January 2012 Newsletter
Happy New Year!
We hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday and New Year. It has certainly been an eventful one for the big cats!
We have had a somewhat eventful year. There have been many good things and some struggles as well. We have made it through it all because we have so many great supporters who love these animals as much as we do.
January 2011 began with making arrangements and plans to get the new den houses onto the property. There were so many obstacles to getting it done, but the behind the scenes work was moving along nicely. Thanks to Mona Cross at CellXion of Bossier City for that.
February 2011 started out uneventful. Sadly on February 17th our beloved Siberian tiger, Natasha, succumbed to lymphoma. It was a terribly sad day for all of us at the sanctuary. There were absolutely no signs of any illness and she was happy and playful up until just minutes before her peaceful death. We miss her so much.
March 2011 we completed all the required upgrades to the property that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) imposed on us to get our permit renewed, except the den houses. This was still a happy time of progress.
April 2011 The weather cooperated and we were able to open for our visitor season as scheduled. Two people from CellXion came out and visited the sanctuary to see what logistical issues we were facing with moving the buildings onto the property for our den houses. More progress was made.
Some members of the Navy Construction Battalion (Seabees) from Barksdale Air Force Base came out to Yogie and Friends with heavy equipment and skills and cleared and prepped the property to receive the new den houses. These guys were awesome and did a wonderful job for us.
Some bad storms hit the area on April 26th and a tornado even touched down about four miles south of us in Frierson. Fortunately there were no injuries to any of the local residents and the storm never came near Yogie and Friends and all humans and animals were unharmed.
May 2011 There were delays in getting the buildings onto the property since several of our key helpers had family in other parts of the country impacted by tornados. Fortunately there was no loss of life for any of these families.
June 2011 Our huge, walk-in freezer saw better days and we had to do some major fundraising to rebuild the unit. We needed $15,000 to rebuild what would cost $35,000-$45,000 or more to replace the unit. Our founder is an HVAC master technician and that was why we were able to get this done inexpensively.
On a good note John Parsons, owner of Deep South Equipment, visited the sanctuary and offered us the use of heavy equipment to move the buildings for den houses. What an awesome man,
July 2011 We could not meet the July 10th deadline with LDWF, so we requested a six month extension.
On July 28th all the buildings for den houses arrived and put in place on site. A happy day for all. Thanks to Deep South Equipment, CellXion of Bossier City, and Utley Industries for the 18-wheeler to deliver them. It was a huge team effort.
August 2011 Fundraising for the walk-in freezer was in full swing and we raised much of the needed funds to get the work started. We also got our paperwork in for the 2012 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), which is a great thing.
September 2011 The CFC kicked off and Yogie is once again in the campaign. The Yogie staff started preparing for the end of season in October.
October 2011 Yogie and Friends had one of the best season finales ever. We had so many visitors and that was so much fun for all of us at the sanctuary.
November 2011 Tim got fresh hay for all the cat pens. We use hay for some of the smaller animals to add more insulation around their den houses for added warmth. The bigger cats just like to play and roll around in it and have a good time.
December 2011 was filled with some really fun fundraisers while our volunteer families prepared for the holiday season.
So, as you can see 2011 was a busy one for us. A sad loss, but a lot of good happenings as well. We hope things only improve for all our cats and our volunteers. We look forward to a great 2012. We still need support from our fans. We always need your financial support and can also use your physical help. Our den houses still need to be modified.
Special Thanks: There are so many people who volunteer their blood, sweat, and tears to make what we do at Yogie and Friends possible. We are ALL volunteers all the way from our founder and director of animal care, Tim Mills, Vice President, Vicki Volk, Webmaster, Paige Bass, Tour guide, Andrea Labor, Graphic Artist, Jeanne Reed, and other board members, Jaret Snow (who also does our electric and other heavy labor work for us), and Kathy Cherry, Animal Caregiver. We also thank all our volunteers who helped gift wrap at Barnes and Noble, volunteers (and there were many) who helped make the bake sales and rummage sale a big success, and everyone who took time our of their busy schedule to put our animal’s needs ahead of their own. Thank you so much for all you have done for these wonderful animals.
Facebook: Don’t forget to follow us on Face Book. We have a very active page and update it often with news and events as they happen. Sometimes we even make special offers on Facebook for our fans and it’s a good way to spread the word. We’d love to increase our fan base.
A few ways to help financially:
Coins for Cats! Do you empty your pockets of all your coin when you get home and throw them in a jar or piggy bank? Well, what a great way to get kids involved in fundraising help for the animals. A little coin can go a long way! That little bit of effort can end up being a nice chunk of change.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Donation Program: The accumulation period is 1 July 2011 – 30 April 2012. It is so easy to do. Just give the cashier the letter we have linked on our website. The old letters work since it is the same barcode. The cashier will scan that and your Plus Card and it will be linked. Every time you shop at a Kroger in Texas and Louisiana and use your card, then a percentage of the sale goes to Yogie and Friends. Kroger gives a portion of $1 Million to local Texas and Louisiana programs through this program.
Be kind to your pets. Make sure they are safe from the elements and always have a warm, dry shelter from the elements. Help control the pet population. Spay and neuter your pets. Adopt, don’t shop. There are so many animals needing your love and attention in local shelters. Help give them a furever home.
For the cats!
Jenny
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
December 2011 Newsletter
Greetings!
We cannot believe that it is already December. At least we now have some much needed cooler weather and a little rain. We are still experiencing a drought here in Louisiana, but recent rains have helped.
