Pawsitive Steps
You've probably noticed that our Newsletter and
many of our community outreach materials - fliers,
pamphlets, membership cards, thank you notes, and
more - now have a new look and feel. In addition,
we're also in the process of updating all of our forms
and mailers....streamlining the information while
giving the Shelter a more professional look.
Many of these handouts are now in color
garnering increased awareness of the Shelter. In
researching our options while keeping cost in mind,
we found printers that offer color for a minimal cost
over black and white and through volunteerism and
donations these costs have been offset and in many
cases, are actually lower than our previous costs?
making it a win-win for the Shelter and our local
vendors.
We are fortunate that many of our volunteers
have expertise in marketing, graphics, grants, and
business organization to help sustain and enhance
the Humane Society of Tuolumne County and our
educational outreach program. And, these same
wonderful people donated their time and talent to
help create "our new look."
To help improve our use of e-commerce
technology, we're now responding electronically to
new/renewed memberships and donations where
e-mail addresses are available. Our Newsletter,
with this next edition, will be available online and
we're asking members to help us save on postage
and printing by providing your e-mail address.
With each new issue, we will send you the link to
download the Newsletter to read at your leisure. If
you'd like to receive your newsletter electronically,
just send us your name/address and e-mail address to
hsotcpetlover@aol.com.
We hope you like our new marketing approach
and look forward to hearing from you on any ideas or
suggestions you might have.
We must learn to view change as a natural phenomenon?
to anticipate it and to plan for it. The future is ours
to channel in the direction we want to go ... we must
continually ask ourselves, "What will happen if ... ?" or
better still, "How can we make it happen?"
- Lisa Taylor?Writer/Visionary
On February 22, 2010, the HSOTC had a change in
shelter managers due to Randy's resignation given
ongoing health issues. At the request of the Board of
Directors, I have resigned my position on the Board to
step in as Interim Shelter Manager.
One of my initial tasks was to begin revamping
some of the policies and procedures throughout the
shelter with special attention to the front desk - where
much of the day-to-day administrative work and
public contact occurs. The first major change was to
install a cash register at the front desk. This will allow
the staff to keep detailed records of all transactions
that take place at the shelter and streamline the
processing on both adoptions and retail sales.
In addition, the staff has developed a new
Adoption Contract to help ensure that our animals
go to good homes while providing additional
demographic information to aid in profiling our
"typical" adoptees. This new contract calls for home
inspections if staff feels that it is necessary. While we
are not trying to be too intrusive in the lives of our
potential adoptees, it is also imperative that we are
certain our animals are going to an acceptable home.
On other news, the annual champagne brunch
was a grand success. Congratulations to Casie,
Michelle and all our volunteers, including the spay
and neuter committee, who worked tirelessly to make
the annual event the most successful fundraiser yet.
However the top news is that our marketing team
worked extremely hard this past quarter and made
it the best in our history. We collected more than
forty thousand dollars through the generosity of our
community.
Our next major event is the annual Bar-B-Q
scheduled for June 5th and held, this year, in the
Manzanita Room at the fairgrounds. Crazy Ivan will
be playing and we have a number of other fun events
planned. It was a success last year and we anticipate
this year will even be better! We look forward to
seeing you there!
While the shelter has experienced some financial
difficulties this past year, we are confident that things
are being turned around proactively and as such, the
shelter is on the right track and that our future looks
promising and secure.
Looking forward,
Jeff Boyd
Our mission is to find homes for abandoned, abused, and unwanted animals, promote Humane Education, and maintain a clean and safe environment for homeless animals awaiting adoption.
The Humane Society of Tuolumne County is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization established December 12, 1947 . At that time, however, there was no facility. The animals available for adoption were kept in volunteers? homes. In the late l980?s, the Humane Society gained a business office, but the animals were still kept in the homes of volunteers. Then, in 1997, the Humane Society acquired its current facility in Jamestown where there are 35 dog runs and 36 cat cages with a capacity to shelter over 90 animals.
We are a limited intake facility. Half our adoptable animals come from Tuolumne County Animal Control, and the remaining adoptable animals are owner released.
We have 5 employees; all the other people who help at the shelter are volunteers. We work at the shelter because we respect life and care about the welfare of animals.
One very important point: The Humane Society of Tuolumne County does not euthanize an animal unless its quality of life is critically compromised. One person does not make this decision. A Review Committee, which includes the Shelter Manager and the Kennel and Cattery Managers, as well as members of the Board of Directors and volunteers in good standing, explore every other option before the decision is made.
Thank you for your support