December 2020 2020: WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP IT’S BEEN By Lynn Olenik, Executive Director his quote from the song Truckin’ by the Grate- Donors also reached out to ask how they could ful Dead, circa 1970s, describes 2020 perfectly. help. Many gave generously to our Big Little Pet WeT all long to switch the terms “pandemic,” “piv- Pantry, making it easy for folks to keep their pets as ot,” “adapt” and “flexibility” for “routine,” “stabil- economic challenges and unemployment affected ity” and “health.” People are taking a look at their so many. Many offered their year-end donations INSIDE: foggy crystal balls and trying to see early, or simply pulled from their reserves to help. if their dreams from a year ago This type of community support is keeping our doors Direct Line HAWS Schallock are still in there somewhere. open, allowing people to keep the pets they love and 2 Center for Animals to keep our staff employed. The estate and officially opens in 2021! bequest gifts from those who pre-planned Humane Education Learn more at Highlights for HAWS in their wills added a layer of 3 hawspets.org/ security to our operations. schallockcenter. It’s All About People are appreciating the simple things in the Animals! 4 life – family held close, and pets as a vital part of the family. The comfort, entertain- Volunteers 6 Thank You 7 Thank you, Donors! Through our many adjustments, a few things have stood out to us at HAWS: • The comfort of pets in our homes, their companion- ship and love, is needed more than ever. • Our Waukesha community steps up like no other. At the beginning in March, we placed a record Thank you, Adopters! number of animals in the two weeks when safer-at- home orders began. People answered our request for ment and companionship offered to us by our fuzzy adoptions to clear out the shelter, making it easier and feathered friends during our isolation is perhaps for our staff to provide care for the few remain- more appreciated and valued than ever before, ing, as well as the safe keep pets and the strays especially as other activities have been trimmed that arrived. The public and staff adapted to online back or canceled. interviews and adoption applications. So many of HAWS’ pets found forever homes! Though May was Throughout 2020, HAWS has continued to thrive a slower month for adoptions, we rebounded in July and, though experiencing some slowdowns, we and August, with more adoptions than the previous continue to meet the needs of our community’s year! We are thankful for the many wonderful people animals because of our donors, our volunteers opening up their homes to pets. and our staff. License #267280-DS hawspets.org 2020 By The Numbers! 701 Northview Road • 4,161 pets adopted • 1,700 pets in training classes • 8,000 lbs. (and counting!) of PO Box 834 • 1,381 rescue calls answered • 11,900 education program pet food/supplies distributed Waukesha, WI 53187-0834 • 7,292 spay/neuter surgeries participants to those in need! 262-542-8851 The Humane Animal Welfare Society of DIRECT LINE Waukesha County leads the community in animal welfare and assures sanctuary for Volunteer Heroes! By Lynn Olenik, Executive Director animals in need. arly on during the pandemic, animal socialization. Published by: I looked around the shelter – HAWS normallyE bustling with activity, full Corporate volunteers, another group that helps 701 Northview Rd. of people, animals coming and going, with projects, were also absent as most were Waukesha, WI 53188 dog training classes, laughter and transitioning to a work-from-home model. (262) 542-8851 good will – and realized just how hawspets.org We made the decision to ask volunteers to join quiet it had become. Staff, divided us in our structured work groups, so our animals Jennifer Smieja, Editor into small work pods, were getting things cleaned, would get the attention they needed. As they began [email protected] but had little time to provide the extras either for to return in small numbers, dog walkers and Mod the animals or each other. What was missing was Squad, cat cuddlers and small animal folks, and, HAWS Board of Directors our volunteer core. The realization dawned of what eventually, lobby greeters, the atmosphere picked Bill Stone, President they truly bring to HAWS. back up. Cindy Pechanach, Many of our volunteers are retirees. This group, In short, our volunteers provide not only for the Vice President over 60 and singled out as one of the higher risk animals but their sense of dedication, camaraderie Tom Magnor, Treasurer groups, makes up over 70% of our in-shelter vol- and selfless giving breathes life into HAWS! The unteer corps. Their focus is animal activities and animals, the staff and the entire building is much Todd Cleary, Secretary enrichment, dog walking, cat cuddling and small better because of