as the trainer.

Other news

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New fundraisers


Jill has registered RABAS with Amazon.com through a special website called AmazonSmile. Information on this program is found below. Please take the time to read the information about AmazonSmile and if you are planning on ordering items from Amazon.com, please use AmazonSmile and type in Rivers & Bluffs Animal Shelter.

About AmazonSmile What is AmazonSmile? AmazonSmile is a website operated by Amazon that lets cus-

tomers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient shopping features as on Amazon.com. The differ-ence is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile (smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

How does AmazonSmile work? When first visiting AmazonSmile, customers are prompted to select a charitable organization

from almost one million eligible organizations. In order to browse or shop at AmazonSmile, customers must first select a charita-

ble organization. For eligible purchases at AmazonSmile, the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price

to the customer’s selected charitable organization.

Is there any cost to charitable organizations or to customers? No. There is no cost to charitable organizations or to Ama-

zonSmile customers. The shopping experience is identical to Amazon.com with the added benefit that the AmazonSmile Foun-

dation will donate to the charitable organizations selected by customers.

Do you charge any administrative fees or take any deduction from the donation amount? No. Charities must register to

receive donations and have a valid bank account to which we can route donations, but there is no charge to participate and we

do not deduct any fees from the donation amount.

Can charitable organizations outside the U.S. participate? No. Eligible charitable organizations must be qualified under

Section 501(c)(3) and located in one of the 50 U.S. States or the District of Columbia.

What are spotlight charities? From time to time we may highlight one or more charitable organizations from the total list of

eligible organizations. We do this to make it easier for customers to choose an organization to support from the almost one mil-

lion available, but we do not endorse any particular organization or the causes they support. To apply for consideration as a

spotlight charity, please submit a spotlight charity application. Note that you must first register your charitable organization at

org.amazon.com. Sign in to org.amazon.com, then click the Help link at the top of the page, then under General Program Infor-

mation, select the Spotlight Charities link to access the application form.

What is the AmazonSmile Foundation? The AmazonSmile Foundation is a 501(c)(3) private foundation created by Amazon

to administer the AmazonSmile program. All donation amounts generated by the AmazonSmile program are remitted to the Am-

azonSmile Foundation. In turn, the AmazonSmile Foundation donates those amounts to the charitable organizations selected by

our customers. Amazon pays all expenses of the AmazonSmile Foundation; they are not deducted from the donation amounts

generated by purchases on AmazonSmile.

May customers make direct donations to charitable organizations through the AmazonSmile program? Not at this time.

The only way for customers to support their selected charitable organization is by shopping at smile.amazon.com.

Does the AmazonSmile Foundation take any portion of donations to fund its operations? No. Amazon funds the opera-

tions of the AmazonSmile Foundation.

How do I contact AmazonSmile? To submit a question to the org.amazon.com support team, use this contact us form.

How do I change my account information such as email address and password? Sign in to Org Central and select Set-

tings and then Edit Account Information or Contact Information. Note that if this same email address is associated with other

Amazon.com accounts such as the account you purchase products with, the name, email address, or password will also be

changed for your other Amazon.com accounts.

Thanks to Randy and Jill for setting up these to programs and to Barb Bangert for her information on Thrivent Choice Dollars. Please remember to support RABAS through these 2 new programs as well as Thrivent Choice Dollars.

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River and Bluffs Animal Shelter Membership Form

Student - $5.00 ____ Sponsor - $75.00 _____

Individual - $25.00 ____ Patron - $150.00 _____

Family - $35.00 ____ Benefactor - $500.00

I would like to make a monthly pledge of : ________ per month for a total of

$_______ per year.

Name:___________________________________

Address:_________________________________

City/State/Zip_____________________________

Email:____________________________________ Phone Number:______________________

Please mail membership form to: River and Bluffs Animal Shelter

PO Box 421, Prairie du Chien, WI 53821

July 2014 / rabas rabas rabas rabas 7

Other news

Needed: Your email address!

Please include your email address when filling out your membership form. This

is a fast and inexpensive method of communication.

Postage, paper, envelopes and printing costs add up! Electronic mailing of the

newsletter saves RABAS big $$$$!

Membership renewals & donations

Memberships – New & Renewals

Joe Hunzicker – Single; Jill & Brian Cipra – Family; Rosemary Reese - Family

Donations: Driftless Edibles – Community Monday donation; Ken Stoeffler – American Family Insurance & Mary Stoeffler – Creative Cuts Salon – sponsors for Prairie Pool Puppy Paddle (in appreciation for Bev’s roaster of German Potato Salad for Claire’s graduation party; Katherine Becklin; Walmart – Julie Whyte’s volunteerism; June Burns; Wil-liam Hamilton in appreciation for Bev’s thoughtfulness at Wyalusing State

Reminder: Annual memberships should be renewed 1 year from the month in which you joined.

Thanks to everyone who volunteered this month. Thanks to everyone who supported us through do-nations, and memberships. There are many jobs that continue to get done without recognition.

Dog Obedience Classes will begin on Wednesday, July 23rd. Once again classes will be held at Tractor Supply. Cost for 7 sessions will be $60. Dogs must be current on all vaccinations and be on some type of topical flea and tick protec-tion – proof of vaccinations and flea/tick protection is required on the first night. Classes start at 6 p.m. If you have tak-en classes before, you will save $10.

Tee Shirts/Sweat Shirts Anyone – I will soon be placing an order for Rivers & Bluffs tee shirts, sweatshirts, long sleeve tee shirts, zip up sweatshirts and hooded sweatshirts from Sports World.. If you would like to order one, please let me know. You can order any color you would like. The RABAS logo will be white. A large logo can be placed on the back or a small one on the left front or both if you would like. I hope to be placing the order by Friday, July 10th. Cost will vary based on the number that we order. I will also order a few additional tee shirts to sell at our fundraisers.

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Patron members

Jennifer Clements

Patricia Dillman

Amy & Michael Enlow

Paula Gutzmer

Stephanie McCumber

Sponsor members

Marilu Bintz

Lu DeGuzman

Donna Heilmann

family members

Randy & Linda Bedward

Tom & Marjorie Bennett

Sharon Boylen

Donna & Dale Cipra

Jill & Brian Cipra

Mike & Mary Jane Faas

Eric & Betty Frydenlund

Randi & Mike Kluesner

Randy & Kathy Paske

Jim & Kathy Powers

Jami & Ken Quick

Ron & Kathy Quamme

John & Judy Ryan Rosemary Reese

Kurt & Peggy Smith

Brent Seamans

Roberta Spires

George & Mary Tilley

Steve & Lynda Welter– Honorary

individual members

Tori Armstrong

June Burns

Alexis Burns

Deb Cross

Phil Dwornik

Dawn Eggers

Monthly pledge member Student member

Mollee Whyte

Kelly Fishler

Janis Hein

Joe Hunzeker

Kristen Helgerson Kriegl

Marty Leeman

Deb Luebker

Kim Pinkham

Merilee Pleggenkuhle

Bev Pozega

Rosemary Reese

Sue Rider

Seth Sanders

Don & Eileen Klatt

Laura Nix

Mike & Shelly Rider

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Shirley Wegmuller

Sally Whitish

Brenda Wilson

Julie Whyte

Sandy Kittle

Gary & Kathy Koch

Linda Munson

Bonnie Olson

Ron Stark

Joe and Kay Schmitz

Frank & Mary Weeks

Bob & Diane Witt

Documents

Shelter Shorts July 2014