Week of 11/28/10 Humane Happenings

By Eliana Aubin

Old West Placita

This week, Desert Haven welcomed the arrival of Penny, a Pomeranian Pug mix relinquished by her human companion who could no longer care for her because of failing health. The tiny, cute-as-a-button, well-mannered four-year old girl-dog is now waiting to melt somebody’s heart and move into her very own loving home.

This week’s special thanks go to: Herman & Sugar Armijo of Albuquerque, who contribute to our organization every time they visit the area - Mary Roden of T or C who insures that the cupboards of Dog Town & The Cool Cat Neighborhood are never empty for too long - Mary Ann Nolan who recently dropped-off at DHAR much needed dog and cat food and also some treats – Jerry & Paul McCauley who delivered to the sanctuary many cans of dog and cat food last Tuesday. When told that they must have sensed that we badly needed the canned food, Paul answered with a smile “We read your column”.

Jason Gransbury of Palomas Canyon recently visited the sanctuary. As he walked through Desert Haven’s “Old West Placita” and around the animals and birds habitats, he gave us a very nice compliment:”You have built this whole place to look like an Old West town – it looks really neat!” A visitor from Kansas shopped at Paws&Claws Thrift Shoppe last Friday. She told our volunteers on duty that she had landed in Albuquerque a couple of days before and as she was picking-up a car at budget Rent-a-Car to visit a family member living in TorC, the clerk at the desk had told her:” While you are there, one place you don’t want to miss is Paws&Claws Thrift Shoppe in TorC. It’s a very interesting store and you can’t beat their prices. And it’s all for a good cause.” Our Kansas visitor added:” I came and I was not disappointed!” Such a nice compliment for all the dedicated volunteers who work well together to make it all happen at P&C!

This week’s wish list: bird & sunflower seeds - canned dog and cat food – catnip - large storage containers with or without lids, also plywood & construction material - tarps or canvas material to protect waiting-to-be-sorted donations inside the P&C Thrift Shoppe yard - carpet remnants to be used either as area rugs at Dog Town or to keep the weeds down on several new dog walking trails that our crew is clearing around the sanctuary.

Acquainted with the computer program XL? Do you enjoy working with numbers? We need your skills and two hours of your time in the Desert Haven office every Tuesday morning. We also need someone to help for an hour or two with routine office work on Tuesdays. Call us at 575-894-2778. Interested in visiting Desert Haven? It is open to the public every Tuesday. Thinking of adopting? Visit our web site and Petfinder page at www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com or contact us at 575-740-4100. Write us at POB 638, Williamsburg, NM 87942. Meet us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/deserthaven.

Week of 11/21/10

By Eliana Aubin

Every year, Thanksgiving is celebrated at Desert Haven Animal Refuge on the Tuesday before the official Thanksgiving Day. This year again, everyone who volunteers at DHAR and Paws & Claws Thrift Shoppe has been invited to share the traditional meal served pot-luck style at the domestic animal sanctuary. It’s always a very enjoyable time, to “break bread” with folks of kindred spirit and Thanksgiving dinner at Desert Haven continues to be a special event.

The Christmas Season is now under way. With it, many of our readers are already starting to feel the pressure from large organizations from all over, asking them to donate generously to help this or that cause. Fundraising on a grand scale is usually carefully orchestrated, especially at this time of the year. It also effectively reaches out to folks’ generosity and compassion. At this time of the year, it’s not often easy to brush-off carefully presented and well written appeals for help, from any worthwhile national organization. Local organizations more often than not don’t have the luxury of being able to spend any of their hard earned resources on fancy fundraising mailings. Anyone interested in donating to a worthwhile cause should consider a local organization first. When you donate locally, you have the opportunity to experience first-hand the Good that you are doing through your generosity.

Thanks to a great team of animal loving folks involved with the Sierra County Humane Society and Desert Haven Animal Refuge, adoptions continue to make Dog Town a very busy place these days. In fact, this year has seen the greatest number of companion animals being adopted from DHAR. While some of them are adopted locally, the new forever home for most of them is many miles away.

