February 2011 Newsletter
Greetings!
Well, on this first day in February here in Louisiana, we are experiencing some very non-southern type cold weather. As of this typing the wind chill is 6 degrees and people here are not used to this. Most people move south to get away from the cold. Please be safe out there. For those of you who have outdoor animals please check their water often and make sure it isn’t frozen over. Provide them shelter from the elements and a clean, warm bed to stay in. Please don’t let them be exposed to these extreme cold temperatures and the wind. And be careful with yourselves. The animals need their humans to care for them.
Since the weather has gone a little crazy down here there has been a delay in getting the den houses to the property. We don’t want to take any chances and safety is a primary concern with anything we do on the Yogie property. These buildings weigh so much that they require a lot of skill and care with getting them into place. We don’t want anyone getting hurt, or worse, killed while transporting them. We are excited to be getting these buildings, but will use a great deal of caution. We’ll update you as soon as we know more.
Volunteer Needs: We currently need folks with experience installing laminate flooring. We are installing this in the Director of Animal Care’s quarters in order to prepare to accept interns to the sanctuary. We want to prep the spare room for this purpose. Also, with the kind of dirty work we do at the sanctuary having carpet in the home is messy and hard to keep clean. This will help a great deal. We also have a peel and stick floor to install in the admissions building. We would like to get this done prior to our season opener in April if possible. Volunteers must be 18 or older (17 for active duty military). If you are interested and can help, please contact us at yogieandfriends@hotmail.com.
2011 Calendar of Events
| 27 Feb 2011 | 1:30 – 3 P.M. | Vendor Booth at Pet Parade, Riverview Park, 601 Clyde Fant Parkway, Shreveport |
| 12 Mar 2011 | 11 A.M. – 4 P.M. | Semi-Annual Bake Sale and Fundraiser, Petco, Youree Drive, Shreveport |
| 2 Apr 2011 | Noon – 5 P.M. | Yogie Season Opening (Weather Permitting) |
| 11 Jun 2011 | Noon – 5 P.M. |
Military Appreciation Day at Yogie and Friends |
| 10 Sept 2011 | 11 A.M. – 4 P.M. | Semi-Annual Bake Sale and Fundraiser at Petco, Youree Drive, Shreveport |
| 29 Oct 2011 | Noon – 5 P.M. |
Yogie Season Ending (Weather Permitting) |
| 24 Dec 2011 | TBD | Yogie Christmas Bake Sale Petco, Youree Drive, Shreveport |
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): We’re sorry to say that we are not part of the CFC for the 2011 campaign. Unfortunately our package was lost and we were never notified. It wasn’t until a campaign representative for a local agency went to do their donation and couldn’t find us they called to say we are not listed. Unfortunately at that point it was too late to resubmit our package. But, we are hoping that those who usually donate to Yogie and Friends this way will still send a tax-deductible donation to us. If you mail us a check or money order it is a 100% donation. Other methods do charge administrative fees. The package for the 2012 campaign is completed. We are just waiting for the date we are allowed to turn it in. Sadly, this starts us over to be qualified for the National Campaign. You must have three years as a local campaign to apply. But, all is good. We will work even harder to ensure this never happens again and appreciate our supporters.
Gift Shop: Did you know that Yogie and Friends has a really nice assortment of quality gift items? This ranges from t-shirts to Cardew Collectible Ceramic teapots, mugs, and other really nice items. Stop by the gift shop during our regular season hours and see what we have. We are also working on our on-line catalog to help with your gift buying needs. We are still trying to get the costs of shipping and handling worked out before we can do this. T-shirts and some other small items are on the website or will be soon.
Facebook: Yogie and Friends has a very active Facebook page. We often update our fans often on this page and it is a great way for us to keep up with you. If you are a Facebook person we hope you will visit us and become a fan by clicking on the LIKE button on our page.
Recycling: Don’t forget about our inkjet/laser jet and cell phone recycling. This is an amazingly easy way to help the big cats and our environment all at the same time. It’s a good way to get kids involved with helping the cats. Visit our website for more details.
If you would like to volunteer for any of our events, please feel free to contact us at
Check out the programs being offered at Yogie and Friends. There is the Yogie and Friends Membership Program ,
Sponsorship Program, and Corporate Sponsorship Program
These are programs that help us support the animals and another way that you can get involved. Program packages are available here on our website.
Please remember to spay and neuter your pets.
Please make sure you provide all your animals, inside and outside, fresh, clean water (and not covered in ice during the winter). Provide good, warm and dry shelter for those animals outside.
Be good to your animals. Be good to people! Be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Jenny and the Yogie Cats!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
January 2011 Newsletter
Happy New Year!
We hope that everyone had a safe and blessed holiday season. We know how hectic things can get for people this time of the year.
We requested, and received, an extension from the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to complete our den house work. This will help a great deal.
Christmas Eve brought a really nice phone call. I was visiting my family in Massachusetts and received a call on my cell phone from Mona Cross, Director of Purchasing and Inventory Control, of Cellexion of Bossier City. She is the one we have been working with to get the old cell buildings to be used as den houses for our animals. Well, she said that the Verizon Regional VP will sign off on the transfer of the buildings on January 10th and that we will be able to get together and work on the logistics of getting the buildings to us as soon as possible. This should give us the time needed to make the modifications to the buildings and have our upgrades done for Wildlife and Fisheries. Hopefully much sooner than our July extension. This was a really nice Christmas gift for me and the all of the Yogie volunteer staff. We are really excited about this. We will update you all as soon as we know more.
A lot of work was done at the sanctuary during 2010 and we could not have done it without the dedicated volunteers we have helping us. We want to thank all of the volunteers and staff that made this possible. Thanks again for making this all possible.
