Voice
for Animals
Waterville-Winslow
Area Chapter
Meeting Minutes
August 10, 2002, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.,
at home of Cathy O’Connor
Volunteers
Present: Brenda Bates
Dot Bickford
Mahlon
Bickford
Sheila
Branham
JoJean
Frappier
Don
Lecker
Laura
Lecker
Cathy
O’Connor
Joyce
Stewart
Diane
Stimpson
Barb
Townsend
Linda
Voss
Karen
Walker
Next Meeting: September 14, 2002, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00
p.m., at Winslow Public Library
Regular meetings will be held the second Saturday of every
month from 10:00am to 12:00pm at Winslow Public Library.
Minutes of the monthly meetings will be published on the Waterville-Winslow
chapter page of the Voice for Animals website (www.voiceforanimals.net).
Voice for Animals
now has a permanent phone number of 877-9944 to take messages. This number will be used for any advertising
in newspapers, posters, brochures, etc.
Currently, five volunteers are scheduled to monitor the messages one
week at a time. We feel this new
system will be beneficial in that messages can be checked from any location,
protects the privacy of our volunteers, less disruptions at home for those
volunteers who do screening, messages can be saved and given to another
volunteer for follow-up, and provides flexibility for the volunteer to return
phone calls.
The Adoption page on
our web site is starting to grow.
Please check it out www.voiceforanimals.net/adopt
We raised over $2600
at the lawn sale this year! $325 for
baked goods and over $2275 for lawn sale items. We also received numerous bags and cans of cat food for the
foster homes. THANK YOU to all of the
volunteers who helped with this tremendous undertaking.
Margarita’s in
Augusta has announced that VFA will be a 2003 recipient of the restaurant’s
Monday night Madness charity night.
This decision was influenced by our involvement with saving Buster from
euthanasia. Buster is the deaf Jack
Russell terrier who went to Charley’s Strays.
Margarita’s would like someone from VFA to be present on Mondays to tell
about the group during breaks.
VFA was been the
beneficiary of kiosk donations of
approximately $75 at Hannaford on Kennedy Memorial Drive in recent weeks.
Our recent
newsletter generated approximately $700-$800 in donations
Linda Hale has
offered to be a foster mother starting in October
We rescued 10 cats since the July 2002 meeting.
10 cats were adopted in the same time period.
We counseled many callers; including:
·
Winslow woman has 20 cats that need homes. None have been fixed or had any shots.
·
Still working with Albion woman to capture/rescue a mother
cat and 2 kittens who were abandoned – no foster homes available. 2 of the 4 kittens were captured and are now
in a foster home.
·
We can’t contact the man with the 15 Maine coon cats. On hold.
·
Referred the call regarding a chow dog in Skowhegan (last
month) to a woman in Oakland who wants a chow dog.
·
Stray cat on Burleigh Street. Woman who called not willing to foster temporarily until we can
make vet arrangements and place in condo.
·
Woman called about an injured cat under her
birdfeeder. We didn’t have any foster
homes available, so she decided to take the cat to her vet and kept her.
·
Two cats in Augusta need a home. A child in the family is allergic.
·
Counseled a woman in Oakland with a very sick kitten. Possibility of rabies.
·
Agreed to pay medical expenses to get an “always pregnant”
cat fixed. Man with no money, friend to
pay $20, VFA rest.
·
Numerous 3rd party referrals.
·
Still need a home for two 10 year old cats who are
sisters. They are gray and white.
·
Still need a home for 4 cats, as the owner has failing
health and cannot care for them any longer.
One cat is 10 years old. The
other three are between 7-10 years old.
|
Date |
Time |
Event |
Coordinator |
|
Sept 28 |
9:00 - 12:00 |
Walk-a-Thon |
JoJean Frappier |
|
Oct 5 |
11:00 – 3:00 |
Salvation Army Harvest Fair |
Cathy O’Connor |
|
Oct 19 |
TBD |
Colby Craft Fair |
Diane Stimpson |
|
Date |
Event |
Coordinator |
|
Feb |
Chocolate Festival in Fairfield |
|
|
|
Getting to Know You Fair in Skowhegan |
|
|
|
Doggie Paddle |
|
|
July |
Hospice Hullaballoo |
|
Walk-a-Thon
The Walk-a-thon will be held Saturday, September 28, RAIN
or SHINE.
A sub-committee was formed to finalize the many details
involving prizes for the walk-a-thon.
The committee consists of JoJean Frappier, Brenda Bates, Cathy O’Connor,
Diane Stimpson, Barb Townsend, and Karen Walker.
It is extremely important that all volunteers help with
walker recruitment. Invite your friends
and family to walk with you or FOR you!
There were 30 walkers last year, we’d like to double that number this
year.
Brenda Bates will be the point person at the turnaround
point in Castonguay Square.
We will ask Teri Scherer if she’s interested in doing dog wellness
scans again this year.
Linda Voss will lead the walk.
Dogs are welcomed and encouraged to participate.
Barb Townsend will coordinate all publicity with the media
and obtain the parade permit. We will
post to the PBS community calendar and inquire if the Colby radio station might
do a live broadcast.
