CRAN News
May 2016 – Volunteer of the Month – Melissa Pletcher
Melissa Pletcher
Melissa Pletcher is an amazing person and a fantastic volunteer. Even though she’s been with us less than a year, Melissa has packed more than a year’s worth of help into her hours with West Coast Dog and Cat Rescue. She quickly grasped what needed to be done as an adoption counselor and jumped into the front lines for the customer-packed “Pet Photos with Santa” fundraiser as well. As her original volunteer application stated, she excels at “people, pets and paperwork” and we put all her talents to good use. And even though she is moving to North Carolina in June, she has continued to pack shifts into her schedule through May and even helping out with a short-term foster as she packs her home and she says she is willing to continue to assist with our rescue efforts from afar after she moves. Thank you Melissa for your dedication and talent!
April 2016 – Volunteer of the Month – Christina Drumm
Christina Drumm
Christina Drumm has become a key volunteer in WCDC’s goal of improving the health of cats in our care. She also leads our fight against ringworm, the benign fungus that many of our local shelters can’t handle.
Combining her background as a high school biology teacher with her deep love of cats, Christina has become our ringworm expert: supervising and helping fosters treat infected kitties (including bathing and lime-sulfur dipping the cats); collecting, growing and evaluating fungal cultures to monitor the cats’ improvement; and providing overall supervision of the health, socialization and progress to adoptability for the estimated 30+ cats in our care with ringworm.
Recently adopted kitten Mae is just one example of the kitties Christina nursed: Mae was suffering from ringworm, dehydration, malnutrition, lice, fleas and a horrible upper respiratory infection when the little under-socialized kitten was caught and brought in for medical treatment.
Now healthy, spunky, loving and adopted, Mae’s progress is a remarkable testament to the wonderful team effort of many caring volunteers, and Christina’s dedicated efforts.
Christina also acts as a foster mentor, providing moral support and helpful information to several cat foster parents in our organization. Volunteer medical assistant, volunteer ringworm treatment coordinator, foster parent and foster mentor; in her “spare time” (real life) Christina teaches high school biology. Thank you Christina!
Volunteer Appreciation Week Begins – April 8, 2016
Volunteer Survey – Results are in!
Today is the first day of National Volunteer Week! Your week.
Congratulations! and thank you for all that you do.
Every day this week we will post a small token of our appreciation. So come back every day and check it out.
Today, I want to thank you for participating in the Volunteer Survey and tell you just a bit about the results.
We had 129 responses and received some very valuable information. Overall, the tone of your responses was very positive. You also had some great ideas and constructive comments.
One very telling response was regarding the question “Where did you first hear of West Coast Dog and Cat Rescue?”
The #1 response, by far, was at the adoption centers from other volunteers. And #2 was word of mouth.
Also interesting were results to the question “What can we do to show more appreciation?” Many, many people said “Working with and finding loving homes for the kitties is all the reward I need.” This warms my heart. In fact, every time I see a photo of an adopter with their new kitty, it makes all the effort worth it.
Thank you again for all that you do and remember, check back here as we’re going to post the winners of the Amazon gift card drawing for survey participants.
Robert McIntosh, Interim Volunteer Coordinator
Drawing Winners announced – March 30, 2016
Dear Volunteers,
As promised, today is the day!! A few weeks ago as most of you know, we conducted a survey of any and all volunteers we could find, past, present and future. We also threw in a little incentive of a drawing, for four $25 gift cards.
Before I reveal the drawing winners I want all of you to know, you are all winners! Because of you, many abandoned cats would be without care and the love that every animal deserves. You all make it possible, from intake through adoption, and all the steps in between.
Drum roll please!
Here are the four $25 Amazon gift card winners. I will contact you via email with instructions on how to redeem your prizes. Congratulations and thank you for taking the survey.
- Jasmine Prevost
- Ronelle Kuhnhenn
- Marianne DeLuna
- Trudy Lyne
Don’t be disappointed if you didn’t win. In fact, tune in Thursday. We have a super-secret secondary unpublished drawing for unnamed prizes.
Rob McIntosh, Interim Volunteer Coordinator
Super-secret Secondary Unpublished Drawing
Volunteers,
OK so here’s what I talked about on Tuesday. Our super-secret secondary unpublished drawing for previously unnamed prizes.
We decided that after such an overwhelming response to the volunteer survey that 4 winners out of 129 respondents just wasn’t enough. So… we are going to award an additional 12 randomly chosen participants to a cup of coffee, or a latte, or banana bread or a muffin or whatever the heck you choose.
Here are the super-secret secondary unpublished drawing winners for previously unnamed prizes.
- Lucinda Henderson
- Margo Fulton
- Debbie Rauch
- Leslie Earl
- Christina Drumm
- Kimbala Bender
- Emily Hommerding
- CeCe Cullmer
- Darcy Belshaw
- Tina Ferkey
- Roxanne Jensen
- Melissa Pletcher
You will each receive a $10 Starbucks card via email. A small token with a lot of appreciation behind it.
Happy Volunteer Appreciation Week!
Robert McIntosh, Interim Volunteer Coordinator
March, 2016 – Volunteer of the Month – Beth Swanson
Beth Swanson
Beth was one of the early caretakers in the WCDC world. Not a founder, but a true caretaker: managing the Petsmart cattery and making sure cages stayed clean, cats and kittens were fed and loved, foster parents were reassured when leaving their kitties at the adoption centers.
From there, Beth took on additional responsibilities without hesitation. Even after she relocated to another state, she continued as expert matchmaker between potential adopters and any variety of kittens and cats awaiting their forever families. She manages medical appointments, Petfinder posts, adoption updates, and more. She has made it look effortless as she juggles a wide range of tasks. In our all-volunteer organization, Beth is truly one of the keys to keeping it all running smoothly.
January, 2016 – Volunteer of the Month – Tina Ferkey and Family
January 2016 – Volunteers of the month – Tina Ferkey and her family
Tina Ferkey and her family are the first family we’ve had that have volunteered to take on 10 ringworm kittens and cats at a time and stay the course on their treatment regimen – oral meds, lovely stinky lime-sulfur dips, litter box cleaning, extensive room cleaning, and fearless cuddling and socializing. Because of Tina and her family, many kittens with ringworm got their chance to be healthy and find their forever home.
In addition to her volunteer work with WCDC, Tina has undertaken a large and ongoing TNR project in her neighborhood – trapping, arranging spay/neuter surgeries, recovery and returning feral kitties to their colony, and rescuing kittens that can be socialized and adopted.
Tina is making a difference in the lives of many, many cats and kittens, as well as in the humans who know her and are grateful for her presence in their lives. Thank you Tina, and thanks to your family!