Volunteers
The HomeAgain® Hero of the Year award will recognize some inspiring people who are making significant contributions to the health and well-being of pets. Worthy individuals could be volunteers at animal rescues or shelters, responders to natural disasters, philanthropists, fund-raisers, animal advocates, or anyone else who might be considered a hero to pets.
On behalf of the winner, HomeAgain will donate $10,000 to a participating charity of his or her choice, as well as $1,000 to participating charities chosen by 4 finalists, including the Petfinder.com Foundation.
If you think you know someone who is worthy of the award, you can find more details and complete a nomination form at www.HomeAgainHeroes.com. Nominations must be received by July 31, 2013.
Do you want to know how you can be a hero to your pet? Schedule an appointment with your veterinarian to get a HomeAgain microchip for your furry friend. It’s the best way to provide protection if your pet gets lost. For more information, visit www.HomeAgain.com.
We want to wish all the Cat Daddies we know a very Happy Father’s Day.
Thank you for all that you do and for showing the world that real men are kind to animals.
Have a wonderful day covered in cat hair and surrounded by all the furry faces who love you.
I just want to congratulate our board member, co-founder, volunteer, foster, fundraiser, and my sister, Bobbie Timmons, on completing the 2012 Columbus Marathon in 5 hours and 38 minutes on Sunday, October 21. Bobbie had been training for the Marathon since April and completed a half marathon this summer to help her train for the 26.2 mile event.
Bobbie had decided to run the marathon to raise money for Black and Orange. And raise money she did–over $3300! Woo Hoo!! That money will go a long way to spay and neuter a lot of kitties in need. Thank you to everyone who donated for Bobbie’s marathon campaign!
In preparation for the marathon, Bobbie even got a special black and orange running outfit and hat that featured Black and Orange’s logo. Thank you to John Hedgecock of Needle This Embroidery for making the shirt and hat with our logo.
Thank you also to Lisa Di Giacomo who came to our parents’ house and took some awesome photos of Bobbie in her running outfit.
If you would still like to donate for Bobbie, you can visit her Cause page HERE. She raised $333 online and another $3,000 with a mailer we sent out.
Way to go, Bobbie. You have earned a well deserved rest. And, no feral cats are ever going to be able to outrun you now.
In the photos, Bobbie is posing with Mom and Dad’s cat, Jasmine, running at mile 16 on Lane Avenue in Columbus, getting a hug from Dad, and crossing the finish line with her hands in the air. Dad is shown holding one of the posters we held up for Bobbie. To see more photos of Bobbie in the marathon, visit our Facebook page HERE.
We are so happy to announce that our good friend, veterinarian, and board member, Dr. Kim West, will be opening her own vet hospital, Health and Harmony, on October 15. Dr. West will be assisted by fellow friend and veterinarian, Dr. Evelyn Tannhof, and head technician/practice manager, Rob Smith, in caring for the beloved animals that enter the hospital.
Health and Harmony is located at 1117 West First Avenue in Columbus (actually Grandview).
The mission statement of Health and Harmony states: “To honor our patients, Health and Harmony Animal Hospital ensures that each client is confident in the care they are receiving for their animal companion, comfortable with all aspects of the hospital and staff, as well as engaged in all areas of their pet’s health and well-being.”
The Black and Orange Board members all had a tour of the facility at our last board meeting in September and the hospital is going to be gorgeous. Painted in calming colors, the whole building exudes peace and tranquility. There will be separate waiting areas for cats and dogs. The dog waiting area will feature large comfy dog beds for lounging. Both Dr. West and Dr. Tannhof will be bringing their dogs to work with them, so expect to see the friendly faces of Fruit Bat (the chihuahua who was saved from a spot at a busy bus stop where she sat all day with a broken ankle) and her partner in crime, Tupelo Honey, the fluffy, fierce diva Pomeranian.
There is also a true isolation room in the hospital with the walls lined with a material that can be scrubbed and sanitized. I have never seen anything like this room. Clearly cutting edge!
