S HELTER

SHORTS

J ANUARY 2015
Rivers & bluffs animal shelter

2015
Coming up

WAKE-UP SANTA

January
15th General Meeting

February
7th Pet Expo

Inside
This Issue
2015 B OARD

TREASURER S REPORT

PAST FUNDRAISER
UPDATES

UPCOMING FUNDRAISERS

OTHER NEWS

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

RABAS MEMBERS

Thanks to Santa and his elves, another successful Wake-Up Santa

was held on December 6th. Fun was had by all!!
EXCITING NEWS A MUST READ RABAS was the recent recipient of a very generous
anonymous donation. A check for $20,000 was dated December 31st and mailed to President
Randy Paskes home. Randy and his wife, Kathy had just returned home on Monday, January 5th
from visiting their daughter and son-in-law in the Netherlands over the holidays. Imagine their
surprise and delight when they opened the envelope with the $20,000.00 check. The check was
dated December 31st. What a perfect way to end a very successful year and to start 2015 with the
promise of more successes to come. RABAS and our supporters truly rock!!! Watch us grow.
To our very generous benefactor thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Your generosity
will certainly help us reach our goal of a desperately needed animal shelter and it will once again
re-energize the members of this hard working organization.

RIVERS AND BLUFFS ANIMAL SHELTER

2015 Board of Directors

President- Randy Paske

1300 East Wells Street
Prairie du Chien, WI 53821
608-622-7855- repaske@gmail.com
Vice-President / Newsletter Editor Bev Pozega
32398 Gran Grae Road
Prairie du Chien, WI 53821
608-326-2914 wyalusing 2012@gmail.com
TreasurerJill Cipra
36817 Bluffview Drive
Prairie du Chien, WI 53821
608-326-4870 jbcipra@hotmail.com
SecretaryCheryl Statz
425 South Fillmore St.
Prairie du Chien, WI
608-306-3896

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.

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 15th.

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

Volunteer hours will be collected by Randy P. at monthly meetings or

you can email your hours to Randy at repaske@gmail.com.

Board Member- Donna Heilmann

1702 East Fowler Street
Prairie du Chien, WI 53821
608-379-2112- heilmann73@gmail.com

Check us out on the Web

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

Treasurers Report
Jill Cipra Treasurer

Current balance as of December 18, 2014

$200,772.13

Like us on Facebook

Checking Account Balance - $8081.67; Total C.D.s- $193,548.53

Rivers and Bluffs animal shelter-pdc

After 7.5 years of fundraising, we can finally say

we have raised over $200,000.00. Yeah!!!

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Past fundraisers

Recent Fundraisers Wake Up Santa and Tractor Supply Bake Sale

Both were quite successful considering that number of participants at WUS was down from previous years and traffic at Tractor Supply was less than I have seen it that close to Christmas in
years prior. We made $968.80 profit on Wake Up Santa, which
included a number cash donations from Paper Moon in
McGregor, Tina Osterhaus Century 21 Realtor, Fort Mulligans, and Subway Restaurants in PdC, Fennimore, Boscobel and
Lancaster. Piggly Wiggly donated milk, juice and other products
and we had a gift card from Walmart. The bake sale at Tractor Supply made a profit of $604.73. Thanks to everyone who baked or
helped out the day of the bake sale.

Pet Food Pantry Pet food collection boxes

were delivered in mid-December. I have picked
up food from Piggly Wiggly, True Value and Tender
Care. I have more cat food than dog food this
year. But I have not received any calls for the food. If I do not get any calls in
the next week or so, I will discontinue the collection boxes. The Food Pantry
does not have room to keep pet food. They will post a sign regarding pet food
for their clients with pets. The clients in need of pet food will contact me and
I will deliver the pet food to them. To receive the free pet food, pet owners
must meet the low income requirements set by the Food Pantry at Bargain
Boutique.

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RabasRabas- ongoing fundraisers

Kwik Trip gas cards

Kwik Trip Gas sales from November 20th through December 18th 20th totaled $4,020.00 for a
profit of $402.00. Thanks to everyone who supports RABAS
through the purchase of these cards. If you are not supporting
RABAS through the purchase of the KT Gas Cards, would you
please consider doing so? Jill, Donna and I are only a phone call
away. If we could continue with almost $500 income per month
as we have done in some previous months, that would mean a
profit of $6,000.00 per year with little time or effort involved.