Our rummage sale on November 12th was a big success. We cannot thank all of those enough who donated goods, helped with the setup, breakdown, and overall work to make this event a success. It was a great deal of work. People were shocked to see just how much stuff we had for the sale. We still have items left over that we will post on our website and Facebook page for those who may be looking for some treasures. It all helps the animals. A very special thank you goes out to the Pastor and Parishioners at First Wesleyan Church in Bossier City for their hospitality in allowing us to use their fellowship hall for the rummage sale. We also want to thank all the folks there who helped us with all this work. It is so appreciated. Thank you Pastor Paul Gorsline for buying us pizza. That really hit the spot.
Our veterinarian came out to check on the animals Saturday. Snagglepuss, our 28 year old lioness is showing the obvious signs of her age and areas on her body we like to keep a check on. We have an aging population of animals and with that will come some of the usual issues such as arthritis and age related illnesses. We are fortunate that all our animals are in overall very good health. We know that with such an older population we will see some losses. It’s never easy. But, we are glad to report that the animals are all doing very well at this time.
Recycling: We have met our 2011 recycling goal already and we still have a month to go. We couldn’t have done this without the help of those who have been sending their empty cartridges in and the hard work of our webmaster extraordinaire, Paige Bass, who has really kept this program going. It’s a lot of work for her to sort the cartridges, package, and ship them out for us and she has done an amazing job. She also makes sure people from all over the country who want to help with our endeavor get mailing labels so they can send them in directly from where they work. This is a great program. Even if a cartridge is not acceptable for compensation, it still stays out of the landfills because the company we used, Funding Factory, ensures they are properly disposed of and recycled for other uses. So thank you everyone who makes this program such a success.
LSU Child’s Rocking Chair Raffle: Since we are in LSU country here in Louisiana we decided to try and raise money for veterinary care by raffling off a child’s rocking chair in the LSU colors. Tickets are only $5 each and the drawing will be held at our December 17th bake sale at Petco, Youree Drive, Shreveport at 4pm. The winner doesn’t need to be present, but will be responsible for picking the chair up at Petco or we can ship at the winner’s expense. You can purchase tickets on-line here on our website or by mailing a check or money order NLT 14 December to ensure we get it in time to: Yogie and Friends LSU Chair Raffle, 128 Fob Lane, Frierson, LA 71027.
Cookbook Fundraiser: We are doing a cookbook fundraiser and need your recipes to make it the best one we can. Please send us any recipes you’d like us to include in our cookbook. You can e-mail the recipe, with all, clear and detailed instructions, and your name to show who submitted it to yogieandfriends@hotmail.com.
Volunteers of the Month: Henry and Jill Durivage, Robin Snyder, Lana Cross, Liz Herndon, Helen Peck, Annie Armstrong, Lisa Bost, Gayle Labor, and Celeste Beck for helping with setup, pricing, and manning the rummage sale. You are all so appreciated.
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Upcoming Events: December 17th, 2011 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. |
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On-Line Gift Shop: We have a very nice assortment of t-shirts available for sale on our website. All the money from the sales goes to the care of the animals. Please check our gift shop on-line. We are trying to add other items as we get them. Some of our ceramics have not been added as of yet because of the high cost of shipping such items. We are looking into different shipping methods because we want to increase our gift shop.
Facebook: Don’t forget to follow us on Face Book. We have a very active page and update it often with news and events as they happen. Sometimes we even make special offers on Facebook for our fans and it’s a good way to spread the word. We’d love to increase our fan base.
Kroger Neighbor to Neighbor Donation Program: Now is the time to reenroll your Kroger Plus Card in the Neighbor to Neighbor program. The accumulation period is 1 July 2011 – 30 April 2012. It is so easy to do. Just give the cashier the letter we have linked on our website. The old letters work since it is the same barcode. The cashier will scan that and your Plus Card and it will be linked. Every time you shop at a Kroger in Texas and Louisiana and use your card, then a percentage of the sale goes to Yogie and Friends. Kroger gives a portion of $1 Million to local Texas and Louisiana programs through this program.
A few ways to help financially:
Coins for Cats! Do you empty your pockets of all your coin when you get home and throw them in a jar or piggy bank? Well, what a great way to get kids involved in fundraising help for the animals. A little coin can go a long way! That little bit of effort can end up being a nice chunk of change.
Purina Weight Circles: Cut off the weight circles from Purina Bagged Dog food (no canned food) and mail them to us at: Yogie and Friends Weight Circle Program, 128 Fob Lane, Frierson, LA 71027.
Go Green with our ink jet and cell phone recycling program. We have a very active recycling program. This is an easy way to help both the environment and the big cats. All you have to do is place the empty cartridges in a box and we’ll even get a postage paid shipping label to you. We have several businesses, libraries, and other organizations that have boxes set up just for this purpose. When they fill the box, they seal it, place the label on it, and if UPS happens to stop by your business for package pickup you can just give them this box of cartridges. Or just drop it off at any UPS drop-off location. That’s how easy it is. This all adds up to dollars for the animals. It’s an easy way to get kids involved too. Details are listed on our website.
We have several programs for you to help our animals: www.igive.com, Cause ID 19883, www.networkforgood.org, www.goodsearch.com, just to name a few. They are all listed here on our website.
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
Saturday 11/12/11
HUGE RUMMAGE SALE FUNDRAISER
First Wesleyan Church on Schuler Drive in Bossier City (click for a map!)
Saturday November 12th 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Posted in Special Announcements