Volunteer Highlight:
Eva Allen & Barbara Roy

Barbara & Eva hanging out with the tabbies

Long time volunteers Eva Allen and Barbara Roy have spent quite a few hours sitting on the floor in the cat room chatting or outside exercising and playing with the dogs. Eva began volunteering four years ago, and got Barbara involved after Eva asked her to help at a satellite event around nearly two years ago. They both agree that its proven to be a great way to stay in contact, and doing it together makes it all the more fun!

In addition to their work here at the Humane Society, both women also spend their free time volunteering with other organizations. Eva enjoys walking greyhounds every week for REGAP (Retired Greyhounds as Pets), and Barbara volunteers for the Folly Theatre as an usher. Eva and Barbara also enjoy gardening and are members of the Cactus Club when they’re not spending time with their own pets at home.

When asked why others should come in and volunteer they both enthusiastically said because it’s FUN! Barbara followed up by saying “It isn’t the sad place that other shelters can be, the animals here are all very happy!” She also added that it was a great way to come in and “get your fix” and play with a dog or cat if you can’t have your own.

They both also agreed that it is extremely rewarding to see an animal that has been at the shelter for a while find a home.

Big TV Stars for the night: our dogs & volunteers!

The Pet Telethon had 120 volunteers helping night-of behind the scenes and in front of the cameras. Nearly 1,300 called in their support (more than 43,000 people were watching) to raise a record-breaking $170,000 for the pets.

Thank you for helping spread the word about the telethon to your friends, family and co-workers. Volunteers Ron Sipple, Angela Ray and Silvia Gunter (with help from Cosmo and Dustin) presented a $1,000 jumbo check on behalf of the Satellite Adoption Volunteer Team!

Last Saturday's Brookside St. Patrick's Warm-Up Parade wasn't exactly warm, but several of our volunteers braved the weather to proudly walk our shelter dogs through the streets of Brookside.

The dogs showed off their stuff and didn't seem to even notice the cold weather. They looked great, and so did the volunteers. Both parties had a fun time while raising awareness for our shelter.

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

• KC Pet Expo: Mark you calendars for the weekend of April 19th. We’ll be having a Satellite Adoption and informational booth at the Pet Expo once again. We’ll need about 50 volunteers to make this a successful event.

If you can help out with the “Wheel O’ Fun” or help spread the word about the HSGKC for a few hours either Saturday or Sunday, please email Jo.

• Gossip at HSGKC: Well, the last week of April we’ll be mailing out the Summer Newsletter. If you would be interested in learning more about your fellow HSGKC Volunteers and are good at sticking on labels let Jo know. We’d love to have your help during our quarterly gossip session. Who knows, there may even be free food involved!

• You Want What? You may remember a few years back that HSGKC was collecting empty toner cartridges. Well, we are back at it. If you have any used Hewlett-Packard or Lexmark toner cartridges please bring them in to the shelter. Office Max is kind enough to give us $3 off our purchase when we present an HP or Lexmark cartridge.

• DNJ Planning Committee Volunteers Needed: Are you creative, organized and motivated? We are searching for a few more volunteers to serve on the planning committees for Dog-n-Jog and Art Unleashed to help with publicity and outreach. If you are interested in helping, contact Jo at 913-596-1000 x 22.

• Please Pass This Along: As you know, the HSGKC has a small staff and no budget for advertising. This means we rely heavily on our awesome volunteers to help the animals by passing along information to their contacts in the community. Would you help us add sponsors to Dog-n-Jog by simply emailing this Sponsorship Overview Packet to everyone you know? One volunteer did this recently and attracted two sponsors! All sponsor levels are appreciated.

You’ve seen our Sit Up and Beg Wish List. Right now we are really begging for large white bath towels (new or used) and small and medium collar leash sets (small ones especially).

If you drop off any of these items to the shelter soon, or collect these items from your co-workers, that would help the kennel staff a lot.

For a list of other items and services we need, check out our Sit Up and Beg Wish List.

Sandy Koening, Samantha Woodroof, Jenny Zygmunt, Lyndsay Farnsworth, Dick Esten, Ellen Karp, Ashley Rivera, Deana Smith, Laverna Hunter, Cate Lynch, Roberto Ramos, Astin Ramos, Caden Ramos, Brooke Groneman, Brayden Johnson, Aaron Williams, Rachel Stanley, Dora Diaz, Maggie Golenia, and Jordan Fehd joined the HSGKC Volunteer Group in March. Welcome Team!

Volunteer Floyd Rogers has been refurbishing the cat condo/trees in the Cat Rooms with new roping around the wood. Floyd figured out it has taken more than 260 yards of rope to complete the job – that is longer than two football fields! Who knew?

We've Been Adopted!
Here are some of the dogs and cats who've been adopted since our last enewsletter:

Annabel, Bosley, Brock, Bubbles, Charlie & C.J. (together!),

Chance, Freddie, Hallie, Herman, Maria, Otto,

Rain, Shirley, Simba & Sully (together!), Sylvia, Vinnie...and more!