Happy Thanksgiving from Hopalong!

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to send you best Thanksgiving wishes from all of us at Hopalong. The animals (who can’t sign their names) really appreciate everything you do, whether it’s housing animals, driving them, handling them at events and adoption sites or the more hands off stuff like making entries for them on adoption websites, stuffing envelopes, entering medical records and more! If I wrote all of the things here that you do, I’d have to send 5 emails, and I’m pretty sure you don’t want to read 5 emails today- it’s almost Thanksgiving!

Anyway, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year, and this year I’ll be giving extra thanks for working with such a crew- you’re kind and generous, with animals and humans alike.

(non-cheesy note: the office will be closed until Monday. Fosters, please refer to your emergency packet.) (nudgey reminder note: RSVP for YOUR holiday party so we can thank you here- it’s a week from tomorrow- Thursday, December 5^th)

I hope you have a great holiday weekend!

Best,

Lauren (and Rollie, the blind brindle naughty dog who follows me around)

Wednesday is Hopalong Day!

Hi fosters and volunteers,

Hope you’re enjoying the rain and that your pets aren’t melting- I know many of them are made of sugar!

We had a great week- FIVE dogs were adopted at the last mobile adoption! Nineteen new volunteers joined us at the volunteer orientation this Saturday and many have already signed up to help out! Our “Home for the Holidays” promotion ($10 adoption donations for cats 6 months and over) has already led to two cat adoptions including Xander! Our humane education program kicked off this week (see picture) and we reached over 50 kids with a message of responsible pet ownership and safety around dogs. We’ve got two more classes this week and are looking forward to heading into more schools.

Coming up, we still have openings for Santa Paws, but they’re going fast! All of the openings are listed here. If you’re in Marin, we could really use help on December 1^st. (We’ve also got a great opportunity for cat lovers in Marin- let me know if you’d like more info- think KITTENS!) We’ve also added a mobile dog adoption to the awesome event at Bay Street in Emeryville on December 7^th, so if that’s your thing, let me know.

A little nudge for volunteers- if you aren’t tracking your hours, this is a great time to start doing so. Please let me know if you need a new password for our volunteer database. You can bookmark that link and you can also access it from the “volunteers” tab of www.hopalong.org. Right now we’ve got over 4,000 hours of service logged just since March! (I’ve been keeping track of the hours that I know you’re doing, but I know there’s even more!) Fosters, we keep track of your hours slightly differently, so need to log into the database for this purpose. These hours cumulatively are amazing for grants and really, it’s pretty awesome to know that you’ve contributed to 4,000 hours?? I’m very proud!

And of course, YOUR appreciation party is coming up on December 5^th. Go ahead and RSVP so we can say thank you in person! Remember, dinner is provided this year!

Thank you guys for everything, and see you soon!

Updated December Volunteer Opportunities

Now with better dates, an added dog mobile and an RSVP link for the Foster and Volunteer Appreciation Party!

As always, let me know what you'd like to do!

Coming up in rough Chronological Order:

As always, let me know what you'd like to do!

Friday, November 22nd Santa Paws- FULL! Thank you!

Saturday, November 30th Santa Paws- FULL! Thank you!

Sunday, December 1st Santa Paws- FULL! Thank you!

Thursday, December 5th Volunteer/Foster Appreciation Party!

• Where: The Office!
• When: 5:30-7:30ish
• Needed: YOU! RSVP here.
• How Many: You, your family, your kids (and a dessert IF you feel like it.) Dinner is provided.

Saturday, December 7th Dog Mobile (new!!)

• Where: Emeryville Bay Street
• When: Noon-4pm
• Needed: Mobile Coordinator, dog handlers
• How Many: 1 coordinator, 3 dog handlers

Saturday, December 7th Santa Paws- FULL! Thank you!

Sunday, December 8th Santa Paws- FULL! Thank you!

Sunday, December 15th- FULL! Thank you!

Saturday, December 21st Dog Mobile Adoption Event

• Where: Pet Food Express Rockridge
• When: 12-3
• Needed: Dog Handlers
• How Many: TBD

Saturday, December 21st Santa Paws- FULL! Thank you!