This week’s wish list: canned dog and cat food – catnip -tarps or canvas material - carpet remnants - large clear storage containers with or without lids – plywood & building material. We need extra hands in the Desert Haven office and also helping care for the animals. Paws & Claws Thrift Shoppe needs helpers as well. Interested in visiting Desert Haven? It is open to the public on Tuesdays. Thinking of adopting? Contact us at 575-894-2778 or 740-4100. Visit us at www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com. Write to us at POB 638, Williamsburg, NM 87942. Meet us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/deserthaven.

Week of 11/14/10 Humane Happenings

By Eliana Aubin

Winter is on its way to Sierra County and Desert Haven Animal Refuge is making preparations for the cold nights ahead. Thanks to Denny & Mattie Gano, Reba, Gene & Stephen Wagner, Pam Mosher, Sherry Scott and David Kuhn, winterization of the facility is now completed - water lines and spigots throughout the property and also the residents’ habitats are now ready for Old Man Winter!

Do you enjoy working out-of-doors and taking advantage of clean fresh air and the current sunny weather? Our Desert Haven crew always needs extra help with the Fall clean-up of dead weeds, the pruning of large bushes and also with revamping the gravel trails inside Rainbow Bridge Pet Cemetery. If interested, let us know. Bring your work gloves and tools if you wish, and join us mid-morning on a Tuesday. Plan to stay for the 1 PM lunch. We have good folks at Desert Haven - and you may even enjoy visiting with the animals of your choice while you are there.

This week, we thank all the kind folks who help us feed the little ones under our wings, either by donating pet food or with contributions earmarked for food. If you wish to help but can’t make it to DHAR, bring your contributions to Paws & Claws Thrift Shop during business hours, from Wednesday through Saturday. We always need bird and sunflower seeds, rabbit pellets, and also dog and cat food, especially canned food. During the cold winter mornings, the little fur-guys and girls under our care very much enjoy and surely appreciate a little moist food mixed with their dry breakfast. The furry and feathered residents of Desert Haven start their day with kind words, cuddles and breakfast every morning. At Birdland & Animal House, chef salads of cut-up fresh fruits and veggies - courtesy of Bullocks Grocery Store – are mixed together in large stainless steel pans, served inside the several aviaries and habitats. While their breakfast is being prepared, fresh water provided and their living areas and play-yard spruced-up, the dogs are exercised outside their compound, either walked on a leash around the sanctuary or given a chance to romp in groups and socialize inside the Old West Trail, an enclosed one acre track of walking trails and desert landscape. The dogs look forward to this special time every morning and when they are brought back on a leash to their respective quarters, their individual bowl of breakfast is waiting for them. Our small army of 40 resident kitties loves the special attention given to each one of them every morning as they slowly leave their warm cubby holes and their cozy condos to come out and enjoy the tasty treats and moist food prepared with their discerning tastes in mind.

Priority list: heavy duty tarps, large plastic containers with or without lids, canned dog and cat food. Interested in visiting Desert Haven? It is open to the public on Tuesdays. Thinking of adopting? Contact us at 575-894-2778 or 740-4100. Visit us at www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com. Write to us at POB 638, Williamsburg, NM 87942. Meet us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/deserthaven.

Week of 11/8/10 Humane happenings

By Eliana Aubin

The past few weeks, the Sierra County Humane Society and Desert Haven Animal Refuge volunteers have had a lot to be thankful for. Recently, Sharon Stoffels of Albuquerque and her father Bill, together with several contributors who wish to stay anonymous, donated time, expertise and funds to update the organization’s computer operation which was badly in need of revamping. In doing so, they helped our office move into the 21st Century. What a difference it is making for our volunteer staff! We also wish to thank Gene Wagner, Desert Haven’s talented handyman, for building a long, great looking wooden computer table for our “new & improved” equipment.

