December, 2011 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 lilnicki@live.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 meeting will be held on Thursday, January 19. Fundraising Update Phoneraisers Please continue to save your old cell phones and ink jet cartridges. Drop them off at Tender Care Animal Hospital, or bring them to the monthly meeting. Donna Heilmann will package and ship the phones to Phoneraisers. Tee Shirts We have 4 colors in 3 sizes to pick from sand, light blue, yellow and pink in medium, large and XL. The RABAS logo on the front is in color. Shirts sell for $14 each. If you would like to purchase a tee shirt, please contact Bev and she will bring one for you to the next meeting or make arrangements to get one to you. We also have a number of the original style tee shirts that were purchased at Sports World. These also sell for $14. Dog Obedience Classes If there is any interest, I hope to start classes in March. Tractor Supply is the best place I have had to hold dog classes we can work outside if the weather is warm and dry, or inside if the weather does not cooperate. 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 Photo Gallery and 2012 Calendars Dr. Donna Higgins continues to support RABAS through her beautiful wildlife prints on display at her office downtown PdC. The framed and matted prints, sell for $85, of which Donna donates $50 to RABAS. If you are looking for an attractive addition to your home or office, or a unique gift idea, please consider a print from Donna Higgins. Donnas wildlife prints range from humming birds to bald eagles, deer, egrets and pelicans. The 2012 Wildlife Calendars are on sale now and they are beautiful!!!. This years calendar features eagle prints and I think they will be a very popular item. Donna has also added a note about profits from her wildlife prints being donated to RABAS. The prints can be viewed on line at our website (www.riversandbluffsanimalshelter.org) or at her office. Calendars can be viewed on Donnas Facebook. A Winter Yappy Hour will not be held this winter. The general feeling of the people in attendance at the December meeting is that it would not be well attended. A 2nd Culvers Custard for Critters may be held in the near future. To date, I have not heard anything from Jason about another Custard for Critters. Kwik Trip Script Gas Cards Once again, thank you to those who have purchased the Kwik Trip Cards and have made the commitment to purchase cards from us before purchasing gasoline or any Kwik Trip products. RABAS has made about $1300 in profit from the first week in October through mid December. If this trend can continue, this means an additional $5,200.00 annually. For RABAS, this is a considerable amount of money. Just think what we could be doing if more members and volunteers would support this fund raiser. I know many of you are tired of receiving emails from me almost begging you to buy the Kwik Trip cards. It is just that this is a profitable fund raiser and it is so easy compared to most of the fund raisers we have. Jill, and I are willing to deliver cards on the same day of the request or the next day whatever works for you, works for us. There are reasons why some people choose not to purchase the Kwik Trip cards Kwik Trip does not sell E85, some people pay for their gas and KT purchases with their KT charge cards to save money on gas purchases, and others use their Cabelas credit card for purchases to earn Cabelas points for future Cabelas purchases. I can certainly justify these reasons. Everyone needs gas and many people purchase food items at Kwik Trip also. We are not asking people to buy things that they may not really want or need. There are some of us who still volunteer to bake for bake sales and who end up buying our own baked goods back from bake sales. Selling these cards to family, friends and co-

workers, or even just purchasing them for your own use requires little effort much less effort than any of the food stands or other fund raisers that we do on a monthly basis. Other than the $8.60 shipping fee per order, there is no expense involved such as advertising. Cards are available for sale at Merle Norman Cosmetics (downtown PdC) and also at River City Roller Rink on Friday nights and on Saturdays and Sundays. Cards will be delivered to you with a days notice by calling Bev at 326-2914 or Jill at 326-4870 or by replying to this email. If you live out of town and would like to purchase the cards, we will mail them to you upon receipt of your check made payable to RABAS. Volunteers can be issued up to $300 worth of cards at one time for selling. Money