Diane Stimpson will design/print posters. Joyce Stewart, Karen Walker and Barb
Townsend will help distribute the posters.
JoJean Frappier will coordinate donations of
water/coffee/ice.
Dot Bickford, Cathy O’Connor, Karen Walker and JoJean
Frappier will man the registration tables at Elm Plaza.
Homemade dog bones will be available to all dogs who
participate.
We will ask various businesses for prize donations. We plan to raffle the prizes, based on
pledge amounts. For every $25 of pledge
donations, a walker will receive one raffle ticket. If the walker has $100 in pledge donations, he/she will receive 4
raffle tickets. A special prize will be
awarded to the walker who raises the most money. The walk-a-thon subcommittee will finalize all details for the
raffle/prizes during their meeting in the next couple of weeks.
Brenda Bates will talk with the Waterville schools
superintendent to see if we can get the Waterville schools involved in some
way.
Other volunteers will check with school officials in
Fairfield, Winslow and Unity.
Cathy O’Connor will write letters to Thomas College and
Unity College.
Barb Townsend and Linda Hale are working together to
approach Colby College.
Pledge sheets or an informational letter about the
walk-a-thon will be mailed to various VFA supporters and volunteers.
Colby Craft Fair
We plan to vastly expand our efforts at the Colby Craft
Fair this year. Last year we held a
bake sale (which sold out) and distributed educational materials. The activities planned this year are: a bake
sale, coffee and muffins early in the morning, sandwiches and soup/chowder
around noon, baked beans (cooked and dry), Green Mountain coffee, soda and
water, homemade dog biscuits, animal jewelry, cat pins, cat feather toys, and
various crafts.
Jackie Frappier is making catnip snakes.
Phyllis Scribner is making pet Christmas stockings.
We have two beautiful crocheted afghans which were donated
by Mary Cool to sell.
A Thank You board for all of the various businesses who
made donations to this event will be on display.
A board displaying the animals available for adoption will
be made and displayed.
Diane Stimpson will design/print posters.
Barb Townsend will coordinate all publicity with the
media.
Detail planning for this event will occur at the September
and October meetings.
Adoption packets
Adoption packets are complete. Thanks to volunteer Pat Byther for all of her hard work.
Margarita’s on Mondays in 2003
Sheila Branham has volunteered to be our “spokesperson” at
Margarita’s in 2003 during their Monday night Madness charity event. We will also design some type of public
display (poster/bulletin board/etc) of our organization and animals for
adoption which can be used at Margarita’s.
See the description of this event under Announcements.
Fund-raiser at Waterville Walmart
Brief discussion was held to determine if there is any
interest in holding some type of fund-raiser at Walmart in Waterville. This event would have to be held outside. Pet food drive, pictures of cats available
for adoption and education materials would work well. Decision postponded until next meeting.
Shadow boxes
Pat Byther has volunteered to hold a craft session to
create shadow boxes. More information
at the next meeting.
Salvation Army Harvest Fair
We plan to have a flea market table at the Salvation Army
Harvest Fair which is being held at the Congregational Church on Eustis Parkway
in Waterville on October 5 from 11:00am to 3:00pm. Brenda Bates and Cathy O’Connor have initially volunteered. We will attempt to sell many of the items
which were left over from the Lawn Sale, including a microwave and two bread
machines.
Adoption fee
Brief discussion on what the adoption fee should be. Agreement that it should be flexible, based
on the medical costs we had incurred for the animal. Adult cats that are already fixed and have all of the necessary
shots should be more than a kitten that has not been fixed. Decision deferred.
Donation Cans
Don and Laura Suomi-Lecker will place donation cans in the
Skowhegan and Newport areas. Diane
Stimpson will assemble more cans.
Hotline
Brenda Bates has volunteered to help monitor the hotline.
Foster homes
ü
VFA will pay all medical bills and will provide food and
cat litter if asked
Volunteers needed to help find locations for our donation
cans, especially in the Vassalboro/Clinton areas.
Volunteers needed to walk in the Walk-a-Thon in
September!
Volunteers needed to monitor voice mail messages on our
hotline and screen for good homes.
Volunteer needed to assemble informational material for
teenagers and how they can help VFA.
Volunteer needed to care for the cats at Agway on Sunday
The next meeting will be held on September 14, 2002 from
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the Winslow Public Library. Joyce Stewart has offered to bring cookies
(to go with the coffee!)
Any new or existing volunteers are welcome.
Please send any proposed agenda items to Diane Stimpson (dstimpson@adelphia.net)
VIII. 2002 meetings
February 23, 2002 Winslow Public Library
March 16, 2002 Winslow Public Library
April 13, 2002 Winslow
Public Library
May 11, 2002 Winslow
Public Library
June 8, 2002 Winslow
Public Library
July 13, 2002 home
of Pat Byther
August 10, 2002 home of Cathy O’Connor
September 14, 2002 Winslow Public Library
October 12, 2002 Winslow Public Library
November 9, 2002 Winslow Public Library
December 14, 2002 Winslow Public Library