S HELTER

MAY

SHORTS
2013

Rivers & bluffs animal shelter

2013 Coming up
MAY9thBoard Meeting 10th &11th Mothers Day True Value food stand 16th-RABAS Meeting 30th- Rooster Andys Chicken-Q fundraiser

P RINCESS

FOR AN EVENING

Inside This Issue

2013 B OARD
TREASURER S REPORT

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PAST FUNDRAISER UPDATES

UPCOMING FUNDRAISERS

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OTHER NEWS MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

RABAS MEMBERS

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2013 Board of Directors

SHELTER SHORTS is a monthly newsletter intended to keep Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter volunteers and supporters connected. With everyones hectic schedules, we know it is often difficult, if not impossible to attend monthly meetings or to work at all of our fundraisers. Everyone is invited to submit articles for the newsletter. To do so, please call Bev at 608-326-2914 or email her at wyalusing2012@gmail.com.

President- Randy Paske 1300 East Wells Street Prairie du Chien, WI 53821 608-622-7855- repaske@gmail.com Vice-President Bev Pozega 32398 Gran Grae Road Prairie du Chien, WI 53821 608-326-2914 wyalusing 2012@gmail.com TreasurerJill Cipra 126 Randee Avenue, Prairie du Chien, WI 53821 608-326-4870 jbcipra@mchsi.com SecretaryTamara Aldrich 63513 Lohmann Lane Eastman, WI 54626 608-874-4223 traldrich1@mmm.com Board Member- Julie Whyte 322 South Wacouta Avenue Prairie du Chien, WI 53821 608-306-0499- chipndale322@hotmail.com Board Member- John Ryan 12890 Markley Hollow Road Bagley, WI 53801 608-996-2281 Board Member- Donna Heilmann 1702 East Fowler Street Prairie du Chien, WI 53821 608-379-2112- heilmann73@gmail.com

Monthly meetings are held on the 3rd Thursday of every month at the Prairie du Chien City Hall. Meetings begin at 6:00 p.m. Please use the back door. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend. The next board meeting is May 9th, and the general meeting is Thursday, May 16th.
Planning Meetings will be held in conjunction with board meetings on the 2nd Thursday of the odd numbered months.

Volunteer hours will be collected by Randy P. at monthly meetings or you can email your hours to Randy at repaske@gmail.com.

Treasurers Report
Jill Cipra Treasurer

Check us out on the Web

www.riversandbluffsanimalshelter.org
Thanks to randy Paske for keeping this website up to date!

Current balance as of April 18, 2013

$120,722.44
This total does not include Pasta deposit and there was a check written for Kwik Trip cards for over $5000.00, in case you are wondering why the amount is less than last months. Checking Account Balance - $3,888.21; Total C.D.s- $116,834.23

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Rivers and Bluffs animal shelter-pdc

