April Pawgress Report! 04/20/2022 By andrew Will Work for Bones! Volunteer Highlights on a few positions we need support with! Transport Volunteers The transport volunteer transports animals or supplies to and from vet, kennel, foster home, shelter, adoption events or other specified If you are interested in being a transport driver for Crossroads or other vetting related needs please contact Savannah Johnston at Savannah@PetHavenMN.org If you are interested in being a transport driver for supplies please contact Kerry D’Amato at Director@PetHavenMN.org Cat Home Visit Volunteer This role is key to our growth and saving cats lives! Welcome Visit Volunteers are responsible for supporting the Cat Division Foster Coordinator by providing the final step in the foster training and onboarding process. Welcome Visit Volunteers provide the “home visit” for new fosters which is so important to make sure potential fosters homes are safe and appropriate for our rescued cats. This also includes final training steps, signing the foster agreement, and offering a welcome package to new fosters. If interested contact CatDivisionManager@PetHavenMN.org Dog Foster Mentors The Dog Division is growing and we need people who are dog crazy and enjoy supporting people and pups to be the best they can be. Foster Mentors are a very important part of what makes Pet Haven successful. Mentors provide support and guidance to foster volunteers and their dogs. They are the portal for fosters to all the support and resources within Pet Haven. Foster Mentors also work closely with all members of Pet Haven’s Dog Division Team and Leadership staff to make recommendations for improvements and be the conduit of communications to Pet Haven fosters. If you enjoy helping people and their pets you will like this role! Estimated time commitment 4 hours per week If interested email: DogDivsionManager@PetHavenMN.org Feline Post Adoption Support Volunteer The Post Adoption Support Volunteer follows up with adopters to encourage happy tails success stories, provide support and resources to keep adopted animals in their new homes. We are looking for two people in this role. The post-adoption support volunteer will contact the adopter within 48 hours of the adoption agreement (phone or email) and checkin on how things are going. This is an important role in making sure our pets and adopters get the support they need to ensure a happy tails and forever home! If you are interested in this role contact Kate at Kate@PetHavenMN.org Pet Haven Events Team We are still building the team and will have a lot of opportunities to represent Pet Haven at events this year. From Adoption Events to Saint Paul Saints games to Paws on Grand to Pride and the Cat Film Festival at CHS Field or our own 70-year anniversary celebrations! Join the team and help spread the PAWSOMENESS that is Pet Haven! If you are interested in joining the events team contact: Events@PetHavenMN.org Notes from our Kerry (Executive Director) As I curl up with my computer on a snowy day in April to write the Pawgress Report, I am surrounded by the warmth of family members. Four of my cats, all of them rescued off the streets as strays, lay next to me and around me. Once thin and at risk these felines are now healthy, happy, purring, grabbing at my hands for pets, making soft little sounds when they stretch and move around that are so cute I find it difficult to concentrate on my work……. The comfort, gratitude, and unconditional love these gentle beings give me is why I do the work I do and push to help those that need us most. The current sheltering and rescue landscape is seeing more ripple effects from COVID. Ripple effects we could not have fully anticipated. While we had the foresight to see an increase in pets and people needing help, we didn't anticipate supply shortages, reduced food donations, pets entering shelters at an alarming rate, an explosion of unwanted litters and strays, and increased costs in medical expenses just to name a few. These ripple effects have an impact on our operations and we have to work harder for the support we need to help others, but the need for an organization such as Pet Haven could not be greater. I am proud to say we are here to help the pets and people that need us most and you make this possible! April is Volunteer appreciation month and I cannot shout it loudly enough….. WE COULD NOT DO WHAT WE DO WITHOUT ALL OF YOU!! Now that we officially have a home, a facility to operate out of, we will be able to impact more pets and people needing help. We will also have a space to create and build our community. As we open up the facility more and more over the next month, I hope to be meeting all of you and being able to get to know you all better.By June we should be in full swing! It's amazing how this 70-year-old organization has been held up and supported mainly by volunteers for as long as it has. Only recently were a few paid positions added. These positions were deeply necessary to move Pet Haven forward and promote growth, and as we continue to grow we will do so responsibly and root ourselves in being volunteer driven. Volunteers are key