March 2012 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, May 17. 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. Thanks to Donna for sending them in. Dog Obedience Classes I still want to start classes, but time is an issue at this point. My gardens are in dire need of work and I will try to schedule classes for June. 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 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 prints can be viewed on line at our website (www.riversandbluffsanimalshelter.org) or at her office.. Kwik Trip 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. Thanks also to those who are establishing a regular customer base for these cards. This remains our most profitable and steady source of income. From March 27 through April 19, we made just over $600!!! 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. 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. Deb and Bev have ended the Wyalusing visits for now and will resume in November. Debs last week at school is this coming week I believe.. Volunteer hours will be collected by Randy P at monthly meetings or you can email your hours to Randy at repaske@gmail.com. Mississippi River Cruise to benefit RABAS is in the works for 2012. Randi K. will head up the committee for this event. Cost of the cruise will be $25 per person. RABAS will supply snacks; participants will provide their own beverage. Date will be a week night in late August I believe. More information to follow at the May meeting. True Value Mothers Day Bake Sale and Food Stand will be held on Friday, May 11. We will only be at True Value one day, instead of two as we did last year. Donna will be in charge of this fund raiser. Bev will help her. Volunteers to help at True Value to date are: Donna, Deb, and Bev. If someone would like

to help that day, please let me know. We can always use extra help with set up and take down. We will need volunteers to bake. If you can help or bake, please reply to this email or call Bev at 326-2914. Cruizin Fur Critters will be held on Saturday, June 9. We may have at least one sponsor who will financially help us with advertising, prizes, etc. Last week Deb and Bev drove the new route for 2012. Some of the route is the same as last year as I wanted to use Waukon HD as a stop and also incorporate the Lansing Bridge. The work on this has barely started. Posters need to be done, letters written and mailed to solicit donations from businesses in the towns the poker run will pass through, poker run stops need to be contacted. I am hoping to have the HD dealer in Waukon, Carols in Wauzeka, Sawmill (as the final stop), Great River Road House near DeSoto I think that participants will have their card validated at the registration location (Prairie Motor Sports). It would save time trying to figure out which other business to use as well as save an extra stop on the route as this years route is about 20 miles or so longer than last years, I believe. Princess for the Evening is set for Saturday, May 5. Everything is set for Princess. Basically, we have a little bit of shopping to do, need to pick up cheese trays (which will be donated by Eunices and Quality Beverage), pick the Princess Cake up at Mas Bakery in Bloomington, and decorate the hall. We had a number of obstacles with this event: Jill and I both knew that we had tiaras and corsages left from last year. I had gone to the shed weeks ago to look for them. I found table cloths and tiaras, but could not find the corsages. After 2 more trips to the shed without finding the corsages from last year, Jill and Brian looked. In the far back corner, underneath the Pooches (which have been in the same corner for years) the corsages were found. Thanks to Jill and Brian for all of their help with this event and for not giving up on looking for the corsages. Kembles also donated an additional 2 dozen corsages for this year. After learning that finding helium would be difficult or maybe impossible, I contacted Badger Welding who told me they would save a tank of helium for us (donated) so if they were unable to get it in May we would still have it. Jill called Badger Welding earlier this week and the person she talked to said helium was almost impossible to get and that he did not know anything about having a tank for us. But Jill followed through and found out that they do have a tank for us and it will be delivered on Monday. Bethany made a cute hot pink banner which we had intended to put up at Huckleberrys, but the city has been revising the ordinance on banners and now banners need to be 16 feet off the highway. There is not enough grassy area at Huckleberrys to be 16 feet from the highway, so Jill, Brian and I put it up at River City Roller Rink. Thanks to Bethany for the banner and to Sue for letting up put up the banner. If anyone would like to help with set up for Princess, we will meet at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 5 at Huckleberrys. We will have 200 balloons to fill with helium as well as decorate and set up the photo and refreshment area. Remember, the more the merrier. The event starts at 6:30 so we will return that evening around 5:30 Pasta for Pets was held on Wednesday, April 18th at Huckleberrys. This event was once again a success. Advertising bills are not yet in, but according to Jill, we made approximately $1,100.00. Thanks to everyone who came out to eat, helped with the event that evening, baked a dessert or donated something to the silent auction. We had an excellent variety of silent auction items. We heard many favorable comments about the food a nice selection and how delicious it was. Thanks to Dave, Roxanne, Bird and Andy Skemp and their staff for making Pasta for Pets possible. Again, thanks to everyone this was certainly a team effort. A Chicken Q by Rooster Andys of LaCrosse will be held on Thursday, May 31. It will be held in the parking lot of Rickleff Plumbing/Amerprise Financial Services/Great River Community Medical Clinic on the corner of Marquette Road and Blackhawk Ave. We will need to sell 300 grilled chicken dinners at $8 each. Our cost is $5 each. Chicken dinners include grilled chicken, potato salad, baked beans and a dinner roll. Please promote this fund raiser to your friends, relatives and co-workers. Donna had some excellent news to share at the March meeting. Design Homes will commit to buying 150-170 chicken dinners for their employees. So we are half way to selling the minimum order of 300. Tickets will be printed within the next week. Please contact Bev or Jill about getting tickets to sell to coworkers, businesses, family and friends. Again, this will be another easy fund raiser just show up and work . But we do need to sell a minimum of 300 tickets. We are halfway there with Design Homes order. We will still need volunteers to help hours are from 11 a.m. 6 p.m. If you can help, even for a couple of hours, please reply to this email or call Bev at 326-2914 or Jill at 326-4870. Villa Louis Carriage Classic Wine and Cheese Event Mike and Shelly Rider will donate $500 to RABAS for our help at this event on Friday, September 7. They have already paid us $200 as a down payment for our commitment to do this event. Volunteers are already in place for this fund raiser.