for the cards should be returned to Jill or Bev in a timely manner (2 weeks) for depositing in the checking account. Unsold cards should also be returned within that time frame. Remember, we make 10% on each card sold. Cards come in increments of $25, $50 and $100. Please, help RABAS reach our goal through the purchase of these cards. Wake Up Santa was held on Saturday, December 3rd. According to deposits and checks written for Wake Up Santa from the December treasurers report, I believe that we cleared $691.45. Everything ran very smoothly and again we heard many favorable comments. One thing that we decided not to do this year was to print off approximately 1,000 registration forms and take them to area schools. The return on all of these registration forms was about 1 per cent. It was time consuming to print and fold all of these forms plus the paper and ink used the end result did not justify the time and the expense. A limited number of registration forms were available at all area schools, but I do not believe any of them were utilized. It is amazing to me how this event just seems to come together. The advertising and registration forms were done more than a month in advance with Jill, Randy and Bev working together via email to get things out to local papers, radio stations and the website. The coming together was truly evident on Thursday evening when we decorated the hall. Everyone just pitched in saw what needed to be done and got it done. Not once did anyone say What should I do? And then on Saturday, once again the volunteers just recognized what was needed and it came to be registration, kitchen, dining area, Santa and Mrs. Santa, photography, games, craft table, gift shop and clean up. Thanks to all of you who helped to make this event another community success. Once again, there are many behind the scene jobs that get done. We had help from 2 new Girl Scout troops this year Rochelle Fullers Girl Scouts helped with the gift wrapping in Santas Secret Gift Shop and with keeping the kids entertained prior to the countdown to waking Santa. Kari Polodnas Girl Scout Troop made beautiful decoration to decorate the tree. Donna went on Facebook to ask if anyone had an artificial tree to donate to RABAS and she was able to get a beautiful tree. Thanks also to Brian Cipra for donating his time and material for the photos. I am sorry to say, that I do not remember the donors name, but a thank you note was written and mailed to her. Thanks again to everyone who helped in any way with this wonderful community event. Santa Visits Our very own Santa aka Randy Paske had 12 Santa visits this year, including Wake Up Santa. A few of these were donated. Through December 14, Santa visits accounted for $250 in donations to RABAS. I know that there were a few after that, including 3 on Christmas Eve. I hope that Santa knows how much his dedication to promoting RABAS and spreading holiday cheer was appreciated by those whose homes he visited and by this organization. While most of us were celebrating Christmas Eve with our families, Santa made 3 visits that evening, foregoing his own family celebration. Thank you, Santa! Christmas gift wrapping and Christmas bake sale was held at Tractor Supply on Saturday, December 17 from 9 a.m. 3 p.m. Thanks to Jill, Donna Vicki and Bev for baking and to Jill and Bev for volunteering to spend the better part of the Saturday before Christmas at Tractor Supply. We did very little gift wrapping I think a total of 3 or 4 people had their gifts wrapped and one of them did not give us anything for wrapping. The baked goods sold very well and we could have used a few more plates of Christmas goodies. We also sold $350 worth of Kwik Trip Gas Cards to complete strangers. I think that we made about $400 in profit, but I am not sure. Jill will have the final total on the January treasurers report. The Pet Celebration Tree was not as successful as Donna and I had hoped it would be. In fact, the only pets on the tree were in memory of Donnas deceased Nikki and in honor of her two Shitzus Molly and Sadie and Bevs deceased beagle Didi, and her two dogs Nicki and Vegas. We did receive a $20 donation from Don Stram on the day we set the tree up. Donna decided to take the tree down in early December due to lack of interest. Phil and Deb Dwornik did try to have their pets on the tree, but the tree was taken down before they got their pictures there. They did donate the money anyway in memory of Nikki and Kitty, and in honor of Sadie and Cody. Donna and I still feel that this could be a profitable fund raiser, but we need to find a place that has more foot traffic.

