RLRR Metro Support committee mtg notes

Notes from Red Lake Rosie’s Meeting 6/16/10

In Attendance: Colleen Meyer, Denise Luke, Sharae Nevitt, Dani Schwartzman, Heidi Hunstad, Jane Norling, Crystal Berntson, Kristen Klemann, Kristen Goral, Ellen Weinstock, DeeDee Welles

DeeDee passed on Nancy O’Sullivan’s message of gratitude to the metro committee for their ongoing support for Karen and RLRR.

Clinics Update
MN SNAP:
89 animals S/N/Vax; 20 vaccination only; one quill removal; 5 dogs groomed.
Animal Ark/Akin: 120 animals S/N/Vax; 50 vaccination only; 20 dogs groomed.

For the first time, there were less community animals lined up waiting for spots at the clinics, and the daily quota was filled by stray animals and shelter animals. Whether or not this is a positive trend, or a result of three clinics scheduled fairly close together, remains to be seen.

Karen and Colleen are discussing initiating a shuttle to bring animals from Ponemah, an under-served area of the reservation, to the next clinic. Dani offered to look into getting some kind of larger vehicle to use as a shuttle along with the RLRR van.
Colleen will be the transport coordinator for the Animal Ark/Akin clinics. She will facilitate the transportation of the animals left at the clinics to the rescues in the Cities.

Next clinics: August 20-21; October 15-16.

Shelter
There are quite a few young adult animals at the shelter, some with various issues such as heartworm and orthopedic problems. Lately, Karen has been taking in a lot of feral puppies and dogs, as well.

Volunteer Needs
DeeDee needs help in order to reduce her RLRR responsibilities, which have become quite time-consuming as Rosie’s has grown. We need to actively recruit new volunteers.

Needs:
Placements of animals in rescues –
This involves working with Karen and sending pics and info to the RLRR rescue partners about animals at the shelter.

Transport Coordination –
Along with Karen, arrange transports to pick up animals at the shelter, Bemidji, or Motley. Arrange transfer stops in the Cities and facilitate rescue transfers. Meet transports in the Cities and transport animals to various rescues and/or arrange for short transports.

Dani offered to help with transport coordination, but we could use another person, as well.

Denise wondered if we needed to re-visit the idea of having a van in the Cities that could be used for transport, since many people own smaller cars, and our transport loads are generally large.

Food, Crates, and Pad Transport –

Dog and cat food need to be picked up regularly at various Chuck and Don’s and at other places, as it is donated. It needs to be stored and then delivered to the transport going to the shelter.

Crates need to be gathered, cleaned, and sent back to the shelter on transports.

Monthly, medical pads need to be picked up in St Paul and sent up to the shelter and clinics.

There are also various other items that are donated (ie: Igloos, shelter supplies) that need to be picked up and delivered to the transport.

Fundraising –
We need volunteers to work on fundraising activities such as the holiday flyer that is sent out annually, along with other possibilities. Metro committee members have lots of great ideas for fundraisers and community events, but we have not had the volunteers to initiate them.

We would like to have an annual picnic for volunteers, supporters, and adoptive families with their RLRR dogs.

Denise suggested some kind of photo exhibit/sale evening with wine, cheese, etc. We have had three professional photographers visit RLRR over the years, and there are lots of beautiful photos of the animals and people of Red Lake reservation.

There are many opportunities to have a RLRR table at various events in the Cities. There are also online fundraising opportunities.

Crowdrise, actor Ed Norton’s new online charitable initiative, was briefly discussed.

Ellen offered to start a RLRR Facebook fan page, as it seems it would be a more active page than the group page we have now.

Also, we all agreed that having the blog accessible and linked in as many ways as possible would be a very good thing.

Anyone interested in facilitating additional online networking for RLRR would be much appreciated.

A volunteer to take over writing thank you notes is needed, too.

Foster/Adoption Group
DeeDee and Teresa have downsized the RLRR foster/adoption network in the last few months, due to the heavy workload involved in running it. For now, we have about five foster homes and are not taking on any new ones. If and when there are volunteers willing to do the work, the network could grow again.

Community Education
Karen suggested giving out stuffed dogs and cats to children on the reservation, because there is a tendency for families to want to have/keep puppies as entertainment/toys for the kids. This could provide an opportunity to discuss the care and treatment of living beings versus viewing them as toys. It could be done at clinics and/or in schools, or other venues. We need someone to take the lead on finding cheap/donations of stuffed animals.

Shelter Help
Karen is having oral surgery in mid-July and will need help at the shelter for about 4 days. When the surgery date is firm, we will send out an email asking for volunteers who can go to the shelter and care for the animals.