MC-SPCA » A Big Thanks to…

A Busy, Happy Holiday Season at the MCSPCA

SPCA Staff — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:10:42 +0000

The shelter board, staff, volunteers, and of course, the animals, would like to thank everyone for so generously including the MCSPCA in their celebration of the season. We’re very grateful for the many ways in which people contributed.

As has come to be tradition, the MCSPCA began the season with our 4th Annual Holiday Pet Photos event on December 3rd and 4th! It was wonderful to see so many dogs and cats, bunnies, cockatoos, and even turtles, and their people, come out to support the shelter. In addition to photos, the event included shopping at the shelter store and guest vendors, a cat adoption clinic, discounts on pet micro-chipping and nail clipping, and face painting for the kids. Thank you to all of the SPCA volunteers who made the event possible and to our friends who came for photos! Special thanks to our Santa, Nyle Nelson, for volunteering two days during this very busy season to the benefit of the shelter, and listening to the many requests brought to him by ALL of the children- human, furry, feathered, and scaled! Photos from the event can be found on the MCSPCA facebook page. Those who do not have a facebook account can also view the photos here on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/montgomerycountyspca/sets/ by clicking on the “4th Annual Holiday Pet Portraits” album. Don’t forget to join us again in April for our 2nd Annual Spring Pet Portraits!

Supporters also included the MCSPCA in their holiday shopping, and made in-kind donations of wonderful toys, treats, and other gifts over the past month. We are very near our goal of having a KONG Wobbler for every dog in the shelter, to keep their minds active and challenged during our stay with us. There are still a few items that we need for our Enrichment Program, so if you didn’t have a chance with the holiday rush, please visit our Amazon wish list: http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1TDD2C97TMI4. Our next goal is to obtain two KONG Scratch and Groom Curls- one for the cats at the shelter and one for our adoption center at PetSmart.

And of course, thank you to everyone who contributed monetary donations. This has been a very challenging year; with a struggling economy and the devastation caused by local flooding, the numbers of strays and surrenders has increased from in the past. Thankfully, cat adoptions have been doing very well with the opening of the shelter’s new off-site adoption center at PetSmart and the extra exposure that has come with it. Since the clinic opened on November 21st, a total of sixteen cats and kittens have found wonderful furever homes from the PetSmart adoption site alone!

With increased adoptions, we are moving forward toward our goal of taking all adoptable cats in off of the streets! We wouldn’t be able to do this without your help, and we will continue to rely on your support. If anyone needs to make year end tax deductible donations before the 31st, we would be an extremely thankful recipient! You can mail a check to us at P.O. Box 484, Amsterdam, NY 12010 – or – click on the Paypal link to donate online. So many of you have been extremely generous, but we do need all the help we can get! Now that we will have the space, our ability to take more cats is dependent on having additional funding for their spaying/neutering and other care. About $400 is invested into every animal that comes through the MCSPCA’s doors.

Finally, thank you to the volunteers, staff, and board members who devote their time to keeping the shelter running every single day. It truly is a labor of love, paid in slobbery kisses and wagging tails, sandpaper licks and warming purrs.

Thank you all for a wonderful end to 2011, and for sharing the holiday spirit with our cats and dogs. Each and every one of you enables us to fulfill our mission of “no more homeless pets” and help bring hope to the lives of as many animals as we can. Please know how much we appreciate your support, and how proud we are to be part of this community.

9th Annual Dog Walk: A Tail-Wagging Success Still Wagging!

SPCA Staff — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 00:43:26 +0000

A paw print on your heart of a thank you to all who made our 9^th Annual Dog Walk a success! Donations are still being accepted—make a general donation, support an existing walker, or even register now and fundraise for our furry friends as a “virtual walker” yourself. The website will remain active until October 17^th. Of course, offline donations are also welcome. So far we’ve raised over $16,000 and counting! Please keep the future looking paw-sitively bright for our new shelter plans!

~ Congratulations and Thank You! ~

Best in Show

Top Collector

Jenny Murtaugh - $2,020.50

Top Dogs

Walkers Raising $1,000 or More

Gina Kline – $1,133.00

Joyce Rose – $1,119.00

Hot Dogs

Walkers Raising $500 or More

Kathren Keller-Hopkins – $675.00

Maureen Rossi - $640.00

Jan Zumbolo - $600.00

Amy Tollner - $515.00

Premier Pups

Walkers Raising $100 or More

Laurie Kunigel - $260.00

Joanie Jones - $196.00

Marilyn Mach - $190.00

Heather Boothe - $156.00

Debi Crandall - $140.00

Tina Vogel - $125.00

Donna Daggett - $110.00

Heather Mach - $110.00

Jamie Chace - $100.35

Leaders of the Pack

Team Raising $500 or More

DOT Workforce - $696.00

Why the Walk?

The first Dog Walk took place in 2003 when efforts began to construct a new animal shelter, which will replace the current outgrown and aging facility on Route 5-S, just a few miles east of Amsterdam.

MCSPCA staff, volunteers, and board members help homeless animals in the community receive the most precious gift of all— a second chance at love. As the needs of the community grow, the shelter is hindered by a lack of appropriate space and a building that has seen better days. A new facility will allow the MCSPCA to improve and expand the many services provided for the homeless, abused, neglected, and abandoned animals and the community. In addition to increasing the number of cats and dogs that will be taken in to find new homes, plans include expansion of the Prevent Another Litter (P.A.L.) program for cats and a reduced-cost spay/neuter program for dogs. The MCSPCA will have space to offer dog obedience and agility classes with the hope that implementing a training program will provide not only recreation, but a first option to surrendering. Besides improving physical fitness, agility helps dogs build confidence, provides mental stimulation, and strengthens the bond between dogs and their owners. These are just a few of the MCSPCA’s many visions for the future!