Upcoming Events:
March 12, 2011 11 A.M. – 4 P.M.
Semi-Annual Bake Sale and Fundraiser, Petco, Youree Drive, Shreveport
If you would like to volunteer for any of our events, please feel free to contact us at yogieandfriends@hotmail.com.
Check out the programs being offered at Yogie and Friends. There is the Yogie and Friends Membership Program , Sponsorship Program, and Corporate Sponsorship Program . These are programs that help us support the animals and another way that you can get involved. Program packages are available here on our website.
Go Green with our ink jet and cell phone recycling program. Details are listed on our website.
Please remember to spay and neuter your pets.
Please make sure you provide all your animals, inside and outside, fresh, clean water (and not covered in ice during the winter). Provide good, warm and dry shelter for those animals outside.
Be good to your animals. Be good to people! Be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Jenny and the Yogie Cats!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter
December 2010 Newsletter
Seasons Greetings!
You may have noticed we didn’t do an update in November. Mostly because things just got away from us with all we had to do at the season end and some fundraisers. It seems time just gets away from us.
We are closed to the public for the winter season and will reopen, weather permitting, the first Saturday in April 2011.
As many of you know, Tim, our founder, had a serious injury that turned into a life-threatening infection back in July. He has been back at work at LSUHSC since October 13th and is doing well. We thank you all for your prayers and well wishes during this very difficult and stressful time.
We participated in several events in October and November. The Jambalaya take out dinner was a success. The Veteran’s Affairs Nursing Symposium at Gerald’s Savoie. This was one of the more successful vendor tables we have had in recent months. The people were wonderful to us and they even fed us a really amazing lunch. That was a pleasant surprise. We thank Michelle Phelan for suggesting us as a vendor. We also had our after Thanksgiving All-You-Can Eat Pancake Breakfast at Applebees. We even opened the sanctuary after the breakfast from noon – 2 P.M. as a trial run to see if this might be a good time to open in the off season. The weather was perfect and there was no rain keeping the grounds so wet we couldn’t open. The reason we wanted to try this is because we get calls by people who have company in for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and they are always looking for family friendly things to do. We will look at this again in the future to see if we want to try it again next year. We met new fans this time and had a lot of fun.
Holiday Gift Shopping: We have several wonderful gift items in our gift shop, but have not placed many of them on our website because the shipping costs were so high. We realize that many of our fans understand and expect this, but we knew we could not get this up and running in time for the holiday shopping season. T-shirts are always easy to ship inexpensively. We will have a vendor booth at the upcoming Benton Christmas on the Square and hope that those wishing to purchase quality gifts and help the big cats at the same time will come and visit our booth at this family friendly festival on December 11th.
Upgrades: We have finished all, but one, of the requirements that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) want us to complete in order to renew our permit. We are still working on the logistics of the den houses and hope to get that portion completed soon. We requested, and received, an extension. That takes a little pressure off of us since we know weather and other issues can delay work.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC): We’re sorry to say that we are not part of the CFC for the 2011 campaign. Unfortunately our package was lost and we were never notified. It wasn’t until a campaign representative for a local agency went to do their donation and couldn’t find us they called to say we are not listed. Unfortunately at that point it was too late to resubmit our package. But, we are hoping that those who usually donate to Yogie and Friends this way will still send a tax-deductible donation to us. If you mail us a check or money order it is a 100% donation. Other methods do charge administrative fees. We will make sure this is not overlooked next year and thank you for your continued support.
Special Thanks: We want to thank Cottens Grocery in Shreveport, and Mac’s Deer Processing in Stonewall, for providing us with deer for our animals. This is a huge savings for us financially and is a more natural diet for our animals.
Also, thanks to Paige Bass for our website. Also, her husband, Damon, for dealing with all the web hosting issues that arise. They keep our great website up and running and do a great job for us.
Upcoming Events:
Barnes & Noble Holiday Gift wrapping
16 Dec 2010 3 P.M. – Closing
19 Dec 2010 1 P.M. – Closing
22 Dec 2010 2 P.M. – Closing
This is free holiday gift wrapping for customers and they will tip if they choose. Materials are provided by Barnes & Noble. This is the Youree Drive, Shreveport, LA location.
11 Dec 2010 10 A.M. – 4 P.M. Benton Christmas on the Square
Heritage Village Square, Sibley Street, Benton, LA
Volunteers of the Month: Thanks to Nick Kaddatz for helping with the drainage work around the cat pens. Also, thanks to Brianna and Vicki Volk, Jeremy Wood, Steven Findley, and Andrea Labor for helping with the pancake breakfast. It was fun and successful. Thanks again to all our volunteers.
If you would like to volunteer for any of our events, please feel free to contact us at yogieandfriends@hotmail.com.
Check out the programs being offered at Yogie and Friends. There is the Yogie and Friends Membership Program , Sponsorship Program, and Corporate Sponsorship Program . These are programs that help us support the animals and another way that you can get involved. Program packages are available here on our website.
Go Green with our ink jet and cell phone recycling program. Details are listed on our website.
We have several programs for you to help our animals: www.magfundraising.com, 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.
Please remember to spay and neuter your pets.
Also, do what you can to prevent flea and ticks causing serious illnesses to your animals. They deserve your care and kindness. Don’t stop using preventative just because it is cold outside. Some of these pests are still around in the winter.
Please make sure you provide all your animals, inside and outside, fresh, clean water (and not covered in ice during the winter). Provide good, warm and dry shelter for those animals outside.
Be good to your animals. Be good to people! Be a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.
Jenny and the Yogie Cats!
Posted in Monthly Newsletter