News Archives: Volunteer News: 2004-03-15
Please Note: Information in this archived article may no longer be accurate.
HSPC VOLUNTEER EVENTS 3/15/2004Saturday, 3/20 - Whiskers at the Mall--our offsite adoption center and storewe need help 10-4, and transporting animals. If you can help, contact Chris Ellis at dcellis@uams.edu. Chris has taken over scheduling from Tony. Tony is transferring to Germany for four years... Tony has done a great job at Whiskers, and we will miss him. And Darrin is heading out again, and we will miss him too, and wish him a safe tour in the desert. Also, we need help Friday night bathing animals and getting them ready. The staff really appreciates Friday night help.
Thursday March 25, there will be a group of Girl Scouts working on their Pet Care Badge at HS, starting at 10AM. Ann is our Scout Coordinator, and could use someone to help her with this. She has the materials. Christy will be helping Ann with this, but others are welcome.
We can still use more clerical help with the Science Diet cards; weve made real progress, but could still use help. This is a requirement of the program we have with Science Diet, and we kind of got behind in sending them in. We are almost caught upjust a few more to go. Thanks to Ann, and Mary, and everyone who has been helping with this.
We didnt get much of a turnout for the photos at the Whiskers...well be doing it again April 10just in time for Easter! There is a cute flier on the web that could be downloaded for distribution, if you wanted to help publicize it.
We have firmed up our 2004 Dog Wash Schedule. The calendar should be on the website.
Also on the website--- our letter to the Arkansas Times---In case you didnt see the discussion about our feeding practices in the Arkansas Times. Some background: a reporter found an old Wish List that specifically said no OlRoy dog food, (as well as some other store brands). Reporter calls HSPC, and asks why. Caught shelter manager off-guard, and shelter manager gave Ol Roy a fairly negative report, and the Times publishes it. Letters to the Times castigated HS for being arrogant and stupid, and only feeding high-price dog food, i.e. Science Diet, while HS was always in a financial crunch, etc, etc...
We e-mailed the Times to say that:
1. The Wish List was not an official one, that probably a volunteer made it, and volunteer knew we didnt use certain brands of dog food, (but didnt know why, or didnt say why on the list).
2. That we feed Science Diet because its basically donated as part of a shelter feeding program by Science Diet, and
3. We didnt use certain brands, like Ol Roy, in the past, because they contained red dye. Red dye, in a shelter situation, makes it difficult to distinguish between colored waste and blood caused by parasites or disease. And that we donated unused food to other shelters and low-income families who were having a hard time feeding their pets
But the Times didnt want to hear any of this, they liked their story better. They did, however, publish an edited version of part of our letter. Our letter responded more to the people who wrote in calling us stupid and arrogant for feeding Science Diet. They had no idea that it is basically donated. We hope we cleared that up. Well see!
To everyone who was concerned about the Lab whose owner diedhe has found a great home. He had many offers, including a home on the beach in Seal Harbor, Maine, but chose to stay here in Little Rock. Thanks to everyone who forwarded the plea, and who cared about this nice dog.
Future Events:
March 28Birthday Party at the shelter. Need help
April 3 ESPN Retriever Trials in Lonokewell have a booth and some adoptables
April 23--- Earth Day at the Zoo. We set up an information booth and take adoptables
Adoptions: Tara, Timothy, Mr. Kitty, Piglet, Gloria, Nike, Angelwing
New Volunteers: Jessalyn Brewer (sorry I forgot you last week!), Kathleen Fitzpatrick (not Kirkpatrick, as I said last week), Shawn Daniel, and Kathy Fulkes.
I want to remind everyone that if they ever have problems or questions about helping at the shelter, please let me know.
Check our website: www.warmhearts.org; I update the adoptables every Sunday night. And check in on the KTHV webcam. You might catch a kitty or puppy doing something cute!
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For the Warm Hearts and Cold Noses...
Nancy Thaden, HSPC Volunteer Coordinator, 224-7859 info@warmhearts.org |