Voice for Animals

Waterville-Winslow Area Chapter

Meeting Minutes

October 12, 2002, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., at Winslow Public Library

Volunteers

Present: Sheila Branham

Cindy Ferland

JoJean Frappier-Deraps

Linda Hale

Don Lecker and Laura Suomi-Lecker

Cathy O’Connor

Joyce Stewart

Diane Stimpson

Barb Townsend

Karen Walker

Next Meeting: November 9, 2002, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m., at Winslow Public Library

I. Announcements

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 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.

There are many wonderful animals available for adoption on our web site (www.voiceforanimals.net/adopt)

Green Library Project. Please help the Winslow Public Library earn money and recycle at the same time! Bring your inkjet cartridges or laser toner cartridges to the library and drop them in the donation box located near the copy machine. The library will receive money for each cartridge which is recycled.

Our second annual walk-a-thon held on September 28 was extremely successful. We doubled the number of walkers and doubled the amount of money raised from last year. Thanks to everyone who helped with this tremendous effort!

Voice for Animals will profile a cat available for adoption each week in The Town Line (a weekly newspaper). Volunteer Barb Townsend is writing this “Orphan of the Week” column.

VFA manned a flea market table at the Salvation Army Harvest Fair on October 5 at the First Congregational Church in Waterville. Sold some of the items left from the Lawn Sale in July. Thanks to Cathy O’Connor, Karen Walker, and Cathy’s mom for spending a beautiful fall Saturday afternoon for this effort which raised $121.

Cathy Bolduc is tracking the Lost and Found pets listed in the Morning Sentinel each day. We will check these listings when we rescue a stray animal.

Voice for Animals will receive a grant from Mid-State Machine later this year. This money will be used exclusively for pet medical costs for the elderly or disabled who normally couldn’t afford them.

II. Rescue/Adoption/Medical efforts

We rescued 17 cats and 3 cats (that were previously adopted from VFA) have been released back to VFA since the September meeting.

3 cats were adopted in the same time period.

We counseled many callers, including:

· Loaned out a spare cat condo to a family in Waterville. They have a stray that needed to be quarantined for 14 days.

· Stray mother cat with 5 kittens living under trailers at Pine View Trailer Park in Winslow. Very labor intensive to trap and we don’t have a foster home for them to go to.

· An elderly woman sought financial help with her older 10 year old lame dog. A volunteer helped transport the dog to the vet who prescribed aspirin.

· We offered to pay the medical costs for two stray kittens on the West River Road. Woman who found them decided to pay all of the costs and then would find them a good home.

· There is a lab/chow mix dog who needs a foster home

· Still need to find a barn/shelter for 10 semi-feral cats in Augusta whose shelter is being torn down. Funds have been donated to have them fixed if we rescue them and find a new home.

· Still need a home for two 10 year old cats who are sisters. They are gray and white tigers.

· 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.

· Still need a foster home for a mother cat with 4 kittens who are living outside on the corner of Clinton/Benton Avenues in Winslow.

III. Scheduled Fundraising events for 2002

Date	Time	Event	Coordinator
Oct 19	10:00 – 4:00	Colby Craft Fair	Diane Stimpson
Dec 21		Cookie Swap	Linda Hale

IV. Proposed new Fundraising events for 2003

Date	Event	Coordinator
Feb	Chocolate Festival in Fairfield
March	Getting to Know You Fair in Skowhegan
	Doggie Paddle (canoe/kayak)
July	Hospice Hullaballoo

V. Discussion

Colby Craft Fair

We will be present 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), Dunkin Donuts coffee, soda and water, homemade dog biscuits, a 50-50 raffle, handmade afghans, dried wreaths, animal jewelry, cat pins, cat feather toys, and various crafts. We will also display an adoption board featuring many of our wonderful animals who need a new home.

Education and teenagers

Had a great discussion regarding teenagers and how they could help VFA. We’ve had calls in the past from young people wanting to help, but we have no formal (or informal) program.

Some ideas which were discussed are: Girl Scouts (especially projects for older scouts), 4H groups, the TLC club at Erskine Academy, and church youth groups. Don Lecker and Laura Suomi-Lecker could use help at their home in Newport with the foster cats.

Cindy Ferland who is a Girl Scout leader will discuss ideas within her group and Girl Scout council.

While VFA has no sanctuary where young people could have direct contact with animals, we believe they could contribute a great service to all animals with animal welfare education, especially spay/neuter. They could provide education in the schools, in their peer groups, in the community and at home. More discussion at the next meeting, or an Education committee may be formed to have separate discussions.

Silent Auction

A Silent Auction will be held again this year in November. Generally, all chapters of Voice for Animals in Maine and New Hampshire participate. Each chapter solicits items from local businesses which will be auctioned to the highest bidder. The auction will start early November and end right before Thanksgiving. Each chapter must submit their list of items for printing by the middle of October 19th.

A catalog will be mailed to mailing lists from each chapter. This year, item descriptions and pictures will be available on the Internet.

We have some items, but could use some help obtaining items for the Silent Auction. Gift certificates to restaurants or specialty stores are quite popular.

Christmas Cookie Swap

We will hold a Christmas Cookie swap on December 21 at Pet Quarters in Augusta. In early December, we will ask the baking volunteers to bake cookies or other Christmas goodies. We will assemble different kinds together on a plate or a Christmas tin.

Cindy Ferland volunteered her Girl Scout troupe to bake for this.

Material needs

These items would be very much appreciated by VFA if anyone wanted to donate them:

· Hav-a-hart traps (retail $50-$60)

· Cat condos (retail $160 - $199) contact VFA for places to get discounts

· Blankets or comforters

· Pet food

Foster small animals

Cindy Ferland will foster small animals, i.e. gerbils, chinchillas, etc.

Agway

Our current cats at Agway are a sweet 18 month tiger cat named Samantha and a handsome gray 2 year old guy named Riley.

VI. Volunteer Needs

Foster homes

ü VFA will pay all medical bills and will provide food and cat litter if asked

Volunteers needed to monitor voice mail messages on our hotline and screen for good homes

Volunteers needed to solicit items for the Silent Auction

Christmas tins needed for the Christmas Cookie swap on December 21. Call 877-9944 or email buttonscat@juno.com.

VII. Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on November 9, 2002 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the Winslow Public Library. Joyce Stewart and JoJean Frappier-Deraps will bring the refreshments.

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