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Past fundraisers

Princess for the Evening was held on Saturday, April 13th. Once again, this was a beautiful evening for area princesses and their dates. From the comments heard the night of the event and throughout the community following the father/daughter dance, this was a memorable night for all who attended. Until one actually witnesses in person how magical this evening is for both the girls and their dates, (fathers, big brothers uncles, or the special man in their lives), it is hard to comprehend. Just watching the couples on the dance floor it was difficult to decide who was enjoying the evening more, the girls or their escorts. Again thanks to everyone who helped with this event. A special thank you to our financial sponsors, who without their support, Princess would not be possible: Paper Moon, Dr. Donna Higgins, Tender Care Animal Hospital, American Family Insurance Ken Stoeffler, and Associated Bank. A big thank you goes out to Huckleberrys Restaurant for hosting Princess. It is the perfect place for Princess. Management and staff go out of their way to accommodate our needs from making the Princess Parfaits to asking if we need anything throughout the evening and even offering to help us with cleanup. Thanks also to Mas Bakery for the beautiful and delicious Princess cake, Brian Cipra for his photography skills, Quality Beverage for the cheese and sausage platter, Andy Jones, aka Juice MC, who played the latest hits as well as some great couple dances designed for dads and their daughters, Kembles Greenhouse for the beautiful corsages, Sue Rider for the use of her limbo sticks, Donna for getting the hula hoops from the school, Country Inn & Suites for the water park passes used for door prizes, Monkeys Tale for the princess gifts, Zinkles Piggly Wiggly for refreshments, Walmart for a gift card used to purchase supplies and Culvers, McDonalds and Merilee for dance contest prizes. Randy P did an excellent job posting pictures to the website and Facebook. Lynn Rider got the couples out on the dance floor by teaching them the proper ball room dance technique. And thanks to the Courier Press for their excellent coverage of Princess both before and after the event as well as their help with getting the ads exactly how we wanted them. The color photo on the front page as well as the press release and additional pictures later in the paper will certainly help to promote Princess next year and I am sure made many dads realize that they missed a rare opportunity to spend an enchanted evening with their daughter (s). And to Jill, my cohort in this undertaking, whose attention to detail is much appreciated, thank you. Again thanks to everyone. I believe there were 28 or 29 father figures and their dates. That may not sound like many, but the dance floor was always crowded. Profit for the evening was about $700. Jill has not yet received the bills for advertising yet, so we do not know exactly what the profit is. Pasta for Pets was held on Wednesday, April 17th. Again, thanks to all who had anything to do with the success of this event. We made approximately $2000.00!!! Thanks to the bakers, the volunteers who helped that evening, people who donated auction prizes or who solicited local businesses for donations, Adams Auction Service and especially to Huckleberrys Restaurant for once again providing a delicious and excellent assortment of pastas, chicken tenders and salad. A special thank you to Merilee Pleggenkuhle (I can finally spell her last name without help) for her extreme effort in rounding up many of the auction prizes. Special thanks also to Phil and Deb Dwornik for the beautiful bench, decorative bird house and functional bird houses and feeders and for Phil doing such a great job on the 50/50 tickets. We made $81 just on the raffle tickets, about $750 each on the silent and live auction, $45 in donations and almost $600 on the meal. Thanks to all who bid on the items, or ate with their families and friends. This was certainly a group effort with an excellent profit for our favorite charity.

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Kwik Trip gas cards

Kwik Trip Gas Cards sales from March 21, 2013 through April 18th, totaled $3,025.00 for a profit of $302.50. This is probably our lowest monthly profit since we started selling the Kwik Trip cards in October of 2011. Please remember, that this is an easy way for those who want to help our very worthwhile cause, but cannot do so because they do not have the time to actively volunteer, to support Rivers & Bluffs without spending a dime to purchase something they do not need or want. To say the least, I am very disappointed in the lack of response to this almost effortless fund raiser. Most fund raisers require many hours of prep time prior to the event, as well as even more volunteer hours for the event itself. These jobs continue to be done by the same, dedicated group of people. Please consider purchasing the Kwik Trip cards (which can be used for in store purchases in addition to gasoline) from Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter. As we hopefully move closer to land acquisition, these gas cards could play a very important role as to how soon we start the building process and what type of building we will be able to afford. Please contact Jill, Donna or myself before filling your tank. A quick reply to this email or a phone call will result in delivery of your cards on the same day or the next (Jill 326-4870, Donna 608-379-2112 or myself 326-2914 or 306-1260). Again, thanks to everyone who supports Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter through the purchase of these cards. If you have purchased them in the past, but no longer do so, would you please reconsider doing so again?

Make checks payable to RABAS

phoneraiser
Thanks to everyone who saves their inkjet cartridges and old cell phones for RABAS. Thanks also to Donna Heilmann who takes care of shipping these items to Phoneraiser on a regular basis.

U. s. bones
Please continue ordering cat and dog treats from USBones.com. They donate 25% of each order placed, to RABAS!

