Summer 2016 - Ramona Humane Society

690 Humane Way
San Jacinto, CA 92582 (951) 654-8002
Website: www.ramonahumanesociety.org
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Non-profit Org.
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Newsletter of the
Summer 2016
San Jacinto, Ca
Officers
Daniel Goodrich
Board Chairman
Denise Glass
Board Vice-Chairman
Pam Stull
Secretary
Bob Duistermars
Immediate past-Chairman
Kristen Perinsky-Jensen
Treasurer
Jeff Sheppard
Chief Executive Officer
Directors
Glen Brock
Sherry Cinnamon
Wayne Disher
Lakshman Koka
Andrew Vallejos
Jacque Wigle
Managing Staff
Jeff Sheppard
Chief Executive Officer
Lori Neddermann
Vice President of Operations
ADOPTION UPDATE!
Updates from our wonderful adopters!
John Ambris
Finance Director
Julio De La Cruz
Shelter Manager
Armida Garcia
Clinic Manager
Daryl Hitchcock
Animal Control Manager
A REGULAR PUBLICATION
DEDICATED TO GIVING
ANIMALS A VOICE IN
THE SAN JACINTO VALLEY AND
SURROUNDING COMMUNITIES.
Many people don’t realize that the
Ramona Humane Society has a
“satellite” adoption center at the
PetSmart in Hemet. Puppies and
dogs are available there Thursday
through Sunday from 10am to
3pm. Cats and kittens are available there 7 days a week. Lauren
and her family learned about the
separate adoption center one day
last month. They went to the shelter looking for a new fur-baby and
didn’t quite see what they were
looking for. Ramona Humane Society staff told them about our
PetSmart adoption center and off
they went. Lucky for them, they
found loads of kittens available
Meet “squeakers”
It’s summer…
STAY COOL!
Squeakers loves to lounge
there and fell in love with one little
guy. They adopted Squeakers and
wrote to tell us that he is a delight
and loving his new life. So after
looking at our shelter, check out our
Adoption Center at PetSmart at
2771 W. Florida Ave. in Hemet.
BOW WOW MEOW LUAU SUCCESS
Fundraiser luau comes back!
Search for one of our adoptable
pets by scanning this code now.
CLEAR THE SHELTERS …
We came close!
...and much more!
“Clear the Shelters” Event a Hit!
155 RHS animals find forever homes in adoption event.
On Saturday, July 23rd, Ramona Humane Socie- mona Humane Society CEO, Jeff Sheppard said, “On a
ty joined nearly 700 shelters across the country normal day, Ramona does an average of 10 to 15 adopwho teamed up with NBC owned television sta- tions. So processing 155 adoptions in one day is sometions and Telemundo for “Clear the Shelters”, a thing we are not only proud of, but it makes us so happy
nationwide pet adoption drive that helps find for the animals that found loving homes!” Although the
loving homes for animals in need. Here in event didn’t officially begin until 9 a.m., by early dawn
there were lines of eager potential pet parSouthern California, local
ents waiting to get in to see the shelter anitelevision stations NBC4 and
mals. Abigail and Brooklyn were looking
Telemundo 52 sponsored the
for a kitten to adopt and found the choice
event. Ramona Humane Sowas not easy—there are just so many kittens
ciety also wishes to thank
available at this time of year. The late
Pedder Nissan of Hemet for
Spring and early Summer months are often
joining the sponsorship team!
referred to as “Kitten Season” because unBecause of these sponsorneutered stray cats start having litters of kitships, our shelter was able to
tens. These unwanted kittens often end up
offer adoptions at an amazing
in shelters that quickly become over filled.
price of only $20. This was
Until the newborns are old enough to leave
the second year NBC and
their mother, and until they can be spayed or
Telemundo have held the
neutered, they cannot be adopted. Luckievent. In 2015, the event Abigail and Brooklyn trying to choose a kitty
ly, the Ramona Humane Society has an
helped shelters around the
U.S. find homes for more than 20,000 animals! incredible network of volunteers who provide safe and
The Ramona Humane Society was thrilled last quite foster homes for these animals. We’re not sure
year finding homes for 105 animals. This year, which kitten Abigail and Brooklyn chose, but we know
“Clear the Shelters” did phenomenally better! they had big smiles on their faces when they left!
Nationally, the numbers are still coming in, but
at last count, shelters found homes for over
45,000 animals!! Ramona Humane Society is
proud to report that we did incredibly better
too—growing our adoptions nearly 50% over
last year. This year, RHS found homes for 155
animals! 155 animal adoptions in just one day
is something we are incredibly proud of. Ra-
On the cover...
In what has been one of the hottest
summers on record here in San Jacinto, California, we do everything we
can to keep our shelter animals cool.
Sometimes they take things into their
own hands! This pooch did just that.
While out for his recreation time, he
decided to take a dip in one of the
shelter pools. Staying cool in the pool
is a great summer tip for pets.