you. Eric Blohm Dawn Brady Betsy DeJaco Brett Engelking HAPPY TAILS 2020: THANK YOU! Sandy Hoffmann Our 2020 virtual fall fundraiser was a great success, due to the generosity Michelle Lake of our sponsors, donors and participants. From all the paws and claws Nancy Mayo at HAWS: THANK YOU! Patrick McGarry Kayla Schultz UNCONDITIONAL LOVE SPONSORS Mike Nell, Emeritus Member Kerry Schnier, Emeritus Member Congrats to this year’s Employee of the Year, HAWS Management Team Christopher Lynn Olenik Tou s i g n a n t ! We first COURAGEOUS COMPANION SPONSORS Executive Director featured Christopher Kelly Rohda in our Staff Spotlight in Shelter Director April, 2019 – and in that short time a few things Maggie Tate-Techtmann Director of Organizational have changed for him, as Development he is now studying Crimi- FOUR-LEGGED FRIEND SPONSORS nal Justice at WCTC to Leann Boucha become a Conservation Behavior Department Manager Warden for Wisconsin! Khris Erickson He is also part of HAWS’ Education Department Manager Animal Rescue Team, go- ing out to assist wildlife Andres Garcia PLAYFUL PAWS SPONSORS Field Services & and stray pets in need. Facilities Manager We appreciate Christo- pher, his hard work and Katie Gerls positive attitude. Mobile Adoption Coordinator All of our staff this year Cassie Gugin were exceptional! Job SNIP Manager duties changed to weed- UNDERWRITING SPONSORS Jessica Pinkos ing, painting and clean- Director of Special Projects ing projects, and every- Katie Sheldon one did whatever it took Volunteer Coordinator to provide animal care and adoptions services. Jennifer Smieja Our staff is the best! Communications & Marketing Coordinator HAWS Hours If you are receiving duplicate copies of the Tattle Tails, or need to update Monday-Friday 9-6 SEEING Saturday 9-4 your contact information, please let us know at [email protected]. Sunday 11-4 DOUBLE? Please use “SEEING DOUBLE” in the subject line. Thank you! 2 Tattle Tails December 2020 HUMANE EDUCATION HIGHLIGHTS Learning to Make Lemonade By Khris Erickson, Education Department Manager ust like the rest of the world need- ed to change and adjust, HAWS JEducation Department’s plans for pro- gramming changed almost overnight with the advent of COVID-19. In March we went from visiting classrooms and hosting kids on-site to having to figure Kids ‘N Critters out how to get educational material out Winter Camp 2020 virtually. We were in the same boat as other educators, dealing with a lack of December 28-31 knowledge and needing to figure it out Register now at hawspets.org/ as we went along. kids-camp-waukesha. We also had to make decisions as to what would happen with our sum- mer camp sessions. Would we cancel For information on all altogether, offer virtual camps, offer a of HAWS’ educational hybrid, or change our camp structure opportunities – so that we could safely host kids here at ally benefited from this unfortunate turn of tive in reaching our in-person and virtual – HAWS? This was not an easy decision to events! Because we needed to limit camper virtual audience. log on to hawspets.org/ make. After much research through the interactions this summer, we had to throw humane-education! CDC website, and attending webinars out many of the games and activities we Our virtual programs through the American Camp Association would normally have put in the schedule. are reaching kids in and Association of Professional Humane As a result, we were able to discover some communities outside of Educators, we decided to hold in-person fantastic new lesson plans. Additionally, Waukesha County, including one in Illinois! camps but with strict modifications to we found some great activities that couldn’t Virtual programming is allowing us to reach ensure that the campers, their families be used this summer because they required kids that may never have been able to par- and our staff would remain safe. groups to work together, but we’ve put them ticipate at HAWS, and may not have been aside for the future. familiar with HAWS previously, with over We’ve had to make changes to our other 16,000 views and counting! programs as well - including birthday We’ve learned about some wonderful online parties and school-year kids’ clubs. We learning platforms that allow us to create While the changes in our world aren’t now offer both in-person and virtual our own games and activities that can be what anyone would wish for, HAWS’ programs, giving families options that fit used for our virtual programs. Education Department has managed their comfort level of social interaction. to make lemonade out of lemons, Education staff has learned how to use new and has become stronger for it! HAWS’ education programs have actu- (to us) technology in a manner that is effec- Learn more about all of the resources SNIP UPDATE available to pet owners from HAWS’ SNIP clinic.