Dr. donna higgins wildlife photos

Dr. Donna Higgins continues to support RABAS through her beautiful wildlife prints on display at her office in downtown PdC. She has recently changed the format to 12 x 12 prints in borderless clip frames. Donna explains that these may be more affordable at $35 each. She will donate $25 to RABAS for each print she sells. These prints are absolutely beautiful! Please stop in at Dr. Higgins office, downtown PdC to see them. You may be able to see them on RABASs facebook page or Donnas facebook page, or possible on our website.
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upcoming fundraisers
Nelson True Value Food Stand and Bake Sale will be held on Friday and Saturday, May 10th & 11th. Donna, Bob, and Diane will volunteer at the stand on Friday and Bev and Jill will be there on Saturday. As always, if there is anyone who would like to help for a few hours on either day, please know that your help is welcomed and appreciated. Help is always needed to help set up each day or to take down. Hours of the stand are from 9-2 on both days. If you can help on Friday, please contact Donna at 608-379-2112 or Bev at 326-2914 if you can help on Saturday. As always, baked goods are in great demand. If you can bake, please let Bev know by replying to this email or calling her at the above number. Baked goods can be dropped off at True Value on Friday or Saturday morning, although we would prefer the majority of them to be there on Friday morning Baked goods should be packaged ready to sell, with the price marked. If there are nuts in the baked goods, please label as such. If you can bake, but do not have a way of getting them to True Value, please call Bev. Rooster Andys Chicken-Q at Rickleff Plumbing & Heating will be held on Thursday, May 30 from 11 a.m. 6 p.m. This is a very easy fund raiser all we have to do is show up, work for a few hours and leave no cleanup. Yeah! We are in need of volunteers to help at this, even for just a few hours. We will need people to deliver the dinners as well as to serve them. Jill has tickets printed now. To better estimate the number of dinners we need to order, we would like to sell as many as possible in advance. Cost of the chicken dinner is $8 and includes chicken, potato salad, baked beans and a dinner roll. We have a few people who have volunteered, but even if you told me you can help, will you please tell me again so I can start a list. I think everyone should be there by no later than 10:30. Even if you can work just a couple of hours, that would be a great help. If you would like advance tickets to sell, please let Jill or me know. Last year we made about $3000.00 on the Chicken-Q. Hopefully this year we will do as well. Rooster Andys could not keep up with the demand last year, so I am hoping that will not affect this years numbers and that they will be better prepared. If you are a business owner or are employed in Prairie du Chien, would you please promote the Chicken-Q at your work place? For the business owners, the Chicken-Q is a great way to treat your employees for a job well done and support Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter at the same time. Pals and Pause For a Cause 5K Dog Walk is scheduled for Saturday, June 29th. At the April meeting, we talked about whether there will be enough volunteers to make it happen. It was decided to go ahead with the planning. This will be a dog walk only and we are soliciting sponsors to help pay for the advertising as that may be our only expense. Sut Hill will be a sponsor (thanks, Donna Heilmann and Bob Witt for making the contact). Mike and Randy Kluesner also offered to sponsor the dog walk through their Three Bears Ranch Outfitters service. Jill and Bev have a few phone calls out to other prospective sponsors. I have contacted Sports World to find out the deadline for ordering tee shirts in order to get them in time for the dog walk June 10th. Police Dept. has also been called to see if we need to do anything prior to the dog walk, but the person I needed to talk to was not in. So looks like we are on a roll for the dog walk. Advance registration forms will soon be in the works. I think I saw one from the last dog walk on the computer, so that should simplify it a bit. If you can help, please let me know. Tee shirts will be included with the registration fee for those who register in advance. We will not order any extra tee shirts. If you would like one for posterity, please let me know. Tee Shirts, Sweatshirts, Hoodies, order is in. If you ordered one and would like it before the next meeting, please let me know. I will get it to you as soon as I can. Payment will be expected at the time of delivery. At this point I do not know how much they are, but I believe we got a cheaper price than expected because of the large order. Extra tee shirts were ordered to be sold at upcoming fund raisers, the first one being Nelson True Value. Prairie Pool Puppy Paddle Saturday, August 24 For now, just save the date. More info will follow. 5