In Memory of Pets:
All of my beloved animals
Alma Baxley
Little Girl, Sophie, Kiwi, Clarence, Toby, Benji
Louise Palmer
Tarzan, Winston, Piglet & Buster
Ashley & Thunder
Susan Bentley
“Momma Kitty” & Her daughter Crissey Martha J. Reiman
Magoo
Ms. Phyllis Limbourne
Diane Meidiner
Wyatt & Molly
Sue & Debbie Jennings
Jessie
In Memory of People:
Michael Lebo & Family
Tola
Bobbye A. Johnson
Lori & Curt Groetken
Elaine M. Brown
Mac & Hazel
Glenn Fry
Kenneth B. Mc Coid
Edward Bartor
Clancy
George Wright
Jeannie Lowe
Diane Booy
Bear
Louise Mcpherson
Gloria Billins
Steven, Sheryl & Megan Rapp
Ebony
Whitefoot Heyman
Bob & Marsha Meers
Suzanne Vallez
April
Cheryl & Sue
Fay Kroening
Barbara Pleasants
All of my wonderful pets
Roger Brown
Jackie Savielo
Melba L Brown
B.B
Art & Beth Huth
Jean Delong
Diane Meidinger
Sunshine
Al Swallow
Clyde R. Culross
Janis Swallow
Molly, Dino & Sammy
Tony Bentiste
Joanne Roland
Diane Booy
Lucy & Molly
Lee Lewis
Elaine M. Brown
Jay Kenyon
BaBaDee
Ann Godbout
Susan SanRoman
Dorothy Williams
Gigi
Dad, Mom & Terry
Mrs. B. Grewe
Steven, Sheryl & Megan Rapp
Kesha
Barry Obrian
Lucille Coffeen
Diane Booy
Bosco & Daisy
Bob Mankoff
Mitzi Albright
Beverly Mankoff
Hanna
Russ Wright
Treasure Farm
Pat Wright
All my Cat Friends
Lee Graves
Chris Anderson
Wilma Lenard
Tuffy & Hannah
Rusty Rucker
Rita Buchta
Hazel Rucker
Laddy & Pepper
Kiele White
Judy Helberg
Kathy White
Rags & Sid
Kitty Kelly- Erwin
Tom Major
Ina L. Kelly
My Beloved “Mac”
Orville J. Renaud
Patricia Wyatt
Debbie Bowen
Pepper
Ruben Wagner
Pati Bisson
Richard & Juanne Pesick
Sam
AJ Swallow
Mrs. Michele Stein
J.M. Swallow
Cindy & Sammy
Ellen L. Lyon
I
My Kitty Jackson
Gema Vierstra
n Honor of Pets:
Pirate & Bentley
Faith Levine
Savannah
Fran Davis
Oliver, Mary Catherine & Coco
J.M. Swallow
Casper
Sue Hartman
Romeo
Kroening
Mik
Gerald L. Smith
Daisy
Gema Vierstra
Scratch
Francie L. Miller
Tobasco
Ann Logan
Kate & Toby
Elaine Brown
Lucky
Shirley Jouglard
Fritz, Soozee, Willie & Atticus
Jan Ritt
In Honor of People:
Robin Gunnoe & sister Kelly
George & Kathleen Detlart
Sadie Packham
Cindy Pope
All the Beloved Volunteers
Debra Armstrong
A very special thanks to
The Perris Valley Women’s Club
Breast Cancer DIY
Shop for the animals
A very special recognition to
Kennel sponsors:
Soboba Foundation
Antone/ Anastasia Morris
Linda & Frederick Bartz
Contact us at (951) 654-8002 if you’d like
to recognize your loved one by having
them listed in our newsletter.
Polynesian dancers teaching audience members to hula
Popular “Pets for Vets” Adoption
Program Returns
$10,00 Soboba Foundation grant makes it happen!
Kids Give Food to
RHS Animals
“Bow Wow Meow Luau” Returns
After three year absence, popular fundraiser comes alive again!
After a three year absence, the Ramona Humane
Society brought back one of the valley’s premiere charity events, the Ramona Humane Society
Luau! The annual fundraiser, which takes place
in the summer, had been going pretty strong for
many years. However, during the economic
downturn several years ago, staff and the Ramona Board of Directors decided the event —
which had seen declining attendance—needed to
be “freshened up” and repackaged to attract more
people. Additionally, the amount of staff and
volunteer time required to successfully pull off
such a large event was tremendous. Therefore,
the event took a brief hiatus. So after three
years, the fundraiser came back to life on June
25, 2016 at the beautiful Golden Era Golf Course
in San Jacinto. We want to give the biggest shout
out ever to Golden Era Productions who provided the beautiful golf
course venue to our organization
without
charge! The new, and
improved, “Bow Wow
Meow Luau” was a success. With food provided by delicious Sweet
Baby Jane’s BBQ of
Hemet, and with exciting
Silent Auction items donated by Soboba Springs
Country Club, SeaWorld, Lazy Dog ResJoanne Gleinn dishes up great
food from Sweet Baby Jane’s BBQ
Guests get ready for a fun luau!
We have a great community of
supporters, and we are so proud
that this community includes children as well as adults. Thank you
to the Hemet Harvesters 4H Club.
Committee Chairperson, Abby
Lewis and her siblings Steven,
Karly, Isaiah, Andrew and Lily.
