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Community Conversations - 6/23/2025 - Community Spotlight: A Year of Connection

  • 1.  Community Conversations - 6/23/2025 - Community Spotlight: A Year of Connection

    Posted 23 days ago

    Updated 6/23/25 at 4:05 pm PT:  Recording now available to watch on-demand!

    Please note: All views expressed on these calls are not necessarily endorsed by Maddie’s Fund.

    We hope to see you on the next Community Conversation on Monday, 6/23/25 at 11am PT for "Community Spotlight: A Year of Connection" with @Raye Taylor  and @José Ocaño (he/him/el). 

    As the Weekly Community Conversations wrap up another incredible year, José Ocaño and Dr. Raye Taylor will be co-hosting the second-to-last call of the season, themed "A Year of Connection."

    Over the past year, this community has learned, unlearned and shown up for one another. The upcoming session will spotlight those shared experiences-and the people who made them possible. 

    Looking back, what stood out this past year?

    • Was there a moment or topic that really stuck with you?
    • Did a session make you feel seen, spark change, or offer hope?
    • How have these weekly calls helped you stay connected-or build new community?


    Let's close out this year the way it began-by celebrating connection, courage, and community.

    Register for Community Conversations hosted via Zoom: https://maddies.fund/CommunityConvoRegistration2024

    Make sure you are using the latest version of Zoom when you join us!

    If you are unable to make it live on Monday, this thread will be updated with the recording and resources so you can watch and share whenever you'd like.  After you watch the recording on-demand or attend the call live, be sure to complete this new June 2025 entry form to enter for a chance to win up to a $5,000 grant.


    #CommunityPartnerships*
    #EducationandTraining

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    Maddie's Pet Forum Admin
    Maddie's Fund
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  • 2.  RE: Community Conversations - 6/23/2025 - Community Spotlight: A Year of Connection

    Posted 18 days ago

    Thanks to the 132+ people and paws that joined us on today's Community Conversations call! The recording is now available to watch on-demand. 

    Call Recap

    • Welcome from Hosts
      • Dr. @Raye Taylor, Associate Professor of Community Medicine, University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine; CEO/CMO, Taylor Veterinary Services; Vice President, Minnesota Board of Veterinary Medicine, National Advisor to Natives In VetMed

      • @José Ocaño (he/him/el), Founder & CEO, Hatching, LLC

    • National Updates
      • Elkie Wills at HASS: Become a HASS Partner today and join us for our partner networking meeting this Thursday at 2 p.m. ET. http://bit.ly/45xs0Ud
      • Kristen Petrie at Community Cat Podcast: We have our annual Online Feline Leukemia Day coming up on July 19th from 10:00AM-5:00PM ET. It's a great chance to learn more about this disease. You can get all the details here - https://www.communitycatspodcast.com/events/2025-online-feline-leukemia-day-conference/ We hope to "see" you there!
      • Shonyae Johnson at Operation Kindness: Humane World for Animals speaker proposals close July 17th. Always encouraging first time speakers to apply ♥️ https://humanepro.org/expo/session-submission-faq
      • 2025 National Kitten Coalition Veterinary Conference (NKCVC) Save More Kittens™ Scholarship Program is accepting applications.  Here's the website: https://kittencoalition.org/the-national-kitten-coalition-veterinary-conference/
      • Montana Hayes from Herzog's Heroes: Herzog's Heroes is committed to establishing a new standard in responsible dog breeding, aiming to reduce the number of dogs entering shelters and minimize canine suffering through proactive reform, education, and accountability. Based in McHenry County, Illinois, Herzog's Heroes is pioneering a first-of-its-kind certification and accountability initiative for dog breeders. Through education, advocacy, and technological innovation, we seek to elevate breeding standards statewide and provide practical tools that empower breeders, inform the public, and protect dogs throughout their lives.
      • Angel Guzmán at Hatching: Live Better: The Power of YOU™-Registration is now open through June 30, 2025: https://calendly.com/hatching-/live-better-the-power-of-you-online-course
      • Lisa Pearce at Charleston Animal Society: South Carolina is holding Petco Love's Pick Me! SC, the nation's largest statewide adoption event for dogs and cats now through June 29th. Our goal is 2,500 adoptions in over 90 organizations and rescues. This is our eighth year! PickMeSC.org for info. 🙂
      • Sebastian Bol from Cowboy Cat Ranch:  Check them out at www.cowboycatranch.org and and join the free, online cat book club https://www.cowboycatranch.org/cat-book-club
      • Kristen Petty at Bailing Out Benji:  Just released a new search engine for all licensed breeders in the US to help advocates and the public research breeders. Check it out and please reach out if you have any questions! https://bailingoutbenji.com/search-engine/
      • Johanna Okrasinski: Coco's Heart Dog Rescue has started a podcast about all things animal rescue. Here is a link if I can share here for anyone interested in listening to weekly episodes https://www.cocosheartdogrescue.org/podcast
      • Maddie's Fund Monthly Giveaways!  Enter here for a chance to win CA$H: Open to all who are watching live or on-demand! Be sure to enter each week you attend!
      • Maddie's Pet Forum Monthly Giveaway: Maddie's Fund® is giving away a $3,000 grant each month to one lucky Maddie's® Pet Forum member. You'll automatically be entered to win each month when you start a new discussion, reply to a new post.  Learn more on the discussion thread here.
      • In celebration of Maddie's Fund 30th anniversary, Maddie's Fund and Cuddly have partnered to provide $1,000 in prizes monthly, for engaging on a special anniversary-related post on Maddie's Pet Forum. This June, we're celebrating Maddie's legacy together on Maddie's Pet Forum by honoring the pets who've inspired us to do more. Simply comment on this discussion thread and you'll be entered to win a $1,000 Cuddly prize pack. 

