Minutes
North Brunswick Humane Association
June Monthly Meeting (6/11/12)
7:30 pm ET
710 Hermann Road –NB Community Complex
Conference Room #1
The meeting was called to order at 7:30pm by Jay Soloway
In Attendance: Michele Andrea, Sandi Erickson, Jay Soloway, Vincent Sheehan, Judy Kosier, Brenda Sauer, J.Mark Korey, Donna Hildreth, Eileen Lorner, Susann Joshi, Dan Smith, Lisa Coletta, Claire Butkus, Sharon Weinstein-Canavan, Nancy Costelllo, Ann Marie Walters, Linda Sheehan, Gina Rojeck, Kelly Schlossberg, Carol Paszamant, Christa Von Peters, Eileen King, David Prestup and Jane Prestup.
Opening & Introductions took place among the membership
The May Minutes were read and an amendment to the minutes needs to take place. The amendment is to read “Middlesex County Animal Welfare Society asked to be part of our SNAP program”. The Secretary will make the necessary update and re-issue the minutes. With this action in mind, the membership accepted the amended May minutes.
Treasurer’s Report- Vincent reported the Association has a balance of $49,201.65 as of May 31, 2012. Month/Month-April to May, 2012 we had Revenue totaling $1407.87, Program & Operating Expenses of $3498.73, leaving a difference of $2090.86.
MONTHLY ASSOCIATION UPDATES:
Dog/Cat Food Bank – Sandi announced we have another new Food Bank location at the Stop & Shop on Route 1 South, in Edison.
Donation Cans Update – Sandi –no change month/month
New BUSINESS & EVENTS
- Super Cat Adoption Day-
- Jay thanked the entire committee and volunteer members for all their hard work. A special shot out went to Lisa, Dan, Lora, Eileen, Mark, Kelly, Kari, Sharon, Donna, Christa, Cariellen, Claire, Judy and the Board for their effort. This event by all accounts was a big success. Shelters are already asking us to have another one.
- The tally as we know it now is as follows: 123 cats were placed up for adoption, 43 were adopted, 9 pending adoption approval. Assuming the 9 pending go through this is a 42% adoption rate.
- A motion was made and seconded to donate $250 to Our Lady of Peace Church on behalf of NBHA for their kindness and support in allowing us to use their facility at no charge. Thank you Father John.
- Lastly, we will have a follow up meeting to review lessons learned.
- Super Cat Adoption Day- Michele thanked Dan for taking down all the 4×4 signs all by himself. She asked the rest of the membership to pickup all 18×24 signs by Friday, June 15th.
- Flea Market/Rummage Sale– Jay thanked the committee and members for all their hard work. A special shot out to Eileen, Sharon & Dan for their effort. All members were pleased with the outcome of the event both the vendor’s participation and the NBHA rummage sale. Thank you emails have been emailed to the Vendors and Volunteers. Post event data indicates that most of the Vendors heard about the event through various channels equally (such as- Craigslist , 4Hfair & Eileen’s effort of handing out flyers)
- Membership Drive– NBHA will be holding a Membership Drive in the near future. We have a great team of motivated and dedicated people right now and we want to add more volunteers to this great team. We need an open house. Jay will follow up.
- Event Planning Web sites-some interesting websites we will explore for advertising events and finding resources for events are, VolunteerMatch.com and Eventpets.com
- Educational Series – Ann Marie updated the members– NBHA finished the Kindness Program for the Spring. We had 6 schools betweeen North Brunswick, East Brunswick & Milltown participating. Those schools were: Cornerstone Christian, John Adams School, Livingston Park, Judd School, Our Lady of Lourdes and Milltown Public School. We educated and broaden the minds of 483 school children through this educational series this year. Ann Marie added a sincere thank you to those NBHA presenters that helped make this a success. A special shot out goes to – Vince, Diana, Debbie Radice, Jay, Claire, Ann Marie, Tonya and Keith Willoughby & his grand daughter Angela Rojek.