to our success and always will be. As a result, we carefully assess where and when we need to bring on volunteers and paid staff. Our growth is mindful and careful. We will maintain and support our mission of saving more lives and supporting the community of pets and people. Because of the growth we are experiencing we have created new volunteer and staff positions, filled previously open positions with new people, and restructured departments for more efficiency. One thing I have learned in my life is to remain fluid, accept change as it comes, and adjust as needed. Sometimes daily! I am excited to announce that Meagan Maue will be moving into the Intake Manager position. This position is a key role and new to Pet Haven but Meagan has been with us as intake coordinator facilitating the growth in the intake team since 2017. Meagan will now be managing and supporting the intake teams, ensuring volunteer roles are filled and overseeing animal flow. We are thrilled to have Meagan’s rescue expertise, attention to detail, and support in this role! We have a new Volunteer Social Media Manager Laura Bush! She is a Professional Social Media Marketer by trade for veterinary clinics. Her expertise in social media and marketing will be a great asset for Pet Haven. She will help us achieve a wider impact bringing more followers to our mission. She may reach out to you for content on foster pets. If you have a great Pet Haven story to share please let her know. You can contact Laura at communications@pethavenmn.org We have closed our applications for the new staff position of Volunteer Programs and Events Manager. We received several great applications and have narrowed it down to two. I hope to announce our new staff member next week! This position will be incredibly helpful and supportive to all of you. I am excited for all the new ways this position will support not just Pet Haven’s growth but also the wellbeing of the volunteers! Our Programs Manager Anna Snyder has dropped down to part-time. She is focusing primarily on processes, procedures, software enhancement, and assisting in preparing our new facility to be fully operating. Her support is key to our success as we transition inot physical space. Anna has had to let go of some of her duties surrounding managing the Cat Division due to her part-time status so we have felt a definite need to fill the gap. I am excited to announce Julie Urban will be “filling the gap” and moving into a part-time staff position taking on more responsibility within the Cat Division Manager. Julie will be stepping in where Anna has needed to step back. She will be supporting organizational growth ensuring the Cat Division runs seamlessly and making sure our volunteers and felines get the support they need. We are excited to welcome Julie to the staff team! Q1 Updates: We have more animals in care than we have ever had before 255 as of April 18th. Please be patient with our teams, staff and volunteer, as they navigate trhough this increase. Response times may not be as quick but always know if there is an emergency we will be quick to contact! Together we are stronger! Let's make sure to support each other. Q1 saw great success and growth. 268 pets in crisis found their way to Pet Haven from January to the end of March. 198 were cats and kittens. 70 were dogs and puppies. That is 61 more pets than last year, a 30% increase! This increase has impacted our need for more volunteers to help in key roles. Please be sure to check out our help needed and encourage friends and family to volunteer with you! While we have been saving lives we also have created a lot of families in the first quarter. 231 adoptions 182 cats and 49 pups this year so far. It's so exciting to see our rescued pets find loving homes. Thank you to all you foster families that take the time and care to “match-make” and find the best fit possible for not just our pet but for the adopters too. Our reach of being able to help more pets and people in need is expanding and because of all of you we have a wider impact! I am so excited for the new direction our facility will take us and grateful for all the help we have received to get it ready. Watch Facebook for more information on items needed for the new facility and ways to help! We are stronger together, thank you for being part of our success! Notes from Ashley (Operations Manager) We have had a very exciting month around the Pet Haven office. Office!! Even saying “the Pet Haven office” is exciting! In just one short month, new floors and paint have been finished, desks put together, and supplies moved! Our animal care rooms have come a long way too and we can’t wait to start seeing some of our foster animals in house! Our building mate (and landlord), RESTPRO, has been absolutely phenomenal to work with. They have gifted us time, furniture, and the use of resources available to them to bring our office together. We’ve even met several fur-friends along the way! A reminder that April continues to be a month of progress! We have open hours for supplies and projects scheduled every Thursday from 3-7 pm and Saturdays from 10 am-2 pm. Check out the events