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Other news

Dog Obedience Classes started on Wednesday, April 24th. I am already amazed with this group of dogs and handlers. Typically, the noise from the barking of the excited dogs is so loud that we cannot carry on a conversation. This group of 6 dogs was very quiet, literally no barking. There are 3 return dogs and 3 first timers. A few students were unable to make the first class, but will be at the class next week. All of the dogs in the class are black except for Molly Bob and Diane Witts dog. Dogs range in size from a miniature Schnauzer named Tuck (owned by Merilee Pleggenkuhle) to a black 80 pound Newfoundland puppy (owned by Donna Lund). Spectators are always welcome. Last night we worked inside, but if the temperatures ever get warm enough to be comfortable outside, we will work in the fenced area adjacent to Tractor Supply. Again, thanks to Tractor Supply for providing a perfect place to train dogs. Bluebird Houses Anyone Mike Kluesner, (Randis husband) has been busy making bluebird houses. If anyone would like to buy one, please reply to this email or call Randi and Mike at 563-873-3839. We are looking for places to market these bird houses. If you have any ideas, please let Bev or Randi know. We are hoping to sell them at the True Value Food Stand in May and Adoptions, Losses, People Looking for a New Pet, Pets in Need of a Forever Home I believe that this was a quiet month for adoptions, rescues, new homes for RABAS. As far as I know, there are only two to report. Randi K. was made aware of a dog and a cat in a desperate situation. She and Mike stepped in and rescued both of them. The cat had to be euthanized due to its health, but the dog has a new and loving home. Congrats to Randi and Mike on another successful adoption. Deb and Phil Dwornik found a very undernourished cat near their home. They were able to catch it. They took it to Dr. Jami who treated it for some minor health issues and spaying. Debs sister will give the beautiful cat its forever home as soon as she can come to this area. In the meantime, Deb and Phil are falling in love with it. Randi K just emailed me that she will be attempting to rescue 3 kittens in Prairie du Chien sometime this afternoon. Good luck to Randi and please keep us informed.

An update on Thelma, the American Eskimo Dog in need of a new home - Ken and Sandy Vold who already have one Eski had been considering the addition of another Eski to their family as a companion for Choo Choo (their Eskie). Gloria Duerksen, a co-worker of Sandys before Sandy retired forwarded my email to Ken and Sandy. Ken and Sandy contacted Thelmas owners in Dodgeville and once again the rest is history. Here is the last report: Foxys (formerly called Thelma) story begins with the Levin Family, Matthew, Karolyn and Jessica of Ridgeway, Wi. Matthew raises German Shepherds and trains them for dog shows. He also donates his time to 4-H, showing young people how to train dogs. They were at the Iowa County Humane Shelter looking for suitable dogs for 4-H dog training when they spotted Thelma (Foxy). Said Karolyn, She was in an unadoptable state when we first saw her and were introduced. She had to dragged out of her kennel, afraid to leave it. She had been abused and surrendered to the Humane Society. The Levins decided to foster Foxy, rather than to turn her over to an inexperienced person. Daughter Jessica took over most of the training and socializing and they decided to keep her. Circumstances changed however the Levins are moving and downsizing and could no longer keep her. They needed to find a good home for her. The first few days were difficult for both Foxy, Choo Choo and the Volds. The Levins provided valuable information and Foxy seems now acclimated to her new home. With the Levins advice, Ken and Sandy kept her on a long leash whenever she was outside until she learned to return to them consistently. Foxy and Choo Choo have worked out a play pattern and she shares the bed with them at night with Choo Choo and their two cats, Little Bit and Lover Boy. She is, said Sandy, an absolutely, adorable, little thing, who loves to hop up on your lap for a little snuggling and cuddling. I received this note from Ken and Sandy in March, so I hope things are still going well.

