Happy Wednesday

Hi Fosters and Volunteers,

Almost last call for the Volunteer and Foster Appreciation Party TOMORROW (Thursday, December 5^th) at the office at 5:30-7:30. RSVP here. All of the staff want to thank you in person for your contributions- big or small (they’re big to us!)- delicious food and drink will be provided, and if you must bring something for dessert. If you don’t RSVP, you’re invited anyway! Kids, partners in crime invited- two-legged only, please- we need to save the food for the humans!

Your hard work is really appreciated- animals are flying out of here (and in here!) almost faster than we can keep track of. I mean, I know that some people are keeping track, but I have lost count of kittens getting adopted, puppies coming in puppies going out, etc- it’s a wonderful feeling! And *you make that possible- thank you! (Who can resist adorable Chihuahua puppies- in clothes!)

Event-wise: The Santa Paws events that we’ve had so far this year have been wonderful- this is a great way for people to support Hopalong in the community- pictures with Santa? So fun! Thank you who have helped out and who have signed up to help out- this is a Merry Time for all! We have two upcoming mobiles this month, and thank you for signing up for those, too. If you haven’t received instructions, don’t worry- they’re coming! Humane education is chugging along- we’re starting a partnership next week with King Middle School in Berkeley and look forward to more schools!

Anyway, all of us here (Karen, Sam, Erica, Juliet, Trisha and I) are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow night and thanking you in person. If you can’t make it, we’ll toast you from afar! THANK YOU!!!

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

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!

Fun Things to Do With Hopalong!

Once again, I come to you with a little something for everyone. Monday - Friday, 9-5ers, this just might be the time for you! Contact Lauren to sign up or with questions.

• SANTAPAWS! Every year Hopalong puts on Santa events for people and their pets- we're not just talking dogs and cats here, as you can see! This year these events will be every Saturday and Sunday in December. This is a wonderful chance to share holiday cheer with pet lovers from all over the Bay Area. We will need three to four handlers and helpers at each event and one coordinator for each event. Get your date now!
• LEARN TO COORDINATE: Contact Lauren if you'd like to learn how to be a coordinator for these events! (You don't have to commit to all of them- even one date is wonderful!)
• Assist at an event:
• Saturdays: November 30th, December 7th, 14th, 21st, (4 needed at each event)
• Sundays: December 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd (4 needed at each event)

• THANK-A-THON: Help us say "thank you" to all of all of our donors! This is a fun twist on the cold call: Call people and instead of asking for something, just say "thanks" on behalf of Hopalong! Can be done at home and for as much or as little time as you want. Kinda fun, right?

• DECORATE A LOBBY- A large Oakland based company is going to be turning over their lobby to us. Our task: make donating to Hopalong *so fun* that staff won't be able to resist! This task involves creativity and craftiness. Up for the job?

• ORIENTATION: Want to reach out to new volunteers? Help them realize how amazing Hopalong is? I'm looking for a superstar to help me out one Saturday a month orienting new volunteers. This is a tricky one and requires super reliability, a gregarious personality and ability to speak in front of small to medium groups. 

• UPCOMING INTERNSHIP: We are working out the details of our next internship, probably starting mid-January to line up with winter semester. This internship will focus on marketing and spreading the word. If you know any students or are a student, stay tuned, or get ahead of the game and contact me!

• SPAY/NEUTER PROGRAM: Got a passion for spay/neuter?We do, too! Next year we're going to be growing our outreach program and need help! This opportunity will combine data entry, answering some questions and doing some outreach about the program. Estimated start date is January 1st, 2014. 

• AMAZON WISHLIST: We are looking for one volunteer to help us build up and maintain our brand new Amazon wishlist. This is a great way for people to give us items we need (I know you've heard me complain about our copy machine!). Great opportunity to volunteer from home!