Thursday Email (What?)

Hi Everyone,

I know it's weird, but I don't want to miss my chance to say "hi" and "thank you!" this week, or to tell you about all the cool stuff that's coming up!

Thanks to everyone who came to the First Ever Hopalong Volunteer and Foster Social last week at Hive Cafe! I know I had fun and it was a great chance to hang out with you guys in a more informal setting. If there's interest, we'll get these going more regularly. Feedback welcome!

We have a lot of really cool opportunities coming up, some in September and many many more in October. I've posted them here with details, but to give you a rough idea, we get to boost ice cream sales at Fenton's in Oakland (YUM!), adopt out a bunch of animals in Marin, sell wine in Emeryville (woooo!) and then host a gala event! There is literally something for everyone here, so check out the dates and details and let me know what sounds good. We'll also be holding extra cat mobiles in September and all of our normal dog mobiles. If you're still interested in getting trained for cat mobiles, it's not too late!

Thank you to all of the fosters that have been doing such a great job with puppies and kittens! These little guys are so cute to look at but there's just a LITTLE more to puppies and kittens than that... lots of pee and poop and cleaning and socializing and yeah, you get the picture. These animals are getting into great adoptive homes with the help of our awesome volunteers which means we're pulling more and saving more lives which means we need more fosters! If you're free or have a friend or neighbor, send them our way. You guys are wonderful, thank you!

That's all for now- and don't forget, even though this is your Wednesday email, today is really Thursday. Back at your regularly scheduled time next week!

Yours,

Lauren

Weekly Wednesday Email

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re all doing splendidly as summer winds down, kids start school and the baseball season ends (hopefully) with a  bang!

We had a fabulous time at the Kitten Extravaganza at Berkeley Animal Care Services a couple of Saturdays ago. Thank you to our awesome cat crew who staffed the booth and the fosters who got the kittens ready for their big day. ALL TEN of the kittens that went to the mobile got adopted! If you’re interested in learning how to help out a these cat events, there is a cat mobile adoption training this Saturday, August 31^st at the office at 10am.

Tomorrow night, Thursday August 29^th is the First Ever Volunteer and Foster Social! If you’d like to RSVP, please feel free to do so here. If not, you can still show up! The event is at Hive Café on 2139 MacArthur Blvd in the Dimond District in Oakland from 6-7:30 PM. There will be sandwiches and a variety of beverages available for purchase, so come hungry and thirsty! Kids welcome- Hive is kid friendly and kids are totally part of the Hopalong family! Although cats and dogs are also part of the family, this event is human only. Next time!

See you tomorrow,

Lauren

Social: It's Here!

It's social time!

Please take a second to RSVP here, though not RSVPing doesn't mean you can't come! Family, including kids, welcome.

Details:

Thursday, August 29th, 6pm-7:30pm

Hive Cafe, 2139 Macarthur Blvd, Oakland

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Wednesday Email: Short and Sweet!

Hi all,

Hope you're swell today!

Just a couple quick things for you. First, tomorrow is our second California Pizza Kitchen day. Bring your friends, your appetite and the flier to California Pizza Kitchen in Emeryville and Hopalong receives a portion of the proceeds!

Next, Saturday, August 31st at 10:00 I will be holding a training for cat mobile adoption events at the office. If you're interested, please email me or sign up in the volunteer database.

Lastly, and most excitingly, it's time for the social! Please RSVP here if you can, and pick a sandwich if you think you might want to eat. If you can't commit, that's okay, too. The social will be held on Thursday, August 29th at 6pm at Hive Cafe, 2139 Macarthur Blvd, Oakland 94602. There will be sandwiches, goodies, coffee, tea and adult beverages available. I've gotten a lot of feedback that fosters and volunteers want chances to hang out and socialize out of volunteering hours and this is our pilot hang-out session! Bring your families- this is a kid friendly event!

Thanks all, looking forward to seeing you next week!

Lauren

Too Much Good Stuff Wednesday

Hi All,

It’s Wednesday! I have lots of news and food for thought.

