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Humane Society of Redmond
Community Outreach Summary, 2009:
Although the majority of the efforts of the Humane Society of Redmond’s Board, Staff
and Volunteers were focused on fundraising to support the shelter, significant effort was
put toward education, new programs, and activities dedicated to benefit our community.
The financial crisis which hit our area extremely hard in 2009 forced us to look at ways
to support the needs of the animals in our community by providing low cost assistance to
pet owners. Spaying and Neutering of dogs and cats is a cornerstone of our mission and
we initiated a successful low cost spay and neuter program in 2009. The results of this
program are found below. Other community activities included:
Easter Extravaganza: An event focused on the children of our area was a huge success
for the kids and parents. A number of activities were provided by volunteers and guests
toured our shelter and got to see our great animals. Adoptions benefited as did
memberships and donations throughout the day.
Low Cost Vaccination Clinics: Two vaccination clinics were held in 2009 to provide a
low cost alternative to pet owners in our area. Both were well attended and generated
good will throughout the community.
Education: Information kiosks were set up at six of Redmond’s Summer Music Series
events. We shared information about the shelter, animal care, and our activities such as
the low cost spay and neuter program.
Adoption Events: Four offsite adoption events were held including one in Sisters and
one in Terrebonne. These events showcased our adoptable animals and allowed us to
share our programs with the attendees. We highlighted some of the less adoptable
animals at a special event and were able to find welcoming homes for these often
overlooked animals.
Photos with Santa: An annual event put on by a volunteer professional photographer
yielded a great response as the community brought their pets by the shelter for free
photos with Santa. Voluntary donations and memberships benefiting the shelter were a
bonus to this free offering.
At each of these events, staff and volunteers are available to answer questions, offer
advice, and provide information about animal care.
Adoptions, 2009:
Adopting stray and unwanted animals is the single most important service we provide to
our community. Finding lifetime homes for these animals requires skill and training
which we have provided to our staff. The results for 2009 follow:
Month Dogs Cats Total
January 52 45 97
February 36 34 70
March 54 45 99
April 40 45 85
May 29 71 100
June 43 106 149
July 39 76 115
August 64 49 113
September 29 33 62
October 35 23 58
November 36 24 60
December 24 38 62
Totals 481 589 1070
Low Cost Spay and Neuter Program, 2009:
Results of this highly successful program are shown below:
Month Dogs Cats Total
January 68 51 119
February 52 57 109
March 137 78 215
April 80 35 115
May 109 72 181
June 100 97 197
July 126 68 194
August 127 44 171
September 97 59 156
October 114 81 195
November 112 89 201
December 88 85 173
Totals 1210 816 2026
The increase in numbers as the program became more widely known bodes well for the
future as we continue to provide this valuable service to our community. We anticipate
that we will spay or neuter more than 3000 animals in 2010.
Website:
In 2009 the Humane Society of Redmond started a website as a means of disseminating
information to our members and the community. In addition to pages dedicated to
adoptions, events, spay and neuter, fostering, volunteering and others, the site provides
links to useful sites for animal care. The website is our primary tool for updating and
communicating with our membership and is a valuable addition to our services.
In the 8 months between August’09 and March ’10, our website generated 91,422 hits, or
an average of 11,427 per month. For each visit, the average viewer looks at about 10 of
our individual pages. This comes to over 100,000 page viewings in 8 months. This
represents an active website which allows interested members of our community to
access important information about our shelter.
Conclusion:
The Humane Society of Redmond remains committed to the programs that we have
developed over the last year to reach the community through adoptions, adoption
counseling, advice on pet care, educational programs, offsite adoption events, fundraisers
and our spay and neuter program. We are making an impact within our community that
is measureable by the increase in our adoptions, spay and neuter numbers, and the
amount of money raised through fundraisers and donations. We are looking forward to
increasing our community outreach in 2010.
Respectfully submitted,
Chris Bauersfeld
Shelter manager