Dr. West will be offering her acupuncture talents for those animals who need this service. Additionally (and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this), both Dr. West and Dr. Tannhof have officially decided that they will NOT do any declaw surgeries! Declawing is a very painful and inhumane surgery and Dr. West and I have talked about the problems declawed cats face for many years. Black and Orange does not adopt to anyone who plans to declaw and Dr. West decided that, as a vet, she could not continue to do something that she thinks is unnecessary and even harmful to cats.
However, like Black and Orange, Dr. West plans to educate people about declawing and offer alternatives. The staff at Health and Harmony will trim nails and attach Soft Paws (the soft sheathes that fit over nails to prevent cats from doing damage with their nails) for clients who are worried about their cat’s scratching behaviors.
To read more about declawing and find alternatives yourself, go HERE.
We are also happy to announce that one of the cat exam rooms will be named after and dedicated to Black and Orange Cat Foundation! Our logo will be painted on the door and we will feature photos of our rescued kitties and their happy stories on the walls of the room. Other rescue groups, including SOS of Ohio, will also be featured with the other exam rooms in the hospital.
To schedule an appointment at Health and Harmony, call 614-360-3941.
To find out more and see photos of the beautiful facility, go to the Health and Harmony Facebook page HERE. And please “Like” them while you are there!
We are so happy for Dr. West and wish her and all the staff much luck as they set forth on this new and exciting endeavor!
Our board member, co-founder, volunteer, and foster, Bobbie Timmons, will be running the Columbus Marathon on Sunday, October 21, 2012. Bobbie has run two half marathons of 13.1 miles, but never the full 26.2 marathon. This will be her first endeavor at a full marathon and she has been practicing for months now to get ready. On Sunday, August 26, she ran the Emerald City Half Marathon in just about 2 hours and 45 minutes. That means, she will be running for around 5-6 hours for the full marathon! Impressive!
Bobbie decided to become a marathon runner to raise money for the kitties of Black and Orange. She will be running in a specially made B and O shirt and ball cap with our logo embroidered on both. You can clearly see her coming in her black and orange outfit.
Bobbie is asking all of you to please donate either $0.50, $1, or $2 for every mile she is going to run ($13, $26, or $52 total). Her goal is to raise as much money as possible to help spay and neuter even more kitties in need. We can spay a female cat for around $50 and neuter a male cat for $32. If you donate $0.50 or $1 per mile, we’ll apply those amounts, $13 or $26, toward a cat neuter. If you donate $2 per mile ($52), we’ll spay one female cat. Let’s see how many cats we can spay and neuter using Bobbie’s very capable legs!
You can donate on her Cause Page HERE. You can also donate by clicking on the PayPal button on the B and O home page HERE.
Thank you to John Hedgecock of Needle This Embroidery for making the shirts and hats for us with B and O’s logo embroidered so nicely across them. They turned out great! If you need something embroidered, contact John at hedgecockj@yahoo.com or 614-879-5990.
For all the Cat Daddies we know: Happy Father’s Day!
And if you are still looking for the perfect gift to get the cat daddy in your life, how about Jackson Galaxy’s book, Cat Daddy? This wonderful book, by the cat behaviorist of Animal Planet’s “My Cat From Hell,” tells the story of how a very special cat saved Jackson’s life and made him the “cat whisperer” he is today.
For all the men who are not afraid to admit they love cats, we love you, too! Thanks for being cat daddies.
Our good friend (who is also an adopter, volunteer, and fundraiser for Black and Orange Cat Foundation), Olivia Brininger, will be at Eldchrist Winery in Plain City on Thursday, May 10 for Ladies Night featuring Lia Sophia jewelry. In the past, Olivia has done several Lia Sophia fundraisers to help the B and O kitties, so we would like to send everyone out to this event to support her.
This should be a fun evening to bring your girlfriends, sisters, and female relatives to. There will also be products available from Scentsy and Sweet Mamas Cake Pops. Sweet Mamas Cake Pops are made by two local, Plain City sweet mamas, Tracy and Kirsten.
Local Plain City author Sherri Hayes will also be there to sign and sell her romance and suspense novels. Sherri has published three books, Hidden Threat, Behind Closed Doors and Slave. Her latest book, Need, a sequel to Slave, will be available in July.
