January 2013 Sanctuary Newsletter
Happy 2013!
The holiday season is over and the New Year is in full swing at Yogie and Friends. This update is a bit late because we had to get a lot of end of year things done quickly.
2012 was year of mixed emotions. Two of our big cats crossed over the rainbow bridge. Our 28 year old lioness, Snagglepuss, died of natural causes on February 26th. She lived a long life and after 17 years living in a garage in Texas we are glad we gave her 10 good years of comfort and peaceful living for these final 10 years. Then on October 19th half of the dynamic duo, Robin, died. Robin had been part of a roadside zoo in Texas and he and his littermate, Batman, arrived at Yogie and Friends in poor shape. They were declawed and not well cared for. Robin had been ill and just did not respond to treatment. Then to top it off Tim’s Russian Blue housecat, Boris, died as a result of liver failure the day after Robin on October 20th. It had been a very difficult time for us all. Loss is a part of rescue, but it never gets easy. So we move on to continue caring and loving those who are left behind. We love all these great animals, big and small.
We have been working on upgrades to the cat pens and trying to get grass to grow, but the drought we’ve had the past three years and the cats trampling around has made it a very difficult task. We also hope to have some cat friendly plants added as well. It seems like the drought has eased some so maybe we will have better luck this spring. We are also trying to get the floor and bathroom repaired in the admissions building. At this point at the sanctuary it is more a matter of maintaining and improving what we feel we can do better.
Special Thanks: We want to thank all of our supporters, volunteers, and those who have been there for us over the years through good times and bad times. Thanks to Paige Bass for her hard work on both our awesome website and with our recycling program. She does a great job and we really appreciate her for all she does. Thank you to Kona Hawaiian Shaved Ice of Shreveport. Bill Lyons donates a percentage of his sales to Yogie and Friends and we appreciate his thoughtfulness. There are so many people who have made what we do possible and just want to tell them all thanks so much for your caring and helping. We really do appreciate you.
Finances: Finances are always tight for any non-profit, but it seems like it is a more difficult venture for animal groups. It takes a very special person to consider donating money or even time to animals. We are very grateful to those who continue to support us through the year and understand the sacrifice they make to help us. Thank you for your continued support.
Credit Cards: We made it easier for our friends to donate via credit cards. In the past we had a pretty antiquated process, the old fashioned knuckle buster. We had to run a carbon copy receipt over your card and call in the amount to get approval. Yes, it was old, but worked. We didn’t have any internet access to accept credit cards. Then late in the year we did get access to the internet, but it was still a little slow and if we lost our internet capability we couldn’t accept cards. These were also somewhat expensive. Each credit card company charges per swipe fees and the company that processes the card charges a monthly fee. Well in November we got the capability to accept cards at our events, which we could never do, and there is just a low, one-time, fee. No matter what card is used. We don’t have the monthly fee or different company card fees. It’s great. So now we have simplified. People often will donate via credit card on the spot and it is a great way to help. So, we have now modernized.
Fundraisers: We have had several fundraisers throughout the year. Our ever so popular bake sales continue to be a success. We’ve tried a few new events that were not so successful, but tried and don’t regret giving them a shot. We have added a new fundraiser we hope you will try.
Coffee Fundraiser: Raise Money for Pets coffee fundraiser. This is a really neat program. If you purchase coffee via this website, they will donate $3 per bag to Yogie and Friends. This is a fair trade organic coffee and that makes it a win/win in our books. They have several varieties available and also decaf. Why not consider coffee in your gift giving? http://www.raisemoneyforpets.com/yoandfrexcat.html
Facebook: Please LIKE us on Facebook. When you do you need to ADD TO INTERESTS LIST us in order to see our updates. When you do LIKE on us mouse over the LIKE, and there is a dropdown menu you will see. One of the menu items is ADD TO INTERESTS LIST. Add us and then create a list. We made ours ANIMAL RESCUES and all our posts show up now. Please do this to help us continue to get the word out about these great animals. It’s a good way for us to share our events too. Tell all your friends about us too and ask them to like on us.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): Military personnel and Federal Employees can do payroll deduction donations to Yogie and Friends via CFC. This program is easy and another good way to give financial assistance to the big cats. We hope you will please consider Yogie and Friends when making your CFC contribution. Our CFC number is 42427.
