Thank you for the amazing support! Our grant money was able to support Return-to-home initiatives ensuring owners get reunited with their pets and stay together!
Original Message:
Sent: 08-06-2024 01:46 PM
From: Sheila Kouhkan
Subject: Community Conversations - 8/5/24 - Fresh Faces & Brainstorming with the Committee
Thanks to the 138+ people and paws who joined us on today's Community Conversations call! The recording is now available to watch on-demand. Below you'll find a recap of the call, resources and highlights from the chat.
Congratulations to our Community Conversation winners for June and July with $2,500 each, including Roxane Fritz from San Mateo County Veterinary Wellness, Brandon Fancy from City of Columbia Animal Services, Kelly McCoy from All Kind Animal Initiative, and Claire Russell from The Foster Spot! There were also two Maddie's Pet Forum winners announced today who will receive $3,000 each, including Devon Avery of Hart County Animal Shelter and Connie Ash from Mended Paws Sanctuary. Thanks to everyone for your contributions that help make our community great!
Call Recap
- Welcome from hosts
- Question of the Day: Considering that we're past the halfway point of 2024, what is an achievement you're most proud of? What are you most looking forward to for the rest of the year? (This can be animal welfare related or related to your life outside of work).
- "Kitten Season slowing down…. 🙂" - Marnie Russ
- "Finishing our new quarantine and iso rooms" - Sue Webb
- "Secured the Google Ad Grant just last month for our shelter!" - Jared Munoz | PVAS
- "Our group LARPBO has increased our shelter pack walks to cover 4 of the 6 shelters in Los Angeles. The last one out of West Vally had 21 dogs and human volunteers on the walk." - Sarah Moretz
- "I wrote my first grant! 😻" - Gwynnie Hale
- "I was awarded my largest grant ever!" - Alexsey Dobberstine
- "Good Morning from Sol Dog Lodge and Training Center in Tucson, AZ. We had a very successful Junior Dog Handler Camp in July for 12 lucky campers 9-15 years of age!" - Mary Flores
- "So proud of the talks we've had on Community Conversations and the community we've all built!" - Irene Chansawang
- "The grants we have been chosen for this year." - Michelle Russillo
- "Getting my first dog adopted to a wonderful family!!!!! We are new and it has been a lot of work just to build funds, so this was awesome!!!!" sunny levine
- "Community! Excited to be in community and to continue to cultivate community!" - emily wood
- "We are doubling the number of outdoor dogruns we have." - Alisa Mills
- "Bridge to Bridge just had their first community fund raiser." - Teresa Williams
- Maddie's Fund Grant Announcements - June and July Monthly Drawing Winners
- Community Conversations Winners for June and July of $2,500 each
- @Brandon Fancy, City of Columbia Animal Services (Columbia, SC)
- @Roxane Fritz, San Mateo County Veterinary Wellness (San Mateo, CA)
- Kelly McCoy, All Kind Animal Initiative (Abilene, TX)
- @Claire Russell, The Foster Spot (Brooklyn, NY)
- Maddie's Pet Forum Winners for June and July of $3,000 each
- National Updates
- Today's Presentation: Fresh Faces & Brainstorming with the Committee – Weekly Community Conversations 8/5/24
- Thank you to our past steering committee members:
- 2022 - 2023
- 2023 - 2024
- Special mention of the Maddie's Support Team
- For 2024-2025, we are proud to introduce our new committee members
- @Geraldine D'Silva, Human and Animal Wellbeing Consultant
- @Shonyae Johnson, Director of Virtual Programming, Humane Rescue Alliance
- Awanookwe Kingbird-Bratvold, Senior Director, Northern Tier, Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity (CARE) Center; Assistant Professor of Indigenous Environmental Studies at Bemidji State University and Founder of Awesiinyag (AnimalsAre Loved)
- @Christina Lee, Founder and Principal of StellaFirma Strategies
- @José Ocaño (he/him/el), Founder & CEO, Hatching, LLC
- @Nadia Oseguera-Ramon, California Program Manager, UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program
- @Donell Randolph, Community Programs Coordinator, Oakland Animal Services
- @Miguel Ruelas, Director, Community Animal Care, Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity (CARE)
- @Raye Taylor, CEO/CMO, Taylor Veterinary Services; Vice President, Minnesota Board of Veterinary Medicine
- Community Engagement: Dr. Raye Taylor, a Steering Committee member, led us through the following interactive poll questions to help identify what topics would be of interest to help guide this next season of Community Conversations programming
- Questions and responses included:
- What new trends in animal welfare would you like to learn more about?
- What do you find most valuable about the weekly calls?
- What skills does your organization need to develop further?
- What skills do you want to grow within your personal animal wellbeing career?
- How are you and your organization consciously and intentionally implementing diversity initiatives in your day-to-day work?