tab on the Facebook Volunteers Page for more information and email me if you want to help: operations@pethavenmn.org! By the summer, we hope to be rockin’ and rollin’ with official signage and a fully functioning office space! It’s going to be pawsome!! We also have several additions to the Dog Division team! Please welcome Danielle Carter as a Dog Foster Mentor and Nat Lutterman, Sara Diedrich, and Alexa Berens to the Dog Owner Surrender Team! As well as Annie Dressen to our Dog Foster Welcome Team! Having these volunteer positions filled is invaluable! Notes from Anna (Programs Manager) Returns are always something we hope to avoid in our adoptions, but sometimes they are unavoidable. Our process for returns is a little different being a foster based organization, and I am going to outline the steps today! Once you hear from an adopter that they may need to return their pet, follow the steps below: Just for clarification, a return according to Pet Haven standards is an animal coming back from adoption within the 10 day grace period. Any longer than that period, unless previously approved by Leadership, would be considered an Owner Surrender, and they would need to fill out an Owner Surrender Form Here on our website, and go through our surrender process however they will take priority as a Pet Haven Alumni! Be sure to let them know to note the pet is an alumni. From our Vet Care Team! It’s April!! Do you know what that means? It’s been 4 months since we began our partnership with Crossroads Animal Shelter as our main resource for spays/neuters! Thank you to everyone who has taken your foster to Crossroads for care and to all those who have volunteered to drive our animals there and back. We know it is a long drive for most of us in the Twin Cities so we have been relying on volunteers to take large groups at one time by planning transports. For those of you who don’t know about Crossroads, we began partnering with them at the beginning of 2022 for low cost spay/neuter and other wellness and surgery services. It was becoming increasingly hard to find spay/neuter options at low costs in our area so we were very lucky to find Crossroads in our time of need! Our wonderful Authorizations Coordinator, Karynn Sebesta, made some awesome graphics to show us what a difference utilizing Crossroads makes. Take a look below at the reasons we are so happy to be working with Crossroads! Notes from the Board of Directors April is Volunteer Appreciation Month! Pet Haven would not be the organization it is today without all of you. Thank you! Pet Haven is a special organization and truly a community of committed volunteers and professionals who are dedicated to improving the lives of pets (and their people) by rescuing, rehabilitating and rehoming dogs and cats. We’ve been at it for 70 years and that is because of the dedication of our volunteers. We do an amazing amount of work together. Our volunteers do numerous jobs - fostering, Board service, transport, record keeping, intake. You all keep the ship running. Thank you to everyone who contributes to Pet Haven! PAW PALS: Karynn and Foster Dog Zeus - A real Rescue Warrior! Its volunteer appreciation month and we could not appreciate Karynn Sebesta enough. She is invaluable to our team! In her day In her “day job” Karynn works as a private consultant offering environmental due diligence for industrial properties. One of her clients is MNDOT. For Pet Haven Karynn volunteers on our Vetting Team authorizing care and organizing Spay and Neuter clinics such as Crossroads. This is no easy task and Karynn brings professionalism and attention to detail to everything she does. We are so lucky to have her on our Vet Team. She plays a key role in helping us identify where processes can be improved and streamlined along with reducing our costs and thus being able to save the lives of more pets at risk. She also shows up at the St Paul Facility to organize supplies and help with open hours assisting fosters to get what they need. Her generosity of time to Pet Haven, our fosters, and our pets is priceless! Karynn is having her 6-year anniversary with Pet Haven as a Volunteer in June and has fostered both dogs and cats for us. She even took a litter of 7 kittens with Ringworm. What a champ and a real rescue warrior!! Thank you Karynn for ALL you give and all you do to help us move our mission of fostering love and changing lives forward. You are a Rescue Rock Star and so greatly appreciated! If you are interested in getting more involved as a volunteer, check out the opportunities here! Cat Division Update The month of March was a busy one for Pet Haven felines! Congratulations to the following 45 cats who found their forever homes in March: Purrsia, Meowna Lisa, Midnight, Figaro, Jaguar, Bowser, Bella, Coco, Tux, Mango, Nayla, Lily, Moo Moo, Bronze, Cricket, Blackie, Miss Bean, Celeste, Anya, Betty, Bea, Peanut, Thumper, S'more, Boss, Marvin, Glimmer, Lando, Cakes, Winter, Kevin, Creed, Count Chonkula, Sebastian, Millie, Mama, Peanut, Blake, King, Spike, Poppy, Bella Beauty, Lenox,Squirt, Big Papa, Spring is officially here! The birds are singing, the weather is