“Kudos” are in order for the leadership of Bullocks Grocery store in TorC for continuing its very generous Cash for Clubs program. The funds our organization receives from redeeming Bullocks receipts are earmarked for the Society’s Spay-Neuter and Spay-a-Stray programs. The results of this year’s Bullocks generosity were recently publicized in the local newspapers and our organization was the highest recipient on record. Each and everyone who saves and regularly drops-off their Bullocks receipts into the SCHS collection boxes around town is part of our success. We could not do what we do for the companion animals of Sierra County without the support of all of YOU who participate in some way. Keep saving those Bullocks receipts for the SCHS & Desert Haven Animal Refuge! They are worth $$$ to the Society!

We also collect aluminum cans. They can be dropped off in the Can Corral adjacent to P&C. Reba Wagner, her husband Gene and son Stephen handle their transport and redeem them locally for our organization. The funds collected help sterilize Sierra County’s companion animals through the Society Spay-Neuter program. Thanks, Guys!

An abandoned Heeler and her three pups need a loving home. The folks who rescued them from the wild already have other dogs and are not able to keep them. For more information, contact Sandra or Johnny at 575-267-9341. A young calico indoor kitty needs a home. His owner has found out that she is allergic, so she can’t keep him.

This week’s high priority wish list: canned dog and cat food, several heavy duty medium sized tarps. Interested in visiting Desert Haven? It is open to the public on Tuesdays. You can also visit our web site at www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com. We can also be reached at POB 638, Williamsburg, NM 87942. Meet us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/deserthaven. For more information about our animal welfare organization, contact us at 575-894-2778 or 740-4100.

Week of 11/1/10 Humane Happenings

By Eliana Aubin

Lunch time at Desert Haven Animal Refuge 

Helen, Sherry, Glen, Stephen, Jim and Larry

The Sierra County Humane Society, Inc., ( SCHS) is Sierra County's only animal welfare organization. It is NOT associated with either Sierra Animal Shelter or Hot Springs Animal clinic, both of which are privately owned local businesses. The SCHS is a non-profit, volunteer organization which owns and operates Desert Haven Animal Refuge, Sierra County no-kill domestic animal sanctuary. The Society and Desert Haven's operating funds are generated solely from the profits generated at Paws & Claws Thrift Shoppe in TorC, the Society's major fundraising activity, together with private and business contributions. The organization receives no government funding, local or otherwise. Consequently, no Taxpayers dollars are used to operate either the SCHS or Desert Haven.

The SCHS is governed by a volunteer Board of Officers in which are vested the concerns, direction and management of its affairs. Desert Haven is headed by an Executive Director, also a volunteer. The Desert Haven CEO - Eliana Aubin - works closely with the DHAR staff - Operations Coordinator Freddie Loveless and Animal Care Coordinator Reba Wagner, who both reside at the sanctuary, in housing provided by the organization.

Elections of SCHS Directors are held each year at the Annual Meeting on the first Monday in February. Directors serve for three years. The SCHS President, Vice President, Treasurer, both Recording and Corresponding Secretaries are elected each year at the board meeting following the Annual Meeting. Officers serve for one year. Anyone who has been a SCHS member for at least one year and who wishes to serve on the board is invited to send a letter of intent to the SCHS at POB 638, Williamsburg, NM. You can also e-mail the SCHS President at eliana4pets@gmail.com or call the SCHS Secretary at 575-894-2778.

This week, we wish to acknowledge the folks who continue to make cash or in-kind donations to help us feed the furry and feathered residents of Desert Haven. Times seem to be tough for everyone these days, and our non-profit volunteer organization, which relies on the generosity of other caring animal loving folks, is also feeling the effects of these difficult times. Still, every companion animals rescued at the sanctuary must be fed and cared for daily, and their medical needs attended to. Every donation, large or small, is immensely appreciated.

We continue to need helpers at Paws & Claws and also at Desert Haven. Interested in donating at least a couple of hours a week to a worthy cause? contact Freddie at 575-894-2778 or Reba at 740-4100. Interested in adopting? Visit Desert Haven on a Tuesday and meet our little furry guys and girls. If this is the right time for you, surely one of them will "adopt" you. Regardless, a visit to DHAR is sure to be pleasant and rewarding, whether you adopt or not.

You can also visit our web site at www.DesertHavenAnimalRefuge.com.

Meet us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/deserthaven. Our mailing address is 638, Williamsburg, NM 87942.