Week of 10/19/14 Humane Happenings

by Eliana Aubin

The Sierra County Humane Society has an effective program – the Adopt-a-Pet Referral program - that helps local residents place companion animals they no longer can care for from their home directly into a new home. The program offers a connection between individuals who need to place their companion animals into new homes and folks who wish to give a forever home to a non-longer-wanted little one. You can either connect with us at 575-894-1694, e-mail us at adoptapet4life@gmail.com or bring your information to Paws & Claws Thrift Shoppe. It will be forwarded to Joe, Desert Haven General Operations Coordinator. Joe and Eliana enter the information into an effective long-standing network, such as Petfinder, Facebook and, on the local level, this weekly column in both local newspapers. As importantly, let us know if you are looking to give a home to a little one. Most recent on our Adopt-a-Pet Referral list are young kittens needing a new home – one is a tabby, the other is grey. Also someone is looking for a puppy or a young adult, preferably a Healer or Australian Shepherd. Interested? Contact us.

Your contributions, large or small, of CANNED dog & cat food are crucial to get us into the colder season. We also welcome donations of large bottles of Clorox, Odorban and diswashing liquid, also tall kitchen bags, large black bags, paper towels and other paper products. We always need extra helpers at Paws&Claws Thrift Shoppe, any time between 10 AM and 4 PM, Wed through Saturday. Can you contribute at least 2 hours of your time each week? Let us know. Joyce has been a dependable volunteer at Paws & Claws since she moved to the community early this year. She is leaving the country to relocate close to her family in Australia. We wish Joyce the very best as she undertakes this next chapter in her life in the next couple of weeks.

Contact us at 575.894.2639 or e-mail us at weR4pets@gmail.com. Visit us at www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com. and www.Facebook.com/DesertHaven and www.Facebook.com/Pawsnclawsthriftshoppe.

Thank you, David White, for sharing with us this very appropriate quote of Kalu Ndukwe Kalu:  

“The things you do for yourself are gone, but the things you do for others are your legacy”

Week of 10/5 Humane Happenings

by Eliana Aubin

 First and foremost, the volunteers at Desert Haven Animal Refuge wish to acknowledge the several anonymous donations of pet food kindly left on the bench at the entrance of DogTown this past Tuesday. We didn’t get your names but we sincerely appreciate your thoughtfulness. As importantly, we also appreciate the pet food and treats that we often find inside the donation box at Paws & Claws Thrift Shoppe in TorC.

Lance and a buddy

  Cat treats are especially welcome these days. Lance Hoffman and his family recently moved back to TorC. Soon afterwards, the entire family started to help out at the sanctuary. Lance currently spends every Tuesday connecting with and giving special attention to each and every feline inside the Cool Cat neighborhood. Lance’s genuine affection for all felines, his unending patience - together with the tasty treats he distributes to them - are making him very popular inside the feline neighborhood.





It’s been several weeks now since the Sierra County Humane Society sent its membership renewal letter to members and supporters from all over. Thanks to the modern cyber world, we now have supporters and well-wishers from across the entire country, from California to Maine, Oregon to Florida. Over the years, our animal welfare organization and Desert Haven Animal Refuge, the no-kill domestic animal sanctuary that operates under its 501-c-3 non-profit umbrella, have received acknowledgement and positive reinforcement from all over the country. Animal lovers from everywhere are slowly starting to recognize that small organizations like ours are usually extremely under-funded, mostly because they can’t advertise as effectively as large, well-funded and consequently well-known regional and national organizations. Our team of volunteers work “in the trenches” with very limited resources. Your financial help is crucial and immensely appreciated. Please send your contribution where you know it will be most effective in directly helping animals-in-need.

Bootzie

 Winter is approaching; Your contributions of canned dog & cat food are crucial. Our wish list includes: tall kitchen bags, large black bags, paper towels and other paper products. Also large bottles of Clorox, Odorban and dishwashing liquid. We need helpers at Paws&Claws Thrift Shoppe, Wed through Sat between 10 AM and 4 PM. Contact us at 575.894.2639 or e-mail us at weR4pets@gmail.com. Visit us at www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com. and www.Facebook.com/DesertHaven and www.Facebook.com/Pawsnclawsthriftshoppe.

