SSTTAATTEE OOFF TTHHEE AARRKK Dedicated to rescuing, housing and adopting homeless animals Look! It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s SuperDaisy … able to leap farm fences in a single bound … Volunteers, please note: Daisy has recently taken to scaling the farm fences to try her paw at a game of Canine Frogger on Route 29. Very soon she will begin training with an invisible fence but we ask that volunteers PLEASE exercise extreme diligence while Daisy is out as she has even broken away from her cable run. And while the invisible fence training process is supposed to be fairly quick, it is Daisy and if any dog were ever going to figure a way around this, it’s going to be her. Please help us keep Daisy safe. Thanks. Adoption Statistics Through December 31, 2006, the Humane Society adopted out 278 animals into loving homes: 183 cats, 64 dogs, 5 rabbits, 23 guinea pigs, 1 horse, 1 hamster and 1 fish! In addition, we transferred 11 cats and 19 dogs to other facilities for adoption. A special thanks to all of our foster homes, home visit volunteers, socializers, outreach program volunteers and adoption placement volunteers. HELPING THE COMMUNITY Through December 2006, we provided financial assistance or supplies to the public for approximately 40 animals to receive the medical care or supplies they needed. As you know, the HSFC instituted a new feral TNR (Trap, Neuter & Return) program in late 2003. Through December, the feral outreach program trapped, neutered and released (TNR’d) approximately 148 cats and kittens. Through December 2006, our administrative offices have responded to 7,293 phone calls and 11,661 e- mails. Winter, 2007 Page 1 www.hsfc.org 4057 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax VA 22030 703-385-7387 (PETS) ~ ~ We dedicate this newsletter to Debbie Heyde. Her family and the EMT's who tried to save her life didn't hesitate when immediately choosing HSFC for her memorial contributions. Debbie will be truly missed by us and the animals she loved. ~ ~ Ù Ù Ù Ù Volunteer of the Year: Liz Early Liz Early has been volunteering with the HSFC for 5 years with the Adoptable Cat Action Team (ACAT) program. At the time, she was fostering three cats for a friend who had promised to find them homes. After two months, Liz realized this wasn't going to happen, so she started putting ads up at local veterinary hospitals. HSFC ACAT volunteer, Kim Buzzell, called when she saw the ad and suggested she bring the cats to an adoption event as guests, an on-going service to the public through ACAT. Her first event was at Petco in Baileys Crossroads - two tables, six cages, volunteer Melissa Klein, and Liz. Granted, HSFC did have larger events at our established PetSmart Fair Lakes location on opposite weekends. Liz still marvels at the number of volunteers, cages and felines that now attend our adoption events. The rest is history. Liz is currently the ACAT chair, adoption event manager, adoption official, ACAT medical director, contracts coordinator and above all, foster parent! She enjoys working with the cats and kittens, doing what she can to find them safe and happy "forever homes,” and is one of our most experienced “cat whisperers!”. In addition to her HSFC volunteering, Liz works at a software company in Fairfax, Virginia, where she has been for the past 20 years and is now in their Human Resources department. Congratulations Liz, and thank you for your dedication, commitment and outstanding service. It’s greatly appreciated by all involved with the organization. Volunteer of the Quarter: Stacey Overman Stacey Overman came to HSFC in June 2005. She started out job sharing the office manager position, but personal circumstances requiring a more flexible schedule soon had her joining the ranks of the HSFC volunteers. The administrative building is her main focus, including Sunday feeding/medicating, office work, and vet runs. All of the building cats hold a special place in Stacey’s heart, but two “special needs” kitties (Gidget and Gilbert) found a forever home while being fostered by her and her husband, and they now share the house with Tabatha (beautiful Manx rescue) and Lucy (precious pug). Besides socializing with the HSFC cats in her spare time, Stacey does contract work from home for her former CEO. She also enjoys creating mosaic art—the theme of which, of course, is often animal-related. Stacey feels being an HSFC volunteer is rewarding in many ways. She is proud to be part of such a dedicated team whose passion and commitment inspire and motivate her every day. Being chosen volunteer of the quarter was an unexpected surprise and honor for Stacey, but she says the biggest honor and privilege is knowing and working with