warmer, and both people and pets have more energy! Even just the slightest change in the weather can affect how cats act or react to their environment When the days are darker and colder, cats tend to sleep, eat, and maybe even seem depressed. When springtime emerges, they have more interest in the world around them. It is important to remember springtime safety for felines! Every year, we have at least one cat break through a screen door or window screen. Even just cracking the door a tiny bit presents an opportunity for escape. We usually have at least one scare where a cat ingests a foreign object, such as Easter grass or poisonous plants. Please see below for more hazards, and let’s keep our felines safe this spring! Dog Division Update 15 dogs were adopted in March! Thank you to our foster homes who helped find homes for: Frankie, Rosie, Cruiser (nka Bubba), Gabby, Petra, Valentine (nka Rocky), Domino (nka Nala), Ella, Danny, Roscoe, Nilla, Snider, Belle, Annie, Baby Dottie, Roy (nka George), Pickle, and Ruby. April has already kicked off with several adoptions! Spring is here and with this kicks off puppy season in a lot of ways. It’s warmer on the reservations, litters are being born, and puppies will be needing foster placement. Please keep an eye out on the Fosters Needed page for puppies looking for foster homes on the weekends from our reservation partners! We may see more owner surrendered puppies as well, as people get a puppy with school winding down and then families realize they don’t have time for a puppy. With an increase in puppies, comes a higher risk for parvovirus. Did you know? One of the reasons for the 10 day hold for dog fosters, was to have a period of time to watch puppies to ensure that a foster puppy did not break with parvovirus. What is parvo? Read more here! Parvo is very contagious and very dangerous, even deadly for unvaccinated puppies. If you will be fostering puppies, please know that we will ask that they be given a separate area in the house, also we recommend a separate potty area outside, and you’ll be asked to monitor them. Some puppies come in with their DHPP vaccination, and we still need to make sure they don’t “break” with parvo, even after their vaccine. Check in with your foster mentor if you have any questions at all! ACTING QUICKLY SAVES LIVES! We are here to support and help. Notify vetting immediately if you suspect or even if you are unsure. We can get them the care they need to help them get on the other side of this challenging disease. Supplies Open Hours St Louis Park Shed Hours: Sat 4/16 10-11 AM Wed 4/20 6-7 PM Sun 4/24 1-2 PM Wed 4/27 6-7 PM Address: 3800 Louisiana Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55426-4430 Our unit number is 5106 (located in the 2nd bay of storage units). The code is *51063800#. Our New Saint Paul Office Location will open for supplies pick up! Every Thursday 3-7 PM Every Saturday 10AM-2 PM. More hours will be added as we get rolling but this will be set through April Address: 505 Minnehaha Ave West St Paul 55103. There is a parking lot right in front! The building may not have our branding yet so look for the RESTPRO sign.( you MUST put the zip code into your GPS) Events to Share with Friends and Family Meet & Greets CATS April 24th, 12-2 Bentley's Pet Supplies in Excelsior If you have a social kitty that would like to meet new people and go on adventures please consider bringing them. These events are really fun and well attended. DOGS May 15th, 1-4 Brewery to be announced soon! This is a great opportunity to see how your foster dog does in social situations. Several dogs have found their forever families at these events. Be sure to come out if you can!! Puppy and Kitten Cuddle “Fur” Baby Shower and Supplies Drive It’s Kitten and Puppy Season! Join in the fun, cuddle puppies and kittens and help us with a supplies drive. WE NEED PUPPY AND KITTEN FOOD! Invite friends and family. Bring the gift of nutrition and get to cuddle the babies! Sunday April 24th 2-4 PM The Pet Haven Facility in St Paul 505 Minnehaha Ave W St Paul 55103 It’s Volunteer Appreciation Month! Join Pet Haven’s Director, Board Members, Staff, and fellow Pet Haven Volunteers for a Yappy Hour in appreciation for all you do for Pet Haven and our rescued pets. Beverages are complimentary! JOIN IN THE FUN! Eastside Volunteer Appreciation Yappy Hour MeetUp and Craft Beer- 5-8 THIS THURSDAY, April 21st at Union 32 Craft House 2864 Hwy 55, Eagan, MN 55121 Pet Haven Physical Space Volunteer OPEN HOUSE - Friday May 20th 4-7 PM Volunteers reveal “Open House”We are finishing up some details and getting the space ready for the celebration and to show our appreciation of all you do to help Pet Haven be the PAWSOME organization we are! 70 Year Anniversary Celebration Events (Dates TBD in Mid to late June- Sept) there will be opportunities to be involved with these events from helping to organize, attending, and volunteering. Stay tuned for the fun! Pet Haven Volunteer Awards Picnic: Save the Date! Saturday September 17th 12- 3 pm in St. Paul, at Kerry’s home (our directors converted stable!) Games, good food, and recognition of all you do!
