Welcome to the March 2011 edition of Humane Ohio's volunteer newsletter!  In the month of January, we logged over 416 volunteer hours from 33 volunteers and for the month of February, we logged over 181 volunteer hours from 28 volunteers.  Thank you SO much!  We continue to say this, but it’s important to let all of our volunteers know how much we appreciate the time, energy and hard work all of you give here at Humane Ohio.  The staff is so thankful to all of you.

Please remember to log your volunteer hours whether you’re helping on-site or off-site.  On-site volunteers can sign in and out on the computer in the volunteer area, and off-site volunteers can call or e-mail Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator Lisa Hochradel with their hours (a volunteer “timesheet” can be provided to off-site volunteers to log hours on too).  It’s important for us to have an accurate record of the number of hours for each volunteer for several reasons; one of them being it could help us secure grant money to further our work.

As always, we have many exciting things happening at Humane Ohio, and we need your help.  Please read below and call me at 419-266-5607, ext. 108 or email me at volunteer@humaneohio.org if you can help with any of these needs.

Upcoming Events

Looking for something to do in April, please see the events below that are open to the public and will benefit Humane Ohio.

• Saturday, April 2^nd  All you can eat pancake breakfast

The Church of St. Andrew United Methodist Men (3620 Heatherdowns Blvd. near Byrne and Heatherdowns) is hosting an ALL YOU CAN EAT PANCAKE BREAKFAST to benefit Humane Ohio on Saturday, April 2nd from 8 - 10:30 am. Cost is a donation.  Enjoy Old-Fashioned Pancakes, Blueberry Pancakes, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Chef Paul's soon-to-be World Famous Potato Pancakes, French Toast with Warm Fruit and Whipped Toppings, beverages of many kinds and more!  For more information, call the Church of St. Andrew at 419-385-6160.

• Saturday, April 9th  “Feed the Needs” of our 4 Legged Friends

43609 Outreach Event - The Mayores Senior Center, located on South Street between Broadway and the Anthony Wayne Trail, is having their annual rummage sale from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm.   Humane Ohio will have a table at this event, giving out goodie bags to animals in need, spreading the word about our 43609 free-roaming cat program, and selling merchandise.  Please join us!

• Thursday, April 14th  Shop for a Cause

Humane Ohio has been chosen to be a beneficiary of this fundraiser by one of our long time volunteers.  It’s being held at the Kingston Residence of Sylvania located at 4125 King Road, just North of Sylvania Avenue in Sylvania, from noon until 4:00 pm.  They will also be collecting pet food for our pet food bank.  This is open to the public and refreshments will be served.  Some vendors who will be there are listed below:
Tidings of Love, Purse Love, Scentsy,Pause ….for Chocolate
Mary Kay, Petals & Vines by Suzie, Heaven’s Gate Soy Candles
Harbor Glass, Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Designwear by Karen

In Clinic Volunteer Needs

• Our clinic day starts very early and we get many clients coming into the clinic at the same time to drop off and pick up animals.  We need volunteers who can greet clients in the morning and assist them with our check in process so that the process goes very smooth and easy for the clients and their animals.  The hours would be 7:30 am – 9:00 am.  I currently have Tuesday, Thursday and Friday’s available.  

• Reminder calls – our clinic needs to contact clients to remind them about their scheduled spay/neuter appointments.  We need to train a few more volunteers to do this for us.  This normally takes about an hour to complete and can be done between the hours of 10:00 am – 1:00 pm.

• Medical Team Assistant – we currently have openings on all days at various times.  Duties include laundry, cleaning instruments, wrapping packs, cleaning cages, carriers, traps as well as mopping floors.  We like to fill these openings first with vet tech students and animal care people and then we will allow other people who are interested have the opportunity to help in this area.    

Outside Clinic Volunteer Needs

• We need volunteers to form our “outreach” committee.   We have many outreach events we do which include various festivals as well as many animal events such as Dog Days of September, Metrobarks and Bark in the Park to name a few.  We would like to get volunteers who can be trained in this area and can commit to attending at least 2-3 of these events.  This would include setting up our table, displaying and selling our merchandise, displaying and passing out our literature and being able to talk about Humane Ohio, what we do and answer basic questions.  These volunteers need to be very outgoing and need to enjoy talking to the public as well as being very familiar with Humane Ohio and what we do.  These events will be coming up fast so we would like to get prepared now.  This is a great opportunity for volunteers who want to volunteer but work during the week and can’t volunteer in the clinic.  