so many caring people. Thank you for all you do. We couldn’t do it without you! Winter, 2007 Page 2 www.hsfc.org 4057 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax VA 22030 703-385-7387 (PETS) WAGS, PURRS, CHIRPS, NICKERS, SNICKERS, SQUEALS, HUGS AND NEIGHS TO THESE SPECIAL ANGELS Denise and staff at the University Vet Clinic for the food, toys, animal supplies and even a dog cage for our animals to enjoy. There were lots of happy campers when these were delivered to our administrative offices. Camille Bartus was all wrapped up in helping our animals this Holiday season. She devoted her weekends at Borders Books to wrapping gifts in exchange for donations for our animals. Marlene Hammer, Vicki Kirby, Patty Miller, Kathy Howard, Lynne Mayo, Karen Davis, Terri Endicott, Deb Siluk, Michelle Brendel, Barbara Becker, Anne-Marie Benedict, Mary Kendall and Tim Tuggle manned the booth at this year's Fairfax High School Craft Show. A special thanks to Vicki Kirby, Mary Kendall and Tim Tuggle for setting up, hauling gift items and taking down the booth on Saturday and Sunday. Santa Claus (Mike Fairlie – but don’t tell the animals) was back again this year at PetSmart for the Santa Claws Photo Days. I’ll bet Santa had lots of secrets told to him by some very excited pets this year. Marlene Hammer, Liz and Jason Warnecki, Mary Kendall, and Kendal Moore were Santa’s helpers and saw firsthand how happy the animals were to have their pictures taken with Santa. Robert Otto for the millions of pictures, and the wonderful CD disk, of our animals he spent hours and hours trying to capture on film. These photos are incredible and would surely win awards if published. He makes our animals look like movie stars! Bill Dean of M.C. Dean, Inc. and his company for the generous matching gift donation. All the proceeds from the Santa Claws days were doubled and donated by this company and our animals had a very merry Christmas with the toys purchased from this wonderful gift. Dan Larivey for the beautiful new desk to use in our dog kennel. There will be many dog adoption contracts written on this lucky desk in the years to come! Karen Diviney, Director and the Fairfax County Animal Shelter, for donating dozens of resting platforms for our dogs to use in the new kennel. Dr. Bradley, and the Veterinary Surgical Hospital of Northern Virginia for the tremendous surgery, treatment and care given to Simba, the wonderful dog who was shot and left for dead. Chesapeake Veterinary Cardiology Associates for performing a miraculous heart operation and saving our special pup, Heather. Lisa Milican for her continued patience working with and training our rambunctious canines on Saturday mornings, in addition to her invaluable advice given to adopters whenever needed. Dr. Laney Rhymes, of Parkway Veterinary Clinic, who never hesitates to give his all when helping our animals. His dedication will always be remembered and we will be forever grateful. Thank you to Maura Needham for donating loads of cat bedding, canned food, toys, newspapers, air fresheners for our clean-up party. And for the chocolate to rewards all the hard workers! A big thank you to Jason Warnecki for his dedication in helping keep the administrative office spic and span. Your hard work is greatly appreciated. Winter, 2007 Page 3 www.hsfc.org 4057 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax VA 22030 703-385-7387 (PETS) More Wags and Purrs … Our animals give a big thanks to the students in the UNICEF Club at Liberty Middle School in Chantilly, VA for raising donations for our very lucky critters. In addition to raising money for our animals, they also brought us a cat bed, dog biscuits, dog treats, homemade dog and cat cookies, dog and cat toys, and a dog harness. We want to thank all the kids and their teachers for all their hard work. Beth Wajciechowski and her co-workers at Johnson Lambert & Co. LLP of Falls Church slaved away for 4 hours at our thrift store, Second Chance 2 on November 30th. They did such a great job that the regular staff wanted them to return every week. Mary Jane Costa of DCMA-OCT for organizing the homeless animal toy drive through her company. They collected toys, treats, and collars for our dogs. Thanks also to our new volunteer James Kain for transporting them and representing our organization on the military base. James Kain, Jonathan Goodnight, Ashley Prytula, Chelsea Murphy, Kirsty Kennedy, John Shaw, Melissa Zupovitz for hours of cleaning and disinfecting our cat rooms. The rooms now smell as fresh as a Spring day! Caitlin Denney for all her hard work in the office, transporting animals to and from the vets, picking up supplies, and loving on our kitties despite her cat allergies.