Schwans/amazon
Schwans and Amazon.Com To support RABAS by placing an order from Schwans, please visit the following
website: https://schwans.flipgive.com/c/11785#.U7QGs-Z5E31.gmail. Even though the 20%
donation period is over, Schwans will still donate 5% of each order placed to RABAS. Amazon Smile is a website
operated by Amazon that lets customers enjoy the same wide selection of products, low prices, and convenient
shopping features as on Amazon.com. The difference is that when customers shop on AmazonSmile
(smile.amazon.com), the AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the charitable organizations selected by customers. Please consider either or both of these fundraisers when shopping online
from Schwans and Amazon. It doesnt get any easier than this. As you begin your holiday shopping, please keep
RABAS in mind when ordering items from Amazon.

phoneraiser
Phoneraiser Please continue to save and donate your old cell phones, smart phones and ink cartridges. They can be dropped off at Tender Care Animal Hospital, Radio Shack or just bring them to
a RABAS meeting. A check for $49.13 was recently received from Phoneraiser.

Thrivent funds
Thrivent Funds Checks totaling $318.00 from Thrivent Funds were received in November
and December - $302.00 from funds directed to RABAS from Janice Hein and $16 from funds
directed by Bev. Thanks to both for this easy way to support RABAS. For more information on
Thrivent Funds, please contact Bev via email or by phone.
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Rivers and bluffs animal shelter

upcoming fundraisers
Upcoming Fundraisers February 7 Pet Expo at Nelson True Value. I believe the time will be from 10
a.m. 1 p.m. Last year we held it until 2 p.m., but had decided the crowd had left by 1 p.m. Planning for this is in
the works. Press releases, radio spots and advertising will start shortly. RABAS will have no expenses for this event.
RABAS will have a bake sale and food stand. Crisse Reynolds, Crawford Co. Animal Control Officer will be on hand
for the entire event for a Meet and Greet as well as a canine micro-chip clinic. Cost of micro-chipping your dog will
be $20 with proceeds going to the Feral Cat Spay/Neuter/Rehome Project. The first Crawford County Sheriffs
Dept. K9 team will also be available for the entire event, pending any calls they may have to respond to. Deputy
Breezer and his dog Breck will talk about the program, answer questions and do some demos of the work they do.
There will be a number of dog obedience demos, a small parade of rescue dogs, the amazing Vegas will jump rope
and Kris Perkins and her dog Daisy will show off their Frisbee catching skills (this will be done outside in the fenced
in garden center (weather permitting). A coloring contest will also be held for children in grades Pre-K through 4th
grade. Because of space limits, the contest will actually be a drawing at the end of the event. The 3 winners (one in
each age group Pre-K Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grades and 3rd &4th grades) will each receive a free Pizza Hut Pizza
delivered to their home by Deputy Breezer and Breck. Chance, RABAS large and furry mascot will also be available
for photo ops and a meet and greet. CASA will be at the Pet Expo with adoptable pets and I believe Tender Care will
also be represented. I am not sure what they will be doing yet. Hopefully, a few of our Therapy Dog Teams will be
available for a meet and greet. We need to come up with a poster for the kids to color I feel it should have a dog
and cat on it. Also, if there are any of you who have rescued or adopted a dog and would like to showcase your amazing pet, please let me know. We are going to limit this to a maximum of 8 dogs. We will line up in the hallway of
True Value and then parade them, one at a time through the main aisle of True Value. A short bio of each dog will be
read as the dog is being showcased. These dogs will need to be well-behaved, house-broken and get along well with
other dogs. If you would like to volunteer you and your dog, please let me know by replying to this email or calling
me at 326-2914. I am also looking for some former dog obedience students to do an obedience demo you know
who you are. Some of you may also be interested in showcasing your rescued/adopted dog in the Parade of Rescued
Pets. And one more favor is there anyone who would be willing to don the Chance costume for a while? It gets
pretty warm inside the costume, so if we could have a few people wear it in shifts or just one at various times
throughout the day that would be great. For those of you with therapy dogs, if you could be available that day for
even a short time, I would appreciate it. People enjoy visiting with the dogs. As always, let me know. And of
course, we will need a number of bakers for the bake sale. So if you are willing to bake for this event, please let me
know. We will also need a few people to volunteer at the food stand/bake sale and be available for questions on our
progress.
Mothers Day Bake Sale and Food Stand I emailed Donna Teynor on January 2nd to reserve the Friday and
Saturday before Mothers Day (May 10th and 11th). I have not heard confirmation from her yet. I will call her this
week if I do not hear from her via email.
Princess for an Evening Date has not been set, but soon Jill or I will contact those needed to make it happen
Huckleberrys, DJ, Lynn Rider and Brian Cipra.
Pasta for Pets Tentative date April 15th. It is usually held on the Wednesday closest to April 15th. No planning
has started for this.
Pizza Hut Guest Server Night Tina has contacted Cindy at Pizza Hut and is waiting for confirmation that
RABAS has a date for Guest Server Night.
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December meeting