- Top 3 topics from the list of choices:
- Behavior & Training
- Access to Vet Care
- Leadership Skills & Development
- Justice: Social and Environmental
- Community Spotlights
- Funding, Grants, Resources
- Hospice & Fostering
- Highlights from the Chat:
- "I'm new to this world. I'm a volunteer grant writer for Chad's Promise - it focuses on providing temporary housing for service dogs while their veteran owners are in the hospital, etc. in Tampa/central Florida. Hoping to find out about more opportunities, particularly grant opportunities and other mechanisms for this relatively new non-profit." - Kristi Herritz
- "Thank you, Maddie's, for everything. " - Chuck Saltzman
- "We want to turn this county around and make everyone proud of our Shelter and get awareness and community involvement with the dogs. We were so, so excited." - Lisa Smith
- "The puppy in my arms was found in a box on the side of the road, and sadly she is one of many similar stories. My hearts go out to those with similar woes! Thank y'all so much for the help." - Lisa Smith
- "Thank you so much to Maddie's Fund! If anyone wants to learn more or chat about their foster programs, please feel free to reach out to me at hello@thefosterspot.org." - Claire Russell
- "I am so very thankful to have these weekly conversations and the Forum. Maddie's has helped isolated groups and individuals become one strong community who can learn from each other and do more good in communities. Thank you all of you at Maddie's Fund." - Roxane Fritz
- "Wow! That was such a wonderful acknowledgement! Thank you!" - Irene Chansawang
- Question from Menti: What do you find most valuable about the weekly calls?
- "Community" - sue webb
- "Community and collaboration" - Kim Jackson
- "The resources provided during the chats." - Kim Jackson
- Question from Menti: What skills does your organization need to develop further?
- "Funds" - Anke Schwenke
- "Data! my favorite :)" - Maria S
- "More volunteers" - Kim Jackson
- Question from Menti: What skills do you want to grow within your personal animal wellbeing career?
- "Grant writing" - Anke Schwenke
- "I'm the grant writer at Austin Pets Alive! and I'd be happy to be part of Grants 101!" - Jory Jolivet
- Question from Menti: How are you and your organization consciously and intentionally implementing diversity initiatives into your day-to-day work?
- "We aren't at this time." - Lisa Brinlee
- "I think a talk on DEI in the animal welfare space specifically would be wonderful!" - Jory Jolivet
- "We are for everyone. Everyone no matter the background has a voice. We are the voices of animals and their humans." - Kim Jackson
- "Especially in terms of external relationships - racial history with animal ownership, how income/wealth affects pet ownership and care, etc."
- "It also means getting to know your community and the people you serve. You can't make sure everyone is included if you don't know the demographics of your area." - Maria S
- "I sort of came in like a wrecking ball to our Shelter. Before I was hired as Admin, it was male older staff without fostering and not actively seeking rescues or doing community reach or social media. We have fosters now, rescue transfers, higher adoptions than ever, a strong media presence, and a big community outreach." - Lisa Smith
- Additional topics of interest:
- "I think beyond self-care, what can organizations do to help staff members? The burden shouldn't just be on the individuals!" - Jory Jolivet
- "Data and technology" - Chris Fitzgerald
- "Behavior and training is a must." - Kim Jackson
- "How to deal with the veterinarian and RVT shortage." - Roxane Fritz
- "Collaboration" - June Thomas
- "Community cats and legal issues" - Cheryl May
- "Lived experience = phD"
- "Loved the Menti!"- Claire Russell
- "Very fun and interesting session. Thank you." - Penny Leisch
- "No drop off boxes!" - emily wood
- "Drop off boxes can be very dangerous." - Alexsey Dobberstine
- "I think drop off boxes could lead to a missed opportunity in terms of making connections with owners and offering services to help people keep their pets." - Jessie Sullivan
- "People in my area frequently leave pets in the park, so they were never going to interact with the shelter regardless." - Maria S
- "I don't like the idea of drop off boxes. Any suggestions about what I can say professionally when suggested by the community is great!" - Lisa Smith
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Sheila Kouhkan
Senior Education Specialist
Maddie's Fund
CA
Original Message:
Sent: 08-01-2024 02:14 PM
From: Maddie's Pet Forum Admin
Subject: Community Conversations - 8/5/24 - Fresh Faces & Brainstorming with the Committee
Updated 8/5/24 at 5:14pm PT - Recording now available to watch on-demand!
Welcome back to Weekly Community Conversations! We hope your month off was rejuvenating and that you are ready to dive into the next part of the year. As we continue our mission to address the most critical topics within animal welfare, we have some exciting updates and opportunities to share with you.
Join us for an engaging session where we will:
- Announce Maddie's Fund grant winners from the June and July Community Conversations giveaway and Maddie's Pet Forum
- Introduce our newly formed steering committee, featuring fresh faces and renewed energy to drive our initiatives forward.
- Dive into the purpose of the community conversations, and where we will put our focus for the remainder of the year.
- Collaborate with all of you to brainstorm and co-create the focus areas that matter most to our community for the upcoming year.
Your input is invaluable, and together we can shape the future of animal welfare. Don't miss this opportunity to reconnect, share your ideas, and be part of our collective journey towards making a meaningful impact.
Register for Community Conversations hosted via Zoom: https://maddies.fund/CommunityConvoRegistration2024
As always, this discussion 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 the August 2024 entry form to enter to win up to a $5,000 grant: https://www.maddiesfund.org/weekly-community-conversations-aug24-giveaway.htm
#Diversity,Equity,InclusionandJustice
#EducationandTraining
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Maddie's Pet Forum Admin
Maddie's Fund
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