- Mall Tabling Events – Jay & Sandi reported NBHA received $271 in donations from both malls events
- Muscle Maker Grill Venues – Michele reported the mall events were not successful for the selling of Muscle Maker Grill $5.00 gift certificates. This may not be the right venue for us and the restaurant. As a result, she raised the subject of having a dog adoption day with one of the local shelters at Muscle Maker Grill and selling the 5.00 gift certificates at that event. The membership felt since NBHA does not have a shelter of it’s own, it does not make sense for us to be a third party to an adoption day event when the shelters can work directly with Muscle Maker Grill. Additionally, discussions continued on a similar note in which Deluxe Car Wash, Adorable Doos and Access Storage are looking to have Adoption events with NBHA. The membership wants to table this subject until a Fund Raising Committee can be created to review and recommend a course of action on this subject. All these local businesses are great supporters of NBHA and we want to take the correct course of action with each of them.
- L’Oreal “Because Your Dog is Worth It Too Day”– Saturday, August 18th – Sandi will chair our booth for this event and she has all her volunteers in place.
- Middlesex County Fair – will run from August 6th-12th. NBHA will have a donation can at the Non-Profit section of the fair grounds. The non -profit who get the highest amount in donations get an additional $500. Thus, we encourage everyone to visit the fair and give a donation to NBHA.
- 9th Annual Dog Walk-a-Thon – Michele-passed out a sign up sheet for member volunteers to be on the event committee. We generally have the event in October. More to Come…
- Dog Park- Members reported the dog park is a mess with weeds on both the gravel as well as the lawn portion, the gates do not stay closed, people do not pick up after their pets Michele will contact Lou Ann Benson.
Good & Welfare
- Eileen reported that Shadow, the 1 ½ year old female Husky is still up for adoption out of the Husky House- You can find information on Shadow on the NBHA web site.
- Mark reported on the situation of feral cats at the Middlesex Presbyterian Church . As per the Code Enforcement Officer, the caregivers are complying with the court order and not leaving any food out over night and are picking it up at the prescribed time. So, it appeared that all was well with that situation. However, there is still a problem regarding the licensing issue. And the former Mayor Sherr is continuing to try and make an issue that this is a health hazard and the children at the church may be exposed to whatever this health hazard is. The issue regarding getting them licensed is they can’t be licensed, even if they have all their shots up to date, until ownership is established. As I understand it, Paws For Peace worked out a formal agreement with the Church to “lease” either the shed or the shed and piece of land it is on (again, it was not clear at the meeting exactly what they were leasing) and Paws For Peace would then establish ownership of the cats. When Paws For Peace proceeded to try and get them licensed some kind of zoning issue came up and the matter was referred to the zoning board. No one at the meeting appeared to know what the issue is, including the Borough Clerk which is who’s office you go to get the the licenses. Mark will keep us updated.
- Helmetta Shelter is looking for volunteers for the shelter. Here’s the link to the volunteer form for the Helmetta Shelter http://www.helmettaboro.com/FCpdf/Animal%20Volunteer.pdf If people would like more information about volunteering there, they can call Donna at 609-655-4329. They need people during the week, especially cage cleaners. They can usually use the volunteers between 8:30 am and noon, then again between 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm. Help is usually needed with laundry and dishes. They can also fill out an online form at this link http://helmetta.olx.com/help-homeless-pets-volunteer-at-helmetta-regional-animal-shelter-iid-254474888. The shelter is at 59 Main Street in Helmetta. Donations of cat food and kitty litter are always appreciated. Donna also told us about a TNR Conference (Health Officials) that she is attending and might be a interest to some of the membership. The link is http://www.neighborhoodcats.org/EVENTS_OTHER_EVENTS to signed up.
Carol announced that Middlesex Country Animal Welfare Society is donating $2000 to NBHA’s SNAP program. WOW!
Thank you Middlesex County Animal Welfare Society.
- Super Cat Adoption Day -50/50 Raffle- the winner of the 50/50 raffle was a volunteer at Sammy’s Hope by the name of Trish Quinn. She is donating her winnings to Jonny’s Eye surgery. Jonny is a cat in their possession that needs the surgery to be adopted. You Rock Trish!
- The next meeting is Monday, July 9, 2012
The Meeting Adjourned at 9:20pm