Winter 2013 Newsletter - Hinsdale Humane Society

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GOOD NEWS! PAWS FOR APPLAUSE 2 Congratulations to Mary Beth Turek and her dog, Maggie! This photo was selected by Intermountain Therapy Animals as one of their READ photos of the year. Holiday Highlights We are thankful to all those who helped support our holiday fundraising programs. These funds allow us to continue to provide shelter and care for our homeless animals year round. Thanks to our friends who purchased Sponsor an Animal certificates, Giving Tree ornaments, holiday cards and cookbooks. And to those who shopped at Vern Goers or made a donation to our holiday appeal. Holiday Gift Wrapping HHS volunteers enjoyed wrapping gifts and collecting donations at our popular annual gift wrapping fundraiser. This year we hosted 14 shifts and logged in over 40 volunteer hours at Barnes & Noble, Oak Brook and Frugal Muse, Darien. We would like to thank those shoppers who stopped by to say hi, share an animal story, or made a donation to our shelter animals. HHS volunteers Dennis & Betty Tetens with their dogs Poco Chico and Rusty, June Herdzina, and Laura Donohue with her cat Edelweiss at Frugal Muse in Darien. A big thank you to our local area Brownie Troop 50228 & Daisy Troop 51185 from Notre Dame School, Clarendon Hills for their generous donations of toys, bowls, bleach, and blankets and to Daisy Troop #1479, St. Cletus Girl Scout Troop #1117 and the Daisy Troop at Spring Avenue School. Thanks to the Carolers who sang for the holidays to support HHS: Lauren Ridgway, Nora Rafferty and Maeve Rafferty, and the LaGrange Park Caroling Crew (Alexis Fergon, Emma Tiemeyer, Elsa McMahon, Elise Naval, Ayse Kelemet, Abby Bulir and Annie Gallagher). Special thanks to those children who celebrated birthdays and made donations to our shelter animals: Ben Galvanoni, Maya McCartney, Kate Venis, Jake Kocourek, Mary Niemeyer, and Grace Schubkegel. We thank The Burns Boys of LaGrange, who donated over 200 pounds of dog and cat food! Hinsdale Central C.A.R.E. Club collected donations for HHS at Kramer Foods and Kristin Skelton from Floofins & Co. donated much needed shelter supplies. Thanks to Westmont Rotary Interact High School students for their Donation Drive that provided HHS A GREAT BIG Thanks to the Student Service Board at Butler School District 53 for holding a bake sale and to Hinsdale Middle School and Blythe Park School in Riverside for supporting our shelter animals through their donations. Thanks to Alexa and Jacob Polito and their grandmother, Roberta, for the beautiful and soft homemade blankets for our animals. Special thanks for giving from the heart to help the HHS animals: Michael Marchase, Alexa Salzman, Maley Paulsen, Sydney and Andrew Holmes, Dane Shillingburg, Kate and Jordan Heatherly, Lily and Matthew Skwarek, Mia and Matthew Cozzi, Madeleine Pergantis and the St. John of the Cross Youth Caticus project. A special thanks to our lemonade stand partners: Sarah and Katie Holland and Courtney McMullen. Thanks to Britnee Neidlinger for donating cases of dog food, Meow Mix, litter, and bleach. Rosati’s Pizza in Westmont made a generous donation: $1.00 for every pizza sold for 2 weeks in October! THANK YOU very much to Abby, Ella, Belle, Sophie, Bella, Ava, Grace, and Shannon for your very generous donation of the proceeds of your bake sale to help our homeless animals! Thank you volunteers Victoria Kilinskis and Carole Cech and all the staff members who worked on the newsletter this month!
Behind the Scenes… continued from page 1 The staff uses the information to place the adoptable animal in the best possible forever home with a family that closely matches each animal’s needs. Our newly revised website serves as a valuable resource for potential adopters to discover additional information about the animals available for adoption. Photos, a video of the animal with a volunteer, and health facts are submitted for posting to the website. The information provides a brief background that is expanded upon once a family decides to enter the adoption process. In addition to maintaining the cleanliness of the shelter during business hours, performing animal assessments, and helping the public, the staff physically races the clock each morning preparing the shelter for opening by cleaning cages, scooping litter boxes, feeding cats and dogs their specialized diets, medicating sick animals, scooping dog poop, and hosing down kennels. Volunteers assist by washing the multitude of dirty laundry and dishes that are generated each day and helping with general housework duties such as washing windows, vacuuming and mopping floors, cleaning the bathrooms and sanitizing doorknobs and keyboards. To help assure the emotional well-being of our animals, each dog and cat spends time out of its cage or kennel. Volunteers interact with cats in rooms offering toys and catnip, along with gentle brushing and soothing strokes. Dogs are taken outdoors for walks in a wooded area or around the neighborhood, and receive off leash play time in our fenced-in kennel area. Vlazny states, “Cleaning cages, scooping litter boxes, washing load after load of dishes and laundry, feeding cats and dogs, scooping dog poop, mopping kennels, and a myriad of mundane, yet vital, daily shelter duties enable the Hinsdale Humane Society to function as the highly-reputable, efficient, clean, and well-run organization it is.” We could not accomplish everything we do for the animals without our dedicated staff and volunteers working behind the scenes! Two Paws Up! Check out the 3rd Annual 9Lives® Morris the Cat 2013 Calendar. The 12 month calendar features Morris along with photos of a select group of his four-legged feline Facebook fans! The proceeds of the calendar benefit The Hinsdale Humane Society, which was his original home! Special thanks to all of our friends at 9 Lives for producing the calendar and for choosing HHS as the beneficiary. Calendars may be purchased through February 15, 2013 at http://www.lulu.com. You can follow Morris’ adventures at www.facebook.com/MorrisThe Cat Director’s Desk continued from page 1 Children also bring us thank you cards and notes, and even home baked goodies for the staff. “Thanks for helping our lost dog. We thought he might be gone forever!” Just try accepting a plate of cupcakes and a heart-felt note like that without fighting back a few tears. I am convinced those children who learn compassion at an early age will carry that capacity for caring throughout their lifetimes. I hope all these children (and their parents) see that their acts of kindness not only affect the individual on the receiving side, but their compassion ripples throughout the community, and reflects back on the child. You can’t read the news without coming across stories of unspeakable acts of violence against humans and animals. You might have to look a little harder, but there are often stories of wonderful acts of love and compassion, too. After the shooting tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a movement has started to commit 26 Acts of Kindness in memory of the students and their teachers. It might be something as simple as bringing a flower to an elderly neighbor. But if children and adults could commit to performing acts of kindness, just think how that might affect the community and our nation! The dogs and the cats who wait at the Hinsdale Humane Society for their forever homes can’t take care of themselves. They need you for their next meal, walk or vaccination. So here’s another thought they can take to heart: “I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers.” Tennessee Williams. Special thanks to Eagle Scout candidate Matt Saunders who refurbished our outdoor kennel area to provide a larger play area for dogs sheltered at the Hinsdale Humane Society. This was definitely a “hands–on” project. Matt and his fellow scouts from Troop 52 in Hinsdale worked hard to transport 2 tons of pea gravel by wheelbarrow! Matt is still collecting donations to cover the $3,000 expense for the chain link fence and other materials. 3
Page 1: Humanely Speaking H I N S D A L E H
Page 5 and 6: Hector & Heather by Mary M. Foreste
Page 7 and 8: David Long & Shadow by Joseph Long,
Page 9 and 10: Honor of People All pet owners by T
Page 11 and 12: evaluator, Family Paws presenter an

Winter 2013 Newsletter - Hinsdale Humane Society

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