Recycle: We have a really successful recycling program thanks to our webmaster, Paige Bass. Paige works really hard at making this program work and is awesome at getting the word out. This helps the environment and the big cats when you recycle your printer cartridges. Check out the link on our website how to participate in our recycling program.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Donation Program: If you are a Kroger shopper in Texas or Louisiana, then we hope you will take the letter on our website with you the next time you shop and have the cashier scan the bar code and pair it with your Kroger Plus Card. Once you do this, then every time you shop you will be contributing to Yogie and Friends.
Upcoming Events:
TBD (March) 11am-4pm Spring Bake Sale and Fundraiser at
Petco, Youree Drive, Shreveport, LA
6 April 2013 Noon-5pm Yogie Season Opening (Weather Permitting)
15 June 2013 Noon-5pm Military Appreciation Day
TBD (Sep) 11am-4pm Fall Bake Sale and Fundraiser at
Petco, Youree Drive, Shreveport, LA
26 Oct 2013 Noon-5pm Yogie Season Finale
PLEASE spay and neuter your pets. Adopt! Don’t Shop! Also, please continue heartworm prevention all year round and not just in the summer months. Heartworm disease can be transmitted all year.
For the cats!
Jenny
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
December 2012 Newsletter
Seasons Greetings!
The holiday season is now upon us and we know it will be a very busy time for all. We hope you will consider our animals as part of your gift giving this season.
Finances: Finances are always tight during this time of year, so why not consider a tax-deductible gift to Yogie and Friends as part of your holiday gift giving? It’s such a nice and easy way to help the animals and you. We appreciate it.
Credit Cards: In the past we had not been able to accept credit cards at our events because the machines were far too expensive to do so. Now we have the Square and had a chance to test it out the last week of November. We love it! It is easy and convenient and the fees are the low and makes this a win/win for Yogie and Friends.
Gift Items: We have several new Cardew Collectible Ceramic items that arrived this week that will make really nice gifts. The newest collections are Snow White, The Wizard of Oz, Santa Claus and Snowman. We also have Yogie and Friends tee shirts and several other quality items for fundraising. These will be available at the Benton on the Square Festival and Parade on December 8th. Hope you can make it there.
Autographed John Grisham Book Raffle: We are raffling off three, hardcover, first edition, autographed, John Grisham books. The three books are his Theodore Boone Trilogy which includes: The Accused, Kid Lawyer, and The Abduction. Tickets are just $5 each and are available now. You can mail a check or money order for each ticket to: Yogie and Friends Grisham Raffle, 128 Fob Lane, Frierson, LA 71027. Please include your name, address, and telephone number for your tickets. We will mail the tickets to you. The drawing will be held at the Holiday Bake Sale on December 22nd at 4pm at the Petco on Youree Drive, Shreveport. Winner need not be present, but you need to pick the books up at Petco. We will make arrangements to ship the books to winners out of the area. This is a great way to help the cats.
Coffee Fundraiser: We are now part of the Raise Money for Pets coffee fundraiser. This is a really neat program. If you purchase coffee via this website, they will donate $3 per bag to Yogie and Friends. This is a fair trade organic coffee and that makes it a win/win in our books. They have several varieties available and also decaf. Why not consider coffee in your gift giving? http://www.raisemoneyforpets.com/yoandfrexcat.html
Volunteer of the Month: Our volunteer of the month is Stefanie Anderson. Stefanie has helped with working at Barksdale Air Force Base at the Base Exchange and has been a very dependable and dedicated volunteer. Sadly she and her husband will be moving to Fairbanks, Alaska with the Air Force. We have been fortunate to have her with us and will miss them a great deal. Thanks Stefanie!
Facebook: Please LIKE us on Facebook. When you do you need to ADD TO INTERESTS LIST us in order to see our updates. When you do LIKE on us mouse over the LIKE, and there is a dropdown menu you will see. One of the menu items is ADD TO INTERESTS LIST. Add us and then create a list. We made ours ANIMAL RESCUES and all our posts show up now. Please do this to help us continue to get the word out about these great animals. It’s a good way for us to share our events too. Tell all your friends about us too and ask them to like on us.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): The 2012/2013 CFC campaign has now begun. Military personnel and Federal Employees can do payroll deduction donations to Yogie and Friends via CFC. This program is easy and another good way to give financial assistance to the big cats. We hope you will please consider Yogie and Friends when making your CFC contribution. Our CFC number is 42427.
