2003 December News

Hi Everyone,

Hard to believe it is already December. This means lots of things for lots of reasons. For the animals at Yogie and Friends it will mean more needs and hope that our generous friends and animal lovers will be there for us. We hate that we have to close for the winter months, but the weather gets so rainy and makes the sanctuary too muddy and cold for visitors. On occasion we do get out of town visitors and they may call and make special arrangements to visit if the weather permits. We are really going to need your help during these lean months. We will be closing to the public starting December 15th until the 1st of April.

We are proud to announce that we are now members of the Desoto Parish Chamber of Commerce. We were able to become members this last month and hope to be more active in some of the activities they will have.

You can help in several ways. Financial is always the biggest need in any non-profit organization. Since we get no government support or any grant money we really count on you to help us. Tim and I both work full-time jobs and we receive NO COMPENSATION from Yogie and Friends. All money raised by donations or fundraisers is put into the facility to run it and care for the cats. I promise you that your contributions are used wisely.

Petco has added Yogie and Friends to the Tree of Hope this year. We will be one of the recipients of this wonderful program. All you have to do is go to Petco on Youree Drive in Shreveport and buy an ornament at the cash register. You can buy in denominations of $1, $5, $10, and $20. The more you buy, the more the animals will benefit. Go check it out. What a great holiday gift you can buy.

We also have a link on the website now that you can donate by credit card. Please take advantage of this link. It is user friendly and the best way for our friends all over the world to donate to us. Remember, your donations are tax deductible.

If you’ve been out to the sanctuary recently you will see some of the esthetic changes to the facility. We have new wooden name signs on each of the cat pens. We would like to thank Dwayne ONeal for doing this for us. He burned the names in the wood. Tim made ME paint them. Still they look great.

We also have information stations of each species of cat posted in front of the pens. These are educational and informative. They are designed in such a way that even children can understand and learn about the cats. I was able to make these myself with a little inexpensive wood and the help of Pam at Barksdale Arts and Crafts.

There are lots of good things happening at Yogie and Friends. We are constantly striving to make things safer and more secure for both the animals and us who work with them. We are currently making preparations for installing stainless steel feeding chutes in each pen so that there will never be any risk of contact with an animal when it comes to feeding. After all, these are still animals and when they are ready to eat they are ready to eat. We do need donations of cement to complete the feeding stations as well as some of our safety lockdown areas. If anyone has a cement truck with a chute to help out that would be great.

We are also trying to complete an education building. This will be used primarily for educating schools and special tours that come out to the sanctuary. It will give us the opportunity to educate about the cats before actually going around the sanctuary to see them. We need items such as insulation, drywall, electrical, etc. You can call for more information about the needs here. It wont take much to get it up and running.

We would like to thank several people this month for their contributions either financial or with their skills. Thanks to David Tanner and Ron Yates who helped build the feeding chutes. They had the talent and skills to work with the sheet metal. We really appreciate it. Also, the Krewe of Barkous and Meoux have renewed their monthly support of $100 per month. You have no idea how much we appreciate this. This will help us with our food bill throughout the lean winter months when we have to close to the public.

Our VOLUNTEER of the month is the Stonewall Deer Processing, Macs Place. Macs place has been donating deer during the season. This helps feed the cats and it also adds variety to their diet. We thank them and hope you will visit them and bring your deer to them for processing.

We can also use volunteer help with fundraising and general labor. Tim and Jim Denney have been working hard on putting up fences, building security lockdowns, and many other things. I am sure they would welcome the help here. I have been a little out of pocket and am behind on contacting potential fundraising volunteers because I was in a car accident on November 17th. So I apologize to those I have not contacted yet. Please be patient with me there. I am trying to get things rolling again.

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy holiday. Please remember to keep your animals safe, warm, fed, and cared for during the year. Get them the veterinarian care they so richly deserve and just love them. They are so unconditional.

Happy Holidays!

Jenny Senier

VP, Yogie and Friends


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