As a registered 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, the MCSPCA receives no funding from governmental agencies nor from animal welfare organizations such as the ASPCA or Humane Society of the US and relies on nominal fees, fundraising, and support from people like you.

While we strive to provide the community with an enjoyable day, participant fundraising as part of the Dog Walk is extremely important. This year, donations are still being accepted through our website, which will remain active until October 17^th. Make a general donation, support someone you know who is an existing walker, or register for free and collect donations as a “virtual walker” yourself. Of course, offline donations are also welcome. So far, we’ve raised $16,000 and counting as part of this year’s event!

The Montgomery County SPCA is dedicated to helping the community and its animals, those members which cannot help themselves. The Dog Walk is the community’s chance– YOUR chance– to give back. Please keep the future looking paw-stitively bright for our new shelter plans and for our furry friends by participating today!

Dog Supplies Collection

SPCA Staff — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:31:59 +0000

Thank you to those in the dog training community who donated collars, leashes, and other dog supplies to the shelter! Items were collected continuously for a period at Schenectady Dog Training Club and Albany Obedience Club, and at the Capital Distract Agility Fun Group on March 12th and the Schenectady Dog Training Club trial on March 19th and 20th.

Thank you to all who donated!!!

Special thanks to Sheila Jweid-Webber for organizing the collection and the SDTC Trial and to Chris Beck for organizing the collection at the CDAFG and monitoring the boxes left at SDTC and AOC!

Wine Tasting June 9th, 2011

SPCA Staff — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:20:59 +0000

June 9th was a fabulous night at Nicolino’s Vino/Wine Bar. The Montgomery County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MCSPCA) animal shelter held their annual Wine Tasting Fundraiser at the Route 30 location. Thanks to owner, Antonella the evening was a big hit. Her abundance of food was over the top. The presentation was beautiful. Every bite was delicious. The waitresses outdid themselves keeping up with the hungry crowd. Donny Sr. and Joe from Cork Hill Wine & Liquor were their gracious selves with a large variety of wines for everyone to taste. Donny Mattice, Jr. offered a great selection of wines. We would also like to thank Cork Hill Wine and Liquor and Donny, Jr. for their donations to the animal shelter. Chuck Weiss entertained us by playing his guitar and singing. Michael Zumbolo delighted us with some of his songs and guitar playing. We would like to thank Chuck and Michael for the donating of their entertainment. As usual the numerous raffle baskets were beautiful. We would like to thank Jeanette Engle and Ann Marie Bertuch for their time in creating such a gorgeous display of baskets. We would also like to thank them for their donations. We would like to thank Holly Gray for her donation of raffle baskets. The fundraiser was attended by many supportive people who were enjoying themselves with the food, wine, music, raffles, door prizes and socializing. We would like to thank Kim Lanza for donating her 50/50 raffle winnings back to the animal shelter. We would like to thank all the people who made generous donations that evening to the animal shelter. We would like to thank the volunteers for their help with the fundraiser. This was such a successful fundraiser that we’ll be back next year June 2012.

We Sincerely Thank You!

SPCA Staff — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:49:20 +0000

Thank you to Annie Knapp and her friends for so diligently raising over $300.00 for the Shelter Pets here at the MCSPCA!!! Way to go! Licks and purrs from the animals!!!!

Thank you to THE A-TEAM!!! This new “organization” of school age kids got together and held a bottle drive for the MCSPCA! They raised $15.50! The kids: Amelia Barkevich,Alliah Schoonmaker, Anastacia Montalvo, & Jonas Barkevich, are hoping to get more kids to join their group and are currently collecting books for another non-profit organization. Great job and keep at it!!!

A big thanks to SEFCU for once again choosing our shelter for another very generous donation!

A huge thank you to MCT Bank, for having us at their bank, to promote our shelter and for the donations and adoptions that were a result of that clinic!

Thank you to the Lynch Literacy Academy Staff for their generous cash donation!

Thanks to the kids of Mariaville School for all their hard work collecting donations and money for our shelter animals! Steve Caporizzo even said you were an amazing group of caring kids! We think so too!

Thank you to the Cub Scouts that come EVERY year to Spring Clean the shelter’s grounds! This year they spruced up the trail they blazed 2 years ago and raked and cut back the huge tree limbs on the property! EXCELLANT job guys!!!!They even wood chipped the cut branches for us!!!

Thank you to ADIRONDACK SEPTIC for all the hard work you do at our shelter! Without you coming ASAP when we call, we’d be in quite a mess! We hope the community in our area takes a ‘hint’ from us and uses your services!!!!

Thank you BROWNIE TROOP 2245!!! For the wonderful pets toys you all made and donated!! This is for Sapphire,Emilie,Katelyn,Raven,Rory,Katelynn,Morganne,Emily,Alexis,Brooke, Sophia & Colleen!

Thank you to Alyssa and Loren Foti for collecting $30.00 in donations for our shelter animals, during a Garage Sale they held in Schenectady!

Thank you,Sierra Francher for your donation of your Birthday money to our pets at the shelter!

Thanks AGAIN to Ashlyn O’Neil who raised $70.00 and lots of pet food and supplies to our shelter. She had her birthday party and requested monetary and pet supply donations to be gifted instead of anything for herself! WAY TO GO ASH!!!

Daniel,Andrew,Catie & Maggie Van Epps built a Lemonade stand and brought us a donation of $20.00, the entire proceeds of their sale!! This is the 2nd year they have held this fundraiser for us! Great work Kids!!!!