    • Today's Conversation:  Community Spotlight - A Year of Connection
    • Highlights from the Chat
      • "We can't give the animals in our care the love if we don't give it to ourselves." - Susan Leavitt
      • "First time here but just learned a cool self-centering technique. 😀" - Rod Arnold
      • "The sessions have provided insight on different approaches that are VERY useful!  May not bet able to incorporate everything, but knowledge is useful!" - Debra DeVries
      • "First time here.  Important take away…how important self-awareness is -- if we can't do our volunteer work if we don't take care of self!" - Paula Pagos
      • "I keep a "Smile File" of photos/screenshots/notes that bring me joy. Highly recommended for capturing and remembering these moments!" - Sheila Kouhkan
      • In response to the host's request to look at photos and think back to last August – what were key moments (that brought you joy)?
        • "Volunteers helping us load transports!!!" - Lisa Pearce
        • "Mini putting with my boys. They keep me grounded." - Susan Ballesteros
        • "A picture of a TNR kitten that I later wound up adopting!" - Laura Connors
        • "Cats." - Janette Martin
        • "Yum - that was apparently the month we partnered with a local ice cream shop, and they donated $1 per cone so I ate ice cream there a few times." - Kristin Moro
        • "Moving into a new apartment in a hurry, my coworkers were great help in gathering moving supplies for me 🙂 Would never have gotten enough boxes if it weren't for them! (the rest is lots of cat pictures)" - Hannah Blackwelder
        • "I have several photos of happy adoptions…smiling families with their new dogs. And a fun outing at the beach with one of my treasured foster families." - Susan Leavitt
        • "A picture of one of the lawmakers we work with sitting on the grass at our 'Ewa Beach campus getting kisses from a pittie puppy." - Steph Kendrick
        • "Two of my pups were bitten by a snake!  I have pictures of their swollen muzzles for the Vet.  BTW, the snake lost that battle!  I am VERY grateful for the Rattlesnake Vaccine my dogs get every year!" - Debra DeVries
        • "I took my first litter of kittens into foster last August (I always work with adults) and I think I took 1000 pictures of them. 🙂" - Kristen Petrie
        • "I post the dog adoptions and share 'happy' gotcha thoughts and info.  Love for the pups to 'smile' and the readers love it too. such joyful personalities they have." - Nancy Noda
        • "I have lots of pics of my deaf, white pitty just relaxing or being happy & I feel great seeing that because she is a rescue & had a tough life for her 1st 5 years. She deserves it." - Jennifer McCormack
        • "I didn't work with animals last August, so it makes me happy to know where I am now!" - Mike Gibbons
        • "I TNR'd a cat last April and never saw him again when I released him but just got a call while on this zoom from meowsquad who found this same Saturday near jfk airport and he is friendly now and they needed permission to adopt him out...what a rescue world..." - LaTonya Sassee Walker
      • In response to host's question about connecting with community near and far:
        • "Sorry for the late introduction but it seems relevant now that we're discussing community, and I wanted to say hello to everyone from We Love Doggos. We're a 501c-3 charity that crowdsources dog rescue and networks shelters and fosters across the country through our Dog Rescue Heroes Club. We save dogs through community. https://welovedoggos.com/" - Rod Arnold
        • "We connect with our community by having many, many events at local pubs, eateries, ice cream places, pet stores, Lowe's stores and bring our Pitty breed dogs for people to actually meet them. We have many in foster so we get to know them well & we try to dispell the Pit Bull myths by people actually meeting them.  Pitties and pals, NJ." - Jennifer McCormack
        • "Community near and far: our Director is in Suriname right now doing a weeklong TNVR there." - Susan Ballasteros
      • "Gratitude always for Maddie and these conversations." - LaTonya Sassee Walker
      • "Gratitude that we are not alone!" - Paula Pagos
      • "Although a lot of work/education is needed, in the words of one science fiction program..."We are NOT alone!!!!!"  Okay, more than one word!!" - Debra DeVries


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    Sheila Kouhkan
    Senior Education Specialist
    Maddie's Fund
    CA
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    Original Message


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