December Meeting of Rivers & Bluffs Animal Shelter was held on Thursday, December 18th. The meeting
was held at Huckleberrys Restaurant. It was our annual Christmas Party. Instead of a gift exchange this year, we
collected both food for humans and pets. We were served an excellent meal as always. The meeting was quite
short as a number of the committees did not have a meeting in December. We discussed the upcoming Tractor
Suppy Bake Sale as well as Wake Up Santa. Building Committee: Paula, Brenda, Cheryl, Randi K, Don Iverson and I visited the NE Iowa Humane Society on December 15th. I think we were all impressed and we all enjoyed
listening to the lessons they have already learned in just a few weeks of being an open and functioning animal shelter. There are many similarities in NE Iowa Humane Society and Rivers and Bluffs. Paula reported on the visit at
the December meeting. Public Relations Committee: Did not meet in December. PR Committee will meet
on January 8th at Steve and Cheryls House 6:15 p.m.. Fundraising Committee: Did not meet in December
Next meeting is Monday, January 12th at Donna Heilmanns House 6:15 p.m. Membership Committee:
Did not meet in December due to conflict with Wake Up Santa decorating. They did meet on Monday, January 5th
at Steve and Cheryls house. Going forward, Membership Committee meetings will take place on their normal day
of the month the first Thursday. Grants and Foundations A letter was written to the George Family asking
for another extension of the $10,000 grant. Extension was granted. We are very grateful to the George Family
Foundation for this extension.
Membership Committee will meet on the 1st Thursday of each month. PR Committee meets on the 2nd Thursday of
each month. Fundraising Committee meets on the 2nd Monday of each month. If you are interested in joining any
or all of these committees, please let me know by replying to this email or calling 326-2914 for meeting times and
locations. If you are interested in joining the Building, Operations, Finance, or Grants & Foundations, please contact me at 326-2914 or reply to this email and I will find out when those meetings take place.

Other news
Dog Obedience Classes The fall session has ended. We started with about 8 dogs, but only 4 finished this session. I have
nothing but praise for the 4 who did finish 2 young boys and there beautiful cream colored Golden Retrievers, Krisse Reynolds and Daisy, the mellowest dog I have ever met and Mulligan whose owners
were dedicated and persistent and I hope realize how good this class was for their dog. I may start a class
in February if there is enough interest. All money collected from dog classes was given to Crawford
County Sheriffs Dept. to help Crisse Reynolds with the Spay/Neuter/Rehome project for feral cats.
Again, a big thank you to Tractor Supply for always being so willing to let us work in their back room.

Therapy Dog Teams Paula Gutzmer and Maggie continue their regular visits to Prairie Maison and the hospital. Deb and Jaz make monthly visits to Walter Schmidt and weekly visits to Bluff View 2nd graders
who read to them. Vegas, Nicki and I will start a weekly reading program with all 1st graders at B.A. Kennedy on
January 9th if I can manage to pass the required background check.
In Sympathy Nancy Iverson, Tori Armstrongs mom, died in December. Tori, you have our sympathy in the
Adoptions, Losses, New Pets and Pets in Need
Our sympathy goes to Sue Rider and her family over the unexpected loss of their Golden Retriever, Sammy. Jill and Brian also have our sympathy in the loss of their beloved cat Skittles
Does anyone6 know where the RABAS trifold is? The last time I remember seeing it is at the stand in McGregor in October.