Week of 9/27/14 Humane Happenings

 by Eliana Aubin

Lois Reaver-Black

 Lois Reaver-Black passed away a few days ago. With the passing of this Grand Lady, our area has lost one of its most active community-minded individuals who, until Time took its toll several years ago and Lois was forced to slow down, was also a very productive and highly respected member of our community. Lois will be remembered by all who knew her as a remarkable lady who left this world a little better, a little kinder because she was in it.

On a Tuesday morning several years ago, Desert Haven received a surprise visit from Lois and Chet. Freddie, who was at the time the official Tour Guide at the sanctuary, gave her and Chet the “Grand Tour of the facility. When it was over and before Lois & Chet got back into their vehicle, she kept saying “It’s a really beautiful place here! I had no idea! And it’s so clean and it smells so nice! And it’s very quiet and peaceful!” She added “I expected a lot of barking and a lot of noise. I am truly surprised and very pleased at how nice everything looks and how clean and peaceful it all is”. Before she left, she added” This place is worth supporting. People in town need to know. “ True to her word, Lois made a point to share with the readers of her next weekly newspaper column, her very positive experience while visiting Desert Haven that Tuesday.

Lois, this corner of the world is a little better now, because you were in it. Our deep appreciation goes to Lois and also to her family for inviting everyone who knew her and loved her to made donations to the Sierra County Humane & Desert Haven Animal Refuge in lieu of flowers. Lois, even in death, you continue to give to the community that you loved so very much.

 We continue to need canned dog & cat food, also tall kitchen bags, 30 gallons trash bags, paper towels and other paper products. We also need helpers at Paws&Claws Thrift Shoppe and Desert Haven. Contact us at 575.894.2639 or e-mail us at weR4pets@gmail.com. Visit us at www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com. and www.Facebook.com/DesertHaven and www.Facebook.com/Pawsnclawsthriftshoppe.

Week of 9/20/14 Humane Happenings

by Eliana Aubin

 This week, the Sierra County Humane Society wishes to thank Burkes’ Outlet in TorC, for donating – and delivering - to Paws & Claws Thrift Shoppe a number of much-needed clothes racks in excellent condition. Over the years, Burke’s Outlet continues to be generous to our organization in a variety of ways, and we sincerely appreciate it. We also thank the friendly-gentleman-with-a-truck who stopped at Paws&Claws Thrift Shoppe during business hours sometime last week and dropped-off half-a-dozen of large – much needed - Clorox bottles to be used at Desert Haven.

 A friendly reminder to our local and out-of-town animal loving friends: When you shop at Bullocks Grocery Store in TorC, save your Bullocks’ receipts for our organization. These receipts, when tallied and redeemed, mean “dollars” for our community-minded programs. Please either send them to us at POB 638, Williamsburg, NM, 87942, or drop them off directly at Paws&Claws Thrift Shoppe located adjacent to the TorC Family dollar. You can conveniently deposit them any time during the week through a slot labeled “Bullocks Receipts”, located at the drop-off box in front of the store. Bullocks donates to our 501-C-3 non-profit organization $2 for each thousand dollars of redeemed receipts! The funds we receive from Bullocks go towards the Spay-Neuter and Spay-a-Stray programs, both are effective signature programs of our organization. This comprehensive sterilization program is available to Sierra County residents who need some financial help to get their companion animal sterilized. Want to learn more? Contact us 575-894-1694 and leave a message with your phone number. We will return your call within a few days.

This week’s wish list: Canned dog & cat food – Tall kitchen bags - 30 gallons trash bags - paper towels and other paper products - Pecans which we place routinely in the doves’ nests inside our large aviaries. They comfort our resident doves while keeping them from reproducing – We also need helpers at Paws&Claws Thrift Shoppe and Desert Haven. Contact us at 575.894.2639 or e-mail us at weR4pets@gmail.com. Visit us at www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com. and www.Facebook.com/DesertHaven and www.Facebook.com/Pawsnclawsthriftshoppe.