• 43609 Outreach Event, Saturday, April 9th at the Mayores Senior Center, Rummage Sale –  one volunteer needed to work the 1:00 – 4:00 pm shift 

• Shop for a Cause, Saturday, April 14^th at the Kingston Residence of Sylvania – two volunteers needed to work the noon – 4:00 pm shift – passing out Humane Ohio literature and selling our merchandise

• 43609 Spay Walks – these walks are on Sunday’s, from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm – consists of passing out flyers in the neighborhoods we will be trapping.  Below are the dates and we would like to find 15 volunteers for each spay walk:
• May 15^th
• June 12^th
• July 17^th
• August 21^st

• Administrative tasks relating to fundraising – our Development Director, Christina Weyrick-Cooper, is looking for a few volunteers to help her with ongoing needs.  Volunteers need to be well skilled in googling.
• Developing a list of area funeral homes so we can send them information about our memorial program
• Developing a list of businesses to send our casual day fundraiser flyer to
• Helping to spread the word to the art community about our Peter Max fundraiser

• Bark in the Park – Toledo Area Humane Society – Sunday, May 15^th 9:00 am  - 2:00 pm Humane Ohio will have a table at this event and will need 4-6 volunteers.

• Old West End Festival – Saturday and Sunday, June 4^th and 5^th – 10:00 am – 6:00 pm 

Humane Ohio will have a table at this event and will need 6-8 volunteers.

• Metrobarks – Saturday, June 11^th – 9:00 am – 4:00 pm 

Humane Ohio will have a table at this event and will need 4-6 volunteers.

• Birmingham Festival – Sunday, August 21^st – 9:00 am – 4:00 pm

Humane Ohio will have a table at this event and will need 3-4 volunteers.

• Dog Days of September – Saturday, September 17^th – 9:00 am – 4:00 pm 

Humane Ohio will have a table at this event and will need 4-6 volunteers.

Other ways to Help

Unable to donate your time in the clinic but you still want to help?  Below are ways Humane Ohio can benefit:

• Donate new or used pens for clinic use
• Donate cat or dog food to our pet food bank
• Hold a pet food drive for our pet food bank
• Make crafty items for us to sell at craft fairs
• Make baked goods for us to sell at outreach events
• Empty pet food bins
• Empty donation canisters

Thank you Volunteers!!

I would like to highlight a few volunteers each month for all their help.  There are so many people who continue to help us and I hope to include all of you in future newsletters.  Below are some people I would like to thank for their dedication to Humane Ohio.

• Rick Cole attended our volunteer orientation in September of 2010 and has been volunteering with us ever since.  Rick has taken on many tasks for Humane Ohio, both inside and outside the clinic which include emptying donation canisters, emptying pet food bins once a week (sometimes twice a week!), transports for our rescue partners, helping with the 43609 TNR program by returning cats and cleaning the traps and van, just to name a few.  Rick will always help us when asked, if he is available, and he has been a great asset to our volunteer team.  Thank you Rick for all you do!
• Terri Miller attended our volunteer orientation in February 2010 and has also been volunteering with us ever since, even though she has a full time job.  Terri continues to empty pet food bins and donation canisters weekly, helps trap cats for our 43609 program, mans tables at outreach events, assists staff on their personal time rescuing animals as well as being an animal advocate in our community.  In addition, Terri will be taking over the lead volunteer position with our Santa photo fundraiser at the end of this year.  She is truly a busy bee and we love having her be part of our team.  Thank you Terri for all you do!
• Elizabeth Sawyer attended our volunteer orientation in September 2010 and has also been volunteering with us ever since.  Liz has focused most of her attention on our pet food bank and continues to be one of our main volunteers who keep the pet food bank running and organized.  Liz is here each Monday to pass out food to clients, a task we cannot do without her, as well as coming into the clinic another day of the week when she can to keep the shelves stocked and organized.  She also helps us with Outreach events as her schedule allows her to do, in between running her own business, and we love her being part of our volunteer team.  Thank you Liz for all you do!

Volunteer Orientation 

Our next orientation will be held on Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 11:00 am, located at 3131 Tremainsville Rd., Toledo  43613.  Please email me at volunteer@humaneohio.org to register to attend.

After the above volunteer orientation, we are not accepting new volunteers.  Our volunteer orientations are on hiatus while I revamp the program and build relationships with the active and non-active people we currently have in our volunteer database.  Volunteers are extremely important to our organization – volunteers save us valuable dollars and time and allow us to do much more than our small staff would ever be able to accomplish on our own.  I will hold onto any submission forms that come to me after this date and I will contact each person when we start accepting new volunteers around August or September of 2011.  

If you are currently in our database as a volunteer, which means you are receiving this newsletter, but haven’t been contacted by me personally, please send me an email and let me know.  We have many opportunities here that I would like to make sure every person has heard about and been given the chance to tell me if they are interested in helping.  I would appreciate hearing from you!

Thank you to each and every volunteer who gives their time to help us here at Humane Ohio, which in turn, helps the animals.  Every little bit of time that each of you gives makes a big difference!

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Lisa D. Hochradel
Volunteer Coordinator/Outreach Manager
Humane Ohio, a 501c3 non-profit organization
Low-Cost Spay/Neuter for dogs and cats!
419-266-5607 ext 108
888-414-1944 Fax