Sunday, December 22nd Santa Paws

• Where: North Oakland Pet Food Express
• When: TBD (probably 12-3)
• Needed: Santa, assistants, coordinator
• How Many: 1 Santa, 1 assistants, 1 coordinator

Hi Fosters and Volunteers,

Hope you all are doing well! This has been a pretty exciting and busy week around here. Today we were featured in a live chat by the Chronicle of Philanthropy about microvolunteering and welcomed new volunteers from Toolworks, a group that helps adults with disabilities get job skills. Sam and Trisha went did a tour de shelter today and sprung some dogs and cats and Erica planned the arrival of some puppies! Our humane education program has been kickstarted- we’ll be teaching 5 classes next week, and it’s not too late to bring Hopalong to a school near you- bring the message of kindness to the kids in time for the holidays!

In adoption news, Dallas the Dog found his forever home and kittens continue to find new scratching posts (read: couches).

Coming up, we still have many spaces open for Santa Paws so check out the dates and times and let me know when you’d like to join us! We also invite you to join the Cat Care Team at Woodlands in Marin- there will be an orientation this Friday in Mill Valley. If you’re in Marin or have friends in Marin, please let them know about this cuddling opportunity!

And of course you’ve already marked your calendar for December 5^th at 5:30, but that’s our Very Fun Volunteer and Foster Appreciation Party. I’ve set up a place to RSVP, and if you can take a minute to do that between now and then, it will help me know how many dinners to tell Juliet to cook. (Just checking if you’re still reading.)

Thank you, everyone, for all of your work!

New Volunteer Ops!

Coming up in rough Chronological Order:

As always, let me know what you'd like to do!

Friday, November 22nd Santa Paws

• Where: Pet Food Express Corporate HQ, Oakland
• When: 1-4pm
• Needed: Santa, assistants
• How many: 1 Santa, 1 assistants

Saturday, November 30th Santa Paws

• Where: Woodlands Mill Valley
• When: 11:30am-3:30pm
• Needed: Santa, assistants, coordinator
• How Many: 1 Santa, three assistants, 1 coordinator

Sunday, December 1st Santa Paws

• Where: Woodlands Novato
• When: 11:30am-3:30pm
• Needed: Santa, assistants, coordinator
• How Many: 1 Santa, four assistants, 1 coordinator

Thursday, December 5th Volunteer/Foster Appreciation Party!

• Where: The Office!
• When: 5:30-7:30ish
• Needed: YOU!
• How Many: You, your family, your kids (and a dessert IF you feel like it.) Dinner is provided.

Saturday, December 7th Santa Paws

• Where: Emeryville Bay Street
• When: 11:30am-4:30pm
• Needed: Santa, assistants, coordinator
• How Many: 1 Santa, 3 assistants, 1 coordinator

Sunday, December 7th Santa Paws

• Where: An East Bay Pet Food Express (to be determined)
• When: TBD (probably 12-3)
• Needed: Santa, assistants
• How Many: 1 Santa, 2 assistants

Sunday, December 15th 

• Where: San Leandro Pet Food Express 
• When: TBD (probably 12-3)
• Needed: Santa, assistants
• How Many: 1 Santa, 3 assistants

Saturday, December 21st Dog Mobile Adoption Event

• Where: Pet Food Express Rockridge
• When: 12-3
• Needed: Dog Handlers
• How Many: TBD

Saturday, December 21st Santa Paws

• Where: Pet Food Express Rockridge
• When: 11:30-3:30
• Needed: Santa, Coordinator, assistants
• How Many: 1 Santa, 3 assistants, 1 Coordinator

Sunday, December 22nd Santa Paws

• Where: An East Bay Pet Food Express (to be determined)
• When: TBD (probably 12-3)
• Needed: Santa, assistants, coordinator
• How Many: 1 Santa, 4 assistants, 1 coordinator

Wednesday is here and so is Hopalong!

I’m trying an easier format in the volunteer opportunities post today, let me know what you think when you sign up for things! Many events are Santa related, but not all, and as always, there’s tons of other ways to get involved- send me your interests and I’ll get you started. There’s also fostering- right now we’re especially looking for adult dog and cat fosters as well as temporary fosters for over the holidays. (You can also follow us on twitter or like us on facebook- it’s basically the easiest way ever to volunteer, but totally counts!)

I’d also like to ask you to save the date of Thursday, December 5^th from about 5:30-7:30ish. This is the date for our Hopalong Volunteer and Foster Appreciation Party and all of us are really looking forward to thanking you in person. The party will be here in at our office in Oakland, and there will be delicious and not-very-nutritious food for you. In the past we’ve asked you to bring something, and if you MUST, you can bring a dessert, but mostly, we just want you to bring YOU so we can thank you for all of your hard work in saving lives. (I may ask you to RSVP later to get a headcount for said food, but right now, just save the date!)

Thanks, guys, it’s an honor to work with all of you!