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“Our perfect companions never have fewer than four feet” - Colette
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you have completed your shopping and are able to sit back with a glass of eggnog and rum and enjoy the season. I would like to share with you the things that have and are taking place at GRRR. Mary is now mostly settled at Phoebe's Place and we are glad she is in the house. Her skill in caring for our dogs and finding the appropriate home far exceeds that of anyone in any other rescue. Did you know that we have very few adopters return the dogs to us because of Mary's skill in placing them in their forever homes? Kudos to Mary! The board met on December 6th and is pleased to say that we have submitted our request to PACFA (Pet Animal Care Facilities Program) to change our license from a foster facility to a shelter facility. Steve and Mary have been working very closely with PACFA to make sure that our plans for the garage conversion to 10 kennels stays within the guidelines for PACFA approval. We should be hearing something shortly, and don’t anticipate any problems. If you haven’t been out to see the new kennels please stop by. Windows and dog doors have been added in addition to framing for the new grooming room. The kitchen/feeding area will be in the middle and provide storage and food preparation space. The plumbing labor for the grooming room has been donated to us saving a tremendous amount of money.
Russ Jones has been a huge asset to the board in helping to prepare and also file an exemption for property tax at Phoebe’s Place. We obviously have to wait to hear the outcome and if they need additional detail from us, but with Russ at the helm we feel confident that if it can be accomplished it will be! Thanks Russ.
Our volunteer Christmas luncheon was well attended and a good time had by all. This year instead of exchanging gifts amongst ourselves we all brought gifts for the dogs at Phoebe’s Place. Mary received lots of new beds, chewies, toys, gift cards and food to help keep all our 4 legged visitors occupied, and happy while spending their time at their new temporary home. Of course the goal is still to foster as many dogs as we can so if you have room this season for a 4 legged visitor please e-mail Mary (mkenton25@gmail.com). First come first serve so don’t hesitate to long!
The giving tree is up and if you haven’t taken the time to go through the messages some of them are very moving. Messages to foster parents, and in memory donations are always welcome so please log-on and consider making a donation. The tree will be up until January 7th.
GRRR is going to begin offering wine with photos of our dogs on the label. Tom Dempsey picked 6 beautiful and fun dog pictures to grace the bottles and they turned out better than we expected. You will be able to purchase Merlot, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet, Chardonnay and Malbec shortly and the revenue will go to GRRR. Keep an eye on the web-site for the postings and instructions for ordering coming soon. Oh, and drink up!
Judi Servoss has been working on grants for GRRR, and we have been awarded several grants to reimburse us for veterinary expenses on some of our angel dogs. In addition we received a grant from IBM for the trees to help mitigate any noise in the neighborhood. We were also awarded a $10,000 grant from the Dr. Scholl’s foundation, and that was specifically designed to our capital campaign. As you may be aware Gloria LeFree use to write grants for us, and she recently turned this over Judi's very capable writing skills.
GRRR has an anonymous donor for the bridge at Phoebe’s Place. The bridge is necessary to connect the back property to the front. The plan is to eventually fence the entire back property so that our VIP teams have a large area to run the dogs, and if they would like to walk the dogs they can continue to do that traffic free along the access road for the canal. We have a minimal amount of time to get this project done since it needs to be completed before they begin to open the canal for water again. In addition to the canal the next big project will be to replace the windows at Phoebe’s Place. The windows in the house are the existing windows, and are very drafty and not at all energy efficient. It’s a good thing Mary has lots of dogs who warm her feet at night!
The board is also working on a plan for donation plaques. We have a number of individuals who have made significant donations to Phoebe’s Place and plaques will be hung in honor of their generosity. Hopefully we will have them in place by Spring, and we continue to see the names grow.
Our gala event committee has secured the Turnhalle Room at the Tivoli, for August 25th for the 2012 Gala. The Tivoli is on the National Register of Historic Places. Founded in 1870 the building is magnificent and will make a unique venue for the gala event. Please stay tuned for more details
For all of you who have contributed financially or through your hours of volunteerism the doggies all thank you for making their lives better, and wish you the happiest of Holidays and the most successful of New Years.
Pat Dinkey
President