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Other news

Crawford County Art Show Below is an email I received from Dr. Donna Higgins, Optometrist and wildlife photographer. As you can tell from her
email, she is not sure what RABAS will be able to do there as far as promotion. But, Donna is generously donating all proceeds from the sale of her beautiful
prints to RABAS. For now if a few people could just keep the date, March 12th open in case we can help promote RABAS. Thank you, Donna for always coming up with great ways to support us.

We're gearing up for the big art show at the county building. The reception is from 4-6 pm on March 12th. That is also going to be
the biggest opportunity to sell them (HOPEFULLY ALL OF THEM!)
I will have to be mingling with the crowd. I'll check all this out with the coordinators, but I'm thinking you guys could set
up a table and be in charge of the sales. That way I could have people write the checks out directly to RABAS. It would
also be a way to make it easy and obvious to people how to purchase one. (Maybe you can even get people to donate
more than the marked price)
The photos will have to hang in the gallery until June 9th, but I am thinking the way to do it is to have people pay in full,
up front, get their name, address and phone number and they can pick up their purchase at my office after June 9th. Besides all that clerical work, someone will have to mark photos as "sold" after they are purchased.
I'm trying to keep these at an affordable price - $35 - $75 and there are at least 43 photos going up........ so that ought to
raise you some nice money if we can sell them all.
I'll have to check this out with the coordinators, but you might also want to have RABAS tshirts available for sale. I will be
doing publicity, so will the art committee. These art receptions are fun and usually well-attended (free food!) so I think we
could have some success on this.

Membership renewals & donations

Memberships New & Renewals
Betty & Eric Frydenlund - Family, Phil Dwornik - Single, Stephanie McCumber Sponsor, Erin & Seth Sanders
Family, Ken & Jami Quick Family,
Donations: Wake Up Santa Sponsors Subway, Fort Mulligans, Tina Osterhaus-Century 21 Realty; Nancy
Klossing, Stephanie McCumber, Memorials to Nancy Iverson
River and Bluffs Animal Shelter Membership Form
Student - $5.00 ____

Sponsor - $75.00 _____

Individual - $25.00 ____

Patron - $150.00 _____

Family - $35.00 ____

Benefactor - $500.00

I would like to make a monthly pledge of : ________ per month for a total of
$_______ per year.

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 $$$$!

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

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Rivers and bluffs animal shelter

Patron members
Amy & Michael Enlow

Paula Gutzmer

Randy & Kathy Paske

Laura Elsinger

Patricia Dillman

Mike & Shelly Rider

Bob & Diane Witt

Sponsor members
Marilu Bintz

Bonnie& Denny Fuller

Stephanie McCumber

Ron Stark

Lu DeGuzman

Sandy Kittle

Linda Munson

Joe and Kay Schmitz

Bonnie Olson

Frank & Mary Weeks

Donna Heilmann

family members
Tom & Marjorie Bennett

Randi & Mike Kluesner

Brent Seamans

Erin & Seth Sanders

Jennifer Clements

Mike & Julie Hazen

Kurt & Peggy Smith

Bill & Nancy Stuart

Donna & Dale Cipra

Gary & Kathy Koch

Cheryl Statz & Steven Tibbetts

Jill & Brian Cipra

Jami & Ken Quick

Bill & Marlene Ziemer

Mike & Mary Jane Faas

Ron & Kathy Quamme

George & Mary Tilley

Eric & Betty Frydenlund

John & Judy Ryan

Steve & Lynda Welter Honorary

individual members
Tori Armstrong

Kelly Fishler

Kim Pinkham

Shirley Wegmuller

June Burns

Janis Hein

Bev Pozega

Sally Whitish

Deb Cross

Joe Hunzeker

Rosemary Reese

Brenda Wilson

Marilyn Crubaugh

Kristen Helgerson Kriegl

Sue Rider

Julie Whyte

Phil Dwornik

Marty Leeman

Dawn Eggers

Monthly pledge member

8 & Eileen Klatt
Don

Student members
Mollee Whyte
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