The Christmas Party/December Meeting was not as well attended as it has been in past years, but those who attended had a nice time. The food and camaraderie were great! In addition to the gift exchange, food donations were also collected. Paskes took the 50 lbs of food collected to the local food pantry. Pounds Off People and Pooches (POPPS) is done for this year, but hopefully will resume in the spring. Please take the time to check out our website riversandbluffsanimalshelter.org. Information on it changes sometimes daily. This website is awesome!!! Thanks, Randy for constantly updating our website. Therapy Dogs International teams remain active in the community. On Tuesdays Kathy and Digger are at Bluff Haven, Deb and her dogs Jasmine and Sami go to Walter Schmitt Home and Paula and Maggie visit Bluff Haven. Deb, Sami and Jasmine visit Bluff View twice a week for the reading program. Bev will start in January. Deb, Bev and dogs visit Wyalusing Academy, twice a month. When we arrived at Wyalusing Academy on Tuesday, December 22, Jeff Umhoeffer presented us with a $500 check payable to RABAS in appreciation of our visits. But the words he spoke meant as much to Deb and me as the check. He said that the time the kids get to spend with the dogs is one of their best received programs and that we are truly making a difference in the lives of the kids whom we spend time with every month. Again, I do not know who has more fun when we go the residents and staff of Wyalusing Academy, the dogs who each receive an hour of attention or Deb and I for sharing our passion for our dogs. I know for Deb and me, sometimes we would rather stay home than go out, but once we get to the site, we enjoy every minute we are there and are glad that we did make the effort to go. RABAS Fund Raising Gauge At the December meeting, Julie provided the group with a sketch of the gauge. It will be a very unique and attractive gauge when finished. The black and white sketch featured a tree with a cat climbing up the tree (to be used as the indicator in our advancement for funds) with a dog and a doghouse (with our logo and/or name on) at the base of the tree. Julie will contact local businesses for donations of plywood, paint, primer, shop supplies. Julies brother, Jim Robbins of 3Rs Woodworks Inc. from Fennimore, designed the sketch and will construct the gauge. The gauge will be placed at River City Roller Rink. Thanks to Julie for taking the lead on this and to Sue Rider River City Roller Rink- and Jim Robbins for their help with this. I think that this gauge will be very well received by the community and should increase awareness of our organization and our progress in land acquisition and then building progress. A conversation had been started in late October with the city administrator, Aaron Kramer to help us with land acquisition. To date, there has been no more action on this matter as far as I am aware. Two new RABAS Banners were printed by Design Homes of Prairie du Chien. The banners were picked up in late November and they are very nice. They should last for a number of years. A thank you note was written for the banners. The ones we have been using are more 4 years old and they have seen better days. Design Homes has generously donated banners for a number of recent events, including Yappy Hour, and Wake Up Santa. Volunteer hours Please keep track of your volunteer hours each month and get them to Jill. Volunteer hours can include any of the following and probably some things that are not mentioned: meetings, baking, working at fund raisers, hanging posters, phone calls and all the things it takes to make this organization as great as it is. Mississippi River Cruise to benefit RABAS is in the works for 2012. Randi K. will head up the committee for this event. Watch for more info in early 2012. Treasurers Report Treasurer Jill reports that RABAS now has approximately $88,302.73 including $15,905.05 in our checking account and $72,397.68 in 4 different CDs. There is still money to be recorded from the sale of Kwik Trip Cards, Tractor Supply Bake Sale, Santa Visits and Wyalusing Academy donation. Even though we were not able to acquire land by the end of 2011, I do believe that we reached or came very close to reaching $90,000.00 in the checking account and CDs by the end of this year by the time all money is deposited and recorded. True Value May Bake Sale and Food Stand discussion was held at the December meeting as to whether to sign up for the True Value Food Stand as we have done the past 4 years on the Friday and Saturday before Mothers Day. Volunteers to bake and work are declining and we have not made as much money in recent years to make it worth the work involved. Donna suggested to have the food stand/bake sale only on the Friday (May 11) and not to do the Saturday. She will be in charge of this fund raiser. Bev will help her. Mom and Son Play Date is an event that a number of moms who have boys suggested RABAS sponsor. After talking to some of these moms at Wake Up Santa and getting activity ideas for this event, the topic was discussed at the December meeting. Support for this event was not overwhelming, but Jill and Julie in