Recycle: We have a really good program of recycling and this is an easy way to help both the environment and the big cats when you recycle your cartridges. Check out the link on our website how to participate in our recycling program.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Donation Program: If you are a Kroger shopper in Texas or Louisiana, then we hope you will take the letter on our website with you the next time you shop and have the cashier scan the bar code and pair it with your Kroger Plus Card. Once you do this, then every time you shop you will be contributing to Yogie and Friends.
Upcoming Events:
8 December 10am-5pm Benton Christmas on the Square Festival Gift Booth
15 December 10am-10pm Gift Wrapping Barnes & Noble Youree Drive, Shreveport
17 December 10am-2pm Gift Wrapping Barnes & Noble Youree Drive, Shreveport
21 December 5pm-10pm Gift Wrapping Barnes & Noble Youree Drive, Shreveport
22 December 11am-4pm Holiday Bake Sale and Fundraiser
Petco, Youree Drive, Shreveport, LA
PLEASE spay and neuter your pets. Adopt! Don’t Shop! Also, please continue heartworm prevention all year round and not just in the summer months. Heartworm disease can be transmitted all year.
For the cats!
Jenny
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
November 2012 Sanctuary Newsletter
Greetings!
We had an amazing season finale on October 27th. One of our best yet. We thank all our volunteers and our fans for making it a great day. We are now closed for the 2012 season and we reopen the first Saturday in April 2013, weather permitting.
We had two very sad losses in October. On October 19th we lost half of the dynamic duo. Robin, one of our lions crossed over the rainbow bridge. It was a really sad time for us all here at the sanctuary. Robin arrived at Yogie and Friends on May 7th, 2003 with his littermate brother, Batman. They were just 14 months old. Batman and Robin were dragged around a
To add insult to injury with our grieving for Robin the lion, Tim’s house cat, Boris, a beautifully sweet Russian Blue died the next day on October 20th from liver failure. This was so shocking and unexpected and we are just heartbroken. Boris was also a rescue and he was just 8 years old. He was the most loving and gentle cat. He also will be sorely missed.
Hurricane
Autographed John Grisham Book Raffle: We are raffling off three, hardcover, first edition, autographed, John Grisham books. The three books are his Theodore Boone Trilogy which includes: The Accused, Kid Lawyer, and The Abduction. Tickets are just $5 each and are available now. You can mail a check or money order for each ticket to: Yogie and Friends Grisham Raffle,
Facebook: If you are currently a Yogie Facebook fan you may have noticed that you don’t always see our updates in your newsfeed. Facebook has made a change to all pages such as ours where our fans MUST now ADD TO INTERESTS LIST us in order to see our updates. Sadly they have only allowed 10% of all of a page posts to be seen unless we pay to promote each post we make. Well, we are an honest non-profit that struggles to make sure every penny donated is used in a proper way that is all for our animals. We think they shouldn’t make us pay, but we have no say in this. BUT, you can help by going to our page, mouse over the LIKE, and there is a dropdown menu you will see. One of the menu items is ADD TO INTERESTS LIST. Add us and then create a list. We made ours ANIMAL RESCUES and all our posts show up now. Please do this to help us continue to get the word out about these great animals. It’s a good way for us to share our events too. Tell all your friends about us too and ask them to like on us.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): The 2012/2013 CFC campaign has now begun. Military personnel and Federal Employees can do payroll deduction donations to Yogie and Friends via CFC. This program is easy and another good way to give financial assistance to the big cats. We hope you will please consider Yogie and Friends when making your CFC contribution. Our CFC number is 42427.
Finances: The months we are closed always present a financial challenge to us, but with the help of our fans we can make it through. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to Yogie and Friends. We appreciate it.
Recycle: We have a really good program of recycling and this is an easy way to help both the environment and the big cats when you recycle your cartridges. Check out the link on our website how to participate in our recycling program.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Donation Program: If you are a Kroger shopper in
Upcoming Events:
8 December 10am-5pm
15 December 10am-10pm Gift Wrapping Barnes & Noble Youree Drive,
17 December 10am-2pm Gift Wrapping Barnes & Noble Youree Drive,
21 December 5pm-10pm Gift Wrapping Barnes & Noble Youree Drive,
22 December 11am-4pm Holiday Bake
Petco,
PLEASE spay and neuter your pets. Adopt! Don’t Shop! Also, please continue heartworm prevention all year round and not just in the summer months. Heartworm disease can be transmitted all year.
For the cats!
Jenny
Posted in Monthly Newsletter