Pounds Off People and Pooches (Community Dog Walk) has started for the 2012 walking season. We will meet every Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. on the east side of the Villa Louis (just north of the Sculpture Park). The route is just over a mile and takes less than an hour. In addition to the physical activity, the walk provides socialization for dogs as well as their handlers. It is an enjoyable evening. Please bring poop bags and water for your dogs. Tee Shirts Our supply of RABAS tee shirts is down to about 3 or 4 shirts. If any one would like to order tee shirts, sweatshirts (hooded, crew, or zip up), please let me know. I believe we need to order a minimum of 12 items, but they can be in any color. There is no minimum regarding type of shirt or color. I believe the only thing is that all 12 shirts would need to have the same ink color for the logo (black or white). Cost of the tee shirts is $9. Crew sweatshirts are $18 and hoodies are $24. I do not have a cost on zip ups, but if any one would like to order one, let me know and I will get a price. Childrens and toddler sizes are also available. The tee shirts come in over 30 colors sweatshirts are available in 20 colors. Larger sizes would be an extra dollar I believe. We are not ordering shirts at this time to sell, but just for our members and volunteers who may like one. The cost is what Sports World is charging us. So if you would like to order one, just call me and we can discuss color and size 326-2914 or email me. At the April meeting, we were treated to a presentation by Trina Skimes Brownie Troop. In addition to the presentation about animals- both domestic and wild and the things they need to survive- Brownie Troop 1074 became sponsor members. They also told us that they would like to help us with any events that they can, especially Wake Up Santa. Donna Heilmann presented a check from Seth Sanders, a 5th grader at Bluff View Elementary. Seth and his parents had a garage sale and Seths parents told him that if he sold some of his toys he no longer played with, he could use the money to buy some new toys. Seth is an animal lover and wants to work in the veterinary animal field when he is older. Instead of keeping the $50 he made for himself, he donated it to RABAS. Earlier this week I received an email from Beth Saddler. Beth and I had met a few years ago when she adopted a Morki-Poo in need of a home. Her daughter Mya is also an animal lover and went door to door collecting money from her neighbors for an animal shelter. I believe she collected about $35. She did get in a bit of trouble with her parents for soliciting funds from strangers, but her heart was certainly in a good place, so I hope all is well on the home front. Thanks to Seth, Mya and the Brownie Troop. Press releases and pictures of Seth and the Brownies donations were submitted to the Courier Press this week. I have contacted Beth about a photo opportunity for Mya and a corresponding press release. I feel that these 3 donations are very important to this organization and hopefully will encourage other young adults to help us in our mission. They are the future of RABAS! Treasurers Report Treasurer Jill reports that as of April 19, RABAS now has $96,899.14 including $6,873.27 in our checking account and $90,025.87 in 4 different CDs. 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. Phils Auto Body Princess Sponsor - $50 Halpin Tire Boys n Toys - $100 Tender Care Animal Hospital Princess Sponsor - $100 Irma Koonce - $25 Nelson True Value - $50 Princess Sponsor Paper Moon - $50 Princess Sponsor Phyllis Anthony - $20 friends of Vicki and Bills could not come to Pizza Hut for guest server night. Current and New Members (Recent renewals and new members are shown in bold type). Deb Cross $15 Single Membership Kim Pinkham $15 Single Membership John & Judy Ryan $25 Family Membership Jim & Kathy Powers $25 Family Membership Jane Howe $25 Family Membership Bonnie Olson $50 Sponsor Membership Jami & Ken Quick $25 Family Membership Amy Enlowe $25 Family Membership Donna Heilmann $15 Single Membership Sue Rider $15 Single Membership Linda Munson $50 Sponsor Membership Peggy Johnson $25 Family Membership Donna Cipra $25 Family Membership Vicki & Bill Mueller $50 Sponsor Membership Shirley Wegmuller $15 Single Membership Paula Gutzmer $15 Single Membership Randi & Mike Kluesner $25 Family Membership Lu DeGuzman $100 Patron Membership John & Vicki Howe $100 Patron Membership Rosemary Reese $15 Single Membership Mike, Shelly & Kaitlyn Rider $25 Family Membership Phil and Deb Dwornik $50 Sponsor Membership Laura Nix $100 Patron Membership 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 Marty Leeman $15 Single Membership Gary and Kathy Koch $50 Sponsor Membership Julie Whyte $15 Single Membership Mollee Whyte $5 Student Membership June Burns $15 Single Membership Janet Lueck $15 Single Membership Jennifer Clements $25 Family Membership Lynn Moris $15 Single Membership

Jeff and Chris Panka $100 Patron Membership Randy and Linda Bedward $25 Family Membership Kelly Fishler $15 Family Membership Lu DeGuzman $100 Patron Membership Kristin Helgerson Kriegl $15 Single Membership Randy and Kathy Paske $25 Family Membership Janis Hein $15 Single Membership Mr. and Mrs. Jim Powers $25 Family Membership Brian & Jill Cipra $25 Family Membership Rosemary Reese $15 Single Membership Alexis Burns Honorary Membership Sandy Kittle $10 per month 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 $60 at December meeting for 6 months) February, March, April, May, June and July 2012 Don & Eileen Klatt - $25 monthly pledge 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 March 15, 2012. Please let me know if I missed your name on either the donation list or the membership list and I will include it next month. . 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