First, thank you for filling out the survey: mark your calendar- the First Volunteer and Foster Social will be on Thursday, August 29^th at 6pm at Hive Café in Oakland. The café is located at 2139 MacArthur Blvd. There will be sandwiches, coffee and tea and we will have adult beverages available for a donation. This event is totally family friendly: we know that kids are vital Hopalong fosters! I will probably set up one last poll as we get closer to the date so that we can give Hive a rough head count.

CATelyn and New Brother

Next, as Furball gets closer, we’ve identified two Very Important Tasks that need filling. If these sound like your skills, please holler!

·         Software Point Person for Good: If you’re fairly tech savvy and want to use your skills for a cause, we’ve got some software that needs setting up. This software handles our auction, ticket sales and a variety of other event-related tasks. The bulk of the work will happen in the next two weeks, but we’re also looking for you to be our go-to when questions come up until the event in October. Availability by email is important, daytime phone access even better! Working from home (or work) is totally cool for this.

•            Solicitation Follow-Upper: We sent out a bunch of silent auction solicitation letters and now we need to follow up. If you are good at schmoozing, buttering people up, making cold calls and generally getting people to say “YES!” then this is a great job for you. This opportunity can also be done from home (or work), but you’re more than welcome to come into the office.

Sam sends along the news that Catelyn, who we pulled from the shelter with her litter of babies has found a purr-fect forever home with an awesome feline brother she can snuggle up with. It's success stories like this that remind us of how rewarding our work can be.

We’ve been pulling together some training opportunities and I want to make sure you’re aware of them. Here are the first ones- let me know and stay tuned for more.

Last thing: we’ve got lots and lots of puppy adoptions coming up and are looking for some volunteers to do home visits this weekend. If you’ve done these or would like to learn how, please contact me or Trish.

Thank you!!!

Social Time!

So, we've got a venue (Hive Cafe in Oakland)- now we just need a time! Fill out an even SHORTER survey than last time and we'll have a date! This isn't commitment to attend, but we'd like to get a feel of a) when would be best to have this event, and b) about how many people would come. As always, feel free to email me with any questions/comments.

Also, kids welcome, especially those who help us foster- we consider them crucial members of the Hopalong family!

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Coming Soon: Hopalong Volunteer and Foster Socials!

In cased you missed it, we're very close to instituting something I've been trying to establish since volunteers and fosters first started giving me feedback: Socials!!

This will be a chance for everyone to get together “off the clock:” get to know each other, share stories, advice and just hang out. I've gotten lots of good responses already and I’m hoping everyone will take about 3 minutes to fill out this Very Short survey. 

Once I get a sense of what people will like to do, I’ll get the details figured out and we can start hanging out!

Weekly Update!

Happy Wednesday, all!

First of all, I’m really happy to share that we’re one step closer to getting our Foster and Volunteer Socials together! Volunteers and Fosters have both mentioned that they would like to have regular-ish get-togethers where they can hang out when they’re not “on the job.” To make sure these events are how you like them, please take a quick survey to help make them fun!

Next, Sam reports that about 20 kittens have gotten adopted from our Marin site, Woodlands Pets in Mill Valley, since they started adoptions in mid-June! Thank you, Stacy, for coordinating this! Doc, the puppy, was adopted after a brief run in with a fox tail. It’s foxtail season, guys, so watch out! (Pro tips on foxtails here: http://pets.webmd.com/dogs/foxtail-grass-and-your-dog)

Last, a couple quick opportunities: we’ve got mobile adoptions coming up Saturday, July 20^th and Saturday July 27^th. These both need drivers and handlers. Holler if you’d like to help get dogs adopted either of those days! We’ve got cat cuddling and animal care slots at the office pretty much daily.

And one more quick call out for dry cat food. Thank you all SO MUCH (especially Nina and co!) for keeping us in wet food. The kittens tell us that whichever we stock up on, they want the other! So if you’ve got a second to ask your local pet store or a spare couple dollars for a small bag, kittens say thank you!

Thank you all, and talk to you soon!