The winery event runs from 6-9 pm. Please come and have a good time, while supporting our friend and B and O kitty lover, Olivia!
It is not often that I am surprised by people’s generosity and kindness–people are so nice that most things no longer amaze me. But something that happened this week did make me think twice about how compassionate people can be–especially children.
I had an email from a former adopter, Carrie, telling me about something very special her daughter, Sofia, had done. The DiNovo family had just recently adopted a second kitty from us after also having adopted one a few years ago. Because of her love of her furry friends (Norm and Marna, the cats, and some special dogs, too), Sofia had decided that, instead of birthday presents for her seventh birthday this year, she wanted her family and friends to instead buy gifts for homeless kitties.
I don’t know many kids who, at age 7, would forego toys and brightly wrapped packages of goodies. But Sofia did. Instead, her friends brought her bags of cat litter, dry cat food, treats, and toys–enough to fill the back of the family’s mini van.
You can see Sofia in the photo above with all the kitty presents she received for her birthday and then donated to Black and Orange.
Sofia told her mom that someday she wants to be an “animal rescuer,” too.
I just want to send a huge thank you out to Miss Sofia for giving up her birthday presents and so generously helping homeless kitties. I also want to wish her a belated Happy 7th Birthday from everyone, especially the kitties, at Black and Orange.
A few weeks ago, Kristin, one of our super volunteers (she fosters, fundraises, attends adoption events, and cleans at PetSmart–yes, she does just about everything) emailed me and asked if I could send her some very specific photos. She wanted pictures of me, Christina, Bobbie, and Carol, as well as of some of our rescued kitties. It was a bit hard finding photos of me, since I am usually the one behind the camera, but I finally found one where I was donning a Santa hat at our Santa photo event. Because it was so difficult to find pictures of me and the other Team Bando members, Kristin decided it would be her mission in the coming year to take lots of photos at our events.
I was wondering just what Kristin was up to requesting those photos.
This past Thursday, I found out.
Carol and I were doing our usual cleaning session at PetSmart and Kristin had left a box for us in our cupboard in the cat room. Opening the box, we found three wrapped packages for me, Bobbie, and Carol. Inside was a gorgeous book called, “Black and Orange Cat Foundation–Rescued!” that Kristin had personally made for each of us. The book was dedicated to us and Christina “with love and dedication” from Kristin and it features many, many of the cats we have helped over the years.
Kristin not only immortalized the B and O kitties, but also many of our friends in rescue, including Brian, Dr. Kim West, and Santa Chuck. The photos at the very bottom of this posting show Dr. West looking at her and Fruit Bat’s pages in the book for the first time.
Kristin also dedicated a page to Carol and Chuck and the kitties they lost in the house fire last August. Of course, that made Carol cry. But this was a very sweet housewarming present for the Gauls who are finally back home. They moved into their newly built home, which stands where the old house was, on Friday, April 15–nearly 8 and 1/2 months after the fire.
I have to thank Kristin, not only for what she does for Black and Orange on a daily basis, but also for this really thoughtful and lovely gift. A lot of time, effort, and love went into this and we are so glad to have her working for Team Bando.
Bissell is currently hosting a “Most Valuable Pet Photo Contest.” They are in the fifth week of the contest and for this week, our super photographer volunteer, Kristin, submitted a photo of her dog, Bonsai. If we can get enough people to vote for Bonsai’s photo, it will move on to the next round of voting. If Bonsai’s photo wins the contest, there is a grand prize of $10,000 that Kristin has designated for Black and Orange. There are also runner up prizes of $5,000 and $1,000–all of which B and O could use to help with our spay and neuter efforts.
To Vote for Bonsai’s photo, go HERE.
You must vote every day for the next week. The voting period goes from Wednesday, February 2 to Tuesday, February 8. A new voting period begins each Wednesday. The top pets each week move on to the finalist round for the chance at the $10,000 Grand Prize.
Please help Bonsai’s photo move into the finalist round so Black and Orange can also win!