addition to Bev, thought we should try it. The date is tentatively set for Saturday, March 24th from 1 p.m. 3 p.m. Details for this event are sketchy to say the least and I had hoped to meet with Mike Ulrich over Christmas Break, but he was not available. I envision this event to be different activity stations set up around the gym at Hoffman Hall. Activities will be mostly interactive between moms/grandmothers and their sons/grandsons and may include the following: Thomas the Tank Train Track and trains, Little Tike Activity Toys, Dinosaur Corner, Bingo, Mini Sock Hop (half an hour or so), Astronomy Program, Fishing/Casting activity, Search and Find Books, Duplos/Lego Table, Puzzles, Limbo and Hula Hoop Contests, Shelled Corn Box (similar to a sand box, but will use shelled corn instead of sand), and possibly a high school student to toss Nerf Footballs and a basketball player to help with shooting and dribbling skills. I will try to meet with Mike sometime this month. Mike did tell me that we can use any recreation/sports equipment that Hoffman Hall has. Donna Heilmann had some Christmas tree ornaments that she no longer used. She decided to advertise them on her Facebook Page and donate any money raised from them to RABAS. Crystal Huhn offered Donna $50 for the ornaments as a donation to RABAS. But there was one condition attached to this donation. Crystal requested that Donna donate the ornaments she paid for to Operation Santa. Donna honored Crystals request and I am sure someone in need had a beautifully decorated tree just one more way of a donation helping more than one cause. Thanks to Donna and Crystal. Membership Renewals - Memberships are good for one year from the month the member joined. Jill will send out renewal applications to those whose membership has expired. Please consider renewing your membership as memberships are an important part of our income. There are 5 different levels of membership: $5.00 student; $15 Individual; $25 Family; $50 Sponsor; $100 Patron; $500 Benefactor. Some members choose to donate a fixed amount every month. Thanks to everyone for your financial support. Watch us grow!! RABAS Wish List Wish List Items include: Land Gift certificates to either the Courier Press or WPRE Radio Station to pay for ads for upcoming fund raisers postage stamps, paper, envelopes, labels, napkins, paper towels, hand sanitizer, ketchup, mustard. Contact Bev at 326-2914 or reply to this email if you have any kitchen or paper supplies. If you have information on land, please contact Randy at 262-388-2654 or Bev at the above number. Donations All donations are recognized in the Shelter Shorts and a thank you note is written. Crystal Huhn - $48.25 Donation was for $50.00, but it was done through Google, and the processing fee is $1.75 (Donnas Christmas decorations) Rita Clancy - $500.00 Don Stram - $20 Current and New Members (Recent renewals and new members are shown in bold type). George and Mary Tilley $25 Family Membership Tractor Supply $25 Family Membership Bev Pozega $15 Single Membership Tom & Marjorie Bennett $25 Family Membership Eric & Betty Frydenlund $25 Family Membership Mike & Mary Jane Faas $25 Family Membership Ron Stark $100 Patron Membership John & Vicki Howe $25 Family Membership Georgia Hutchinson $15 Single Membership Marilu Bintz $50 Sponsor Membership Sharon Boylen $15 Single Membership Joe Hunzeker $15 Single Membership Marilyn Crubaugh $15 Single Membership John and Judy Ryan $25 Family Membership Marty Leeman $15 Single Membership Gary and Kathy Koch $50 Sponsor Membership Julie & Mollee Whyte $20 Single and Student Membership June Burns $15 Single Membership

