|
Today's meeting was held uniquely via ZOOM. Rob presided, 11 members attended, and we had one visiting speaker, Dori Scofield, President of Save-A-Pet Animal Rescue. After introducing and welcoming Dori, Rob welcomed announcements, starting with his own: He thanked Rebecca and Sal for spearheading a timely, fun fundraiser- a 2021 Super Bowl Pool. The pool includes 100 boxes to fill with participants' names, at a price of $20 each ($10 goes to the club, and $10 goes to the prizewinners) with 4 prize opportunities ranging from $150-$400. Winners will be determined by chance drawings at the end of each quarter. Club members are asked to sell the boxes to relatives/friends/acquaintances. At the meeting, we learned that 50% of the boxes had been sold. (Since then, we learned via Rebecca's email to our membership that there were around 15 or so boxes remaining to be sold.) We've been urged to engage as many people as we can in this venture. All 100 boxes must be sold in order for the Pool to work. Rebecca thanked Sal for coordinating this enterprise and the graphics. Watch for Rebecca live on Sunday on Rotary's social media accounts, as she pulls the winning numbers out of a hat at the end of each of the game's quarters! Dennis reminded us to drop off our Open Cupboard donations at his home (305 Emerson St., Port Jeff- above the high school) between Thursday, 2/4 and Tuesday's meeting, 2/9. The driveway, path to the front porch, and the porch itself will be free of snow and awaiting your items. Suggested needs include: toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, soap, deodorant, oatmeal, mac & cheese, and black or red beans. Bob thanked Sharon for attracting great publicity for our club via the TBR newsmedia's 1/2 page article with photo by Julianne Mosher about our participation in the Rotary Million Mask Challenge. The article included information about our meetings and an invitation to make donations via our P.O. Box. Rob again introduced our guest speaker and invited her to make her presentation. Dori started Save-A-Pet Animal Rescue in 1994 and has been incorporated and registered as a 501c3 non-profit since 2000. From then to the present time, Save-A-Pet has rescued and trained over 30,000 companion animals of all sorts that had been strays and at risk of being euthanized, eventually placing them with welcoming families. Of course, in order to continue successfully, Dori and her staff must constantly seek donations, both monetary and of supplies. On any given day, one can find between 20-30 dogs and 75-100 cats in residence at Save-A-Pet. Due to the pandemic, Dori has found it necessary to cancel her usual fundraisers and opportunities to educate the public (including school visits/presentations). Save-A-Pet continues to perform trap/neuter/release activities with feral cats (those that are too unsocialized to be adopted) and promotes spay/neuter programs. Dori proudly announced her recent purchase of The Berkshire Farm Sanctuary in Hinsdale, MA (Tara has been there for a visit)- 25 acres, a house, barns, and outbuildings. A potbellied pig is the 1st resident. Evidently, it is illegal to harbor pigs and/or fowl in our area. Dori's rescued animals are all micro-chipped in addition to being spayed/neutered before they are offered for adoption. She and her staff try to be very thorough in matching people and animals and noted that all of her animals are returnable. Dori, herself, owns 5 horses. (We learned that a lot of horses are being slaughtered for meat.) She told us that animal euthanasia practices tend to be more humane now, but says that there are increased attempts at saving unwanted animals by transporting as many as possible from places where they could suffer/ be killed to places like Save-A-Pet that attempt to care for, rehabilitate, and find new homes for them. In answer to our questions, we learned, among other things, that Save-A-Pet takes in mother dogs with their puppies- many coming from the South, where heartworm is a pervasive problem; Save-A-Pet has lots of volunteers and trainers (the dogs get a lot of exercise); and they have a foster program, especially for kittens, which are usually bottle fed. Hounds on the Sound, walkathons, etc., as fundraisers had to be cancelled due to Covid-19, so Dori now has had to depend mostly on social networking for funding in order to continue her work. Rob invited her to pick up our Donations Committee Funding Request Form. Bob H. was today's Sergeant and was able to raise some money via fines, but especially from other sources. Rob got to sing Happy Birthday to Mike S. at the latter's request. And the Happy Dollars flowed from there. :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE! |