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Other news

Therapy Dog Teams The Family Dog Center has not returned any of the number of phone calls and emails regarding the rescheduling of the evaluation for Therapy Dogs International. This is very disappointing to say the least. But Merilee and Tuck visit Prairie Maison every Monday and I believe Marjie will soon be making regular visits with Emmy. Kathy and Digger continue to visit Praire Maison every Tuesday and Paula and Maggie visit once a week as well. Paula and Maggie have recently started hospital visits. This is a great opportunity for the patients at the hospital. I believe that Paula and Maggie have visited patients in the hospital on 3 different occasions to date. Bev and Nicki will make their debut visit on Tuesday, April 30. Vegas will not be included at this time. Bev and both dogs, Vegas and Nicki, visit Wyalusing Academy about twice per month. Land Acquisition Discussion and meetings continue with the city. Pounds Off People and Pooches (POPP) Weekly Dog Walks will hopefully resume if the weather ever warms up and the rain stops. I am sure Randy will post it on Facebook and I will email you when the walks will start. Furry Godmother Do you need someone to take care of your furry little friend while you are on vacation or just out of town for the day? Fret not. Your Furry Godmother is only a phone call away. Reasonable rates and very dependable. Call Brenda Wilson Furry Godmother at 608-317-7001.

Membership renewals and donations

Donations All donors are recognized in Shelter Shorts and a thank you note is written. Donations are current through April 18th. Pampered Chef, Bonnie Olson, Ray Wrobel, Don & Eileen Klatt Mike and Shelly Rider, Ken Stoeffler American Family Insurance - Princess
New Members and Renewal MembershipsMembership renewals are current through April 18, 2013

Bonnie Olson Sponsor, Tori Armstrong Individual, Marilu Bintz-Sponsor, Kim Pinkham-Individual, Donna Heilmann -Individual, John & Judy Ryan Family, Donna Cipra Family, Bob & Diane Witt Patron
Membership Renewals Memberships are good for one year. There are 5 different levels of membership:
River and Bluffs Animal Shelter Membership Form Student - $5.00 ____ Individual - $15.00 ____ Family - $25.00 ____ $_______ per year. Name:___________________________________ Address:_________________________________ City/State/Zip_____________________________ Email:____________________________________ Phone Number:______________________ Please mail membership form to: River and Bluffs Animal Shelter Sponsor - $50.00 _____ Patron - $100.00 _____ Benefactor - $500.00

Needed: Your email address!

Please include your email address when filling out your membership form. This is a fast and inexpensive method of communication. Postage, paper, envelopes and printing costs add up! Electronic mailing of the newsletter saves RABAS big $$$$!

I would like to make a monthly pledge of : ________ per month for a total of

PO Box 421, Prairie du Chien, WI 53821

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Patron members
Amy Enlow Paula Gutzmer Laura Nix Sharon Willoughby & Bryce Hinsch Bob & Diane Witt

Sponsor members
Marilu Bintz Jennifer Clements Lu DeGuzman Phil & Deb Dwornik Sandy Kittle Gary and Kathy Koch Linda Munson Bonnie Olson Tammy OBrien Daisys Troop 1074

family members
Randy & Linda Bedward Tom & Marjorie Bennett Sharon Boylen Donna Cipra Jill & Brian Cipra Mike & Mary Jane Faas Eric & Betty Frydenlund Randi & Mike Kluesner Randy & Kathy Paske Jim & Kathy Powers Jami & Ken Quick John & Judy Ryan Roberta Spires George & Mary Tilley Brenda Wilson

individual members
Tammy Aldrich Tori Armstrong June Burns Alexis Burns Deb Cross Dawn Eggers Kelly Fishler Donna Heilmann Janis Hein Joe Hunzeker Georgia Hutchinson Kristin Helgerson Kriegl Marty Leeman Kim Pinkham Merilee Pleggenkuhle Bev Pozega Rosemary Reese Sue Rider Shirley Wegmuller Julie Whyte

Monthly pledge member

Don & Eileen Klatt
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Student member
Mollee Whyte

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