Janet Lueck $15 Single Membership Paula Gutzmer $15 Single Membership Jane Howe $15 Single Membership Randi Kluesner $25 Family Membership Donna Heilmann $50 Sponsor Membership Bonnie Olson $50 Sponsor Membership Linda Munson $50 Sponsor Membership Donna and Dale Cipra $25 Family Membership Jennifer Clements $25 Family Membership Deb Cross $25 Family Membership Kim Pinkham $15 Single Membership Vicki Mueller $50 Sponsor Membership Lynn Moris $15 Single Membership Chris Panka $100 Patron Membership Randy and Linda Bedward $25 Family Membership Sue Rider $15 Single Membership Peggy Johnson $25 Family Membership Mary Long $50 Sponsor Membership Kelly Fishler $15 Family Membership Lu DeGuzman $100 Patron Membership Bev Pozega $15 Single Membership Francis and Laura Nix $100 Patron Membership Phil and Deb Dwornik $50 Sponsor Membership LaMarr Kappmeyer $15 Single Membership George and Mary Tilley $25 Family Membership Marjie and Tom Bennett $25 Family Membership Jan Bernhard $25 Family MembershipMike, Shelly and Kaitlin Rider $25 Family Membership Allison Roberts and Angelica Dayrit $25 Family Membership Kristin Helgerson Kriegal $15 Single Membership Randy and Kathy Paske $25 Family Membership Janice Hein $15 Single Membership Mr. and Mrs. Jim Powers $25 Family Membership Shirley Wegmuller $15 Single Membership Jami & Ken Quick $25 Family Membership Brian & Jill Cipra $25 Family Membership Olive Burmeister $50 Sponsor new Donna Hamm $15 - Single Membership Sarah Bartash & Don $25 - Family Membership Rosemary Reese $15 Single Membership Candace Miller $15 Single Membership Debbie Mason $25 Family Membership Joe and Susan Van Metre $25 Family Membership Lisa Parello $15 Family Membership Alexis Burns Honorary Membership Ray Wrobel $15 Individual Membership Reminder: Annual memberships should be renewed 1 year from the month in which you joined. Continued Monthly Pledges Sandy Kittle - $10 Monthly Pledge (Paid $50 at April meeting for 5 months) September, October, November, December and January 2012, Thanks to everyone who volunteered this month in any way. Thanks to everyone who supported us through donations, and memberships. There are many jobs that continue to get done without recognition. Membership and volunteer listings are current through December 15, 2011. If I missed your name, I apologize. Please let me know and I will include it next month.

As 2011 comes to a close and we welcome 2012, we begin our 5th year of fund raising for an animal shelter for this area. I want to thank everyone who has helped us in anyway throughout the past year. Your financial support and volunteerism are greatly appreciated. I have enjoyed working with you and look forward to doing so in 2012. Personally, I am grateful for the new friendships and acquaintances that I have made through RABAS and the love and passion we share for our pets and those pets in need. Even though we did not acquire land this past year, we should be proud of what we have done found homes for a number of cats and dogs, have an active Therapy Dog Program, have an informative and attractive website, and have opened the lines of communication between Southwest Vet, Tender Care, CASA and RABAS. I hope that 2012 will bring a renewed commitment from active volunteers as well as from those who have drifted away. We need the support of many if we are to reach our goal. If there is anything that we can do to make meetings and fund raisers more attractive, interesting and fun, please do not hesitate to reply to this email or to call me at 326-2914. We are open for suggestions to make this organization as great as it can be. I also hope that 2012 will see land acquisition for Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter. I cannot wait to see a sign that reads Future Home of Rivers and Bluffs Animal Shelter on our newly acquired piece of land. I also wish all of you the very best in 2012. RABAS Rocks!!!!!! On a personal note: Jill and I will not be at the January meeting as we will be on a dog sledding adventure in Springstead, Wisconsin, located in the northern part of the state. We will need to leave on Thursday afternoon as it is a 6 hour drive and the adventure begins at 11 a.m. on Friday, January 20. I am looking forward to this adventure as dog sledding is something that I have always wanted to do and I am so grateful that Jill (who hates winter and being cold) has agreed to go on this adventure with me which means about 5 hours outdoors on Friday, 7 or 8 on Saturday and 3 or 4 on Sunday. We will be dog sledding, skijoring (having a team of two dogs pull us on cross country skis), snowshoeing and cross country skiing. All of the sled dogs are rescues. Wish us luck. River and Bluffs Animal Shelter Membership Form Student - $5.00 ____ Sponsor - $50.00 _____ Individual - $15.00 ____ Patron - $100.00 _____ Family - $25.00 ____ Benefactor - $500.00 I would like to make a monthly pledge of : ________ per month for a total of $_______ per year. Name:___________________________________ Address:_________________________________ City/State/Zip_____________________________ Email:____________________________________ Phone Number:______________________ Please mail membership form to: River and Bluffs Animal Shelter PO Box 421, Prairie du Chien, WI 53821