They collected towels, pet food
and treats for Ramona Humane
Society's homeless animals. We
appreciate your support!
Free Spay/Neuter
for San Jacinto Cats
taurant, Trucha cloths in San Jacinto, and so many others,
we raised almost $10,000 for the shelter animals. Thank
you so much to our event sponsors: Hemet Police Officers’
Association, Cornerstone Home Service Inc., Paradise
Chevrolet Cadillac, Devilicious, and Dr. James Keating.
Popular local band, The Illegal Swedes provided great music.
Thanks to grant funds from Best Friends
and FTA Spay, our Ramona Animal Clinic and Menifee Animal Clinic, are now
offering FREE
cat spays and
neuters to San
Jacinto city residents until the
grant funds run
out. To schedule
an appointment
please call (951)
654-3110.
Please help reduce the mass of
kittens entering
the shelter year after year by having your
cat “fixed” and prevent unwanted litters.
Also if you have a homeless community
cat in your San Jacinto neighborhood,
you can help us by obtaining one of our
humane traps and bring that cat in for free
spay and neuter.
Last year, the Ramona Humane Society approached the Soboba
Foundation for help in getting a pet adoption program off the
ground. The foundation for our proposed adoption program
came from many reports that
showed the positive healing powers
that pets can bring our veterans.
Many of our brave military men
and women often return home with
physical and emotional injuries
which makes it difficult for them to
transition back to civilian life. Our
goal was (and is) to help heal the
emotional wounds of military vets
by pairing them with a shelter animal. We certainly saw this as a
“win-win” program. Needy shelter
dogs and cats would receive a second chance at life while at the same
tie giving our returning troops a
second chance at health and happiArmy vet Michel and family
ness. With the help of the Soboba
Foundation, the Ramona Humane Society introduced “Pets for
Vets”. The program covers the
adoption expenses for one Ramona
Humane Society pet for any veteran
or military family. During the first
year, over 25 veterans took advantage of the program, and homeless shelter pets found loving homes.
We were not prepared for how popular the program would be, and unfortunately, the grant funding was expended. Once again, the Soboba
Foundation saw an opportunity to
support a great community program,
and have provided $10,000 to restart
the program. “We are so thankful to
the Soboba Foundation for helping Marine Corp vet Chris and family
Ramona Humane Society fund this
program” says Lori Nedderman, Ramona Humane Society Vice
-president of Operations. “The happiness that pet companionship can bring to our military men and women is phenomenal”.
True enough, within just a few hours, we had our first Pets for
Vets adopters. Seeing the smiles and the laughter in the eyes of
our brave veterans when they meet animals is extraordinary.
“You just think there could be nothing more heart-warming.
That is until you see the tails of those dogs wagging a mile a
minute as they soak up all the love they feel” says Nedderman.
There’s no better way to say thank you to our veterans.
Oktoberfest 2016 Attracts Smart Vendors
Amazing opportunities for your business to be front and center!
Our 16th Annual Oktoberfest and Adoption
Event will take place at
the Ramona Humane Society shelter on Saturday,
October 15th, 2016 starting at 9am. All adoption
fees will be reduced and
we will have hundreds of
animals waiting for a forever home. Our community has become to anticipate the event not only
for the adoptions, but also
for the fun, games, food,
and live entertainment
offered. Each year, over
3000 people have made a
day for the family to
enjoy the Kids Fun area—with face painting,
kiddie games, and
crafts. Taking on an
air of a county fair, the
Ramona Humane Society also offers some
fun entertainment. In
the past, we have had
music, dog training
demonstrations,
and
dancers. Vendors are
attracted to the event
because of the large
crowds. Popular products for dogs, cats, and
other animals, as well
as unique gifts have
been popular items at
previous Oktoberfest
events. If you own a
business or would like
to sell your product at
our event, give us a
call at (951) 654-8002
for booth pricing information. We are also
looking
for
event
Sponsors. We have a
wide range of incentives and benefits for
our sponsors. Give us
a call for more information or to discuss
your sponsorship.
Justin Chapman raising funds to help improve our shelter
Katherine Tucker presents Lori Nedderman
with a check for $100
Eagle Scout Adopts RHS For
Shelter Improvement Project
12 Year Old Donates
to RHS Animals
We’d like to give a big Shout-Out
to 12 year-old Katherine Tucker
of Nuevo. As part of her 4-H Ramona Rancheros community project, she chose to help the animals
at the Ramona Humane Society.
Katherine and her friends collected recyclable bottles and cans for
a year and turned them into over
$100 in cash. RHS's Lori Neddermann gratefully accepted the donation. Thank you Katherine for
remembering animals!
Justin Chapman is a Boy Scout in Troop 604 from Wildomar, California. He is currently working on his Eagle Scout project which
will help dogs of the Ramona Humane Society by repairing the
gates on kennels that some dogs stay in. These gates are very worn
down, damaged, rusted, and they can really hurt the dogs if they
were to rub up on the chain-link or bite it. He is working with
RHS staff to help renovate and paint some areas as well. Estimating the project would cost about $4000, Justin set up a
“GoFundMe” page and he has so far raised over half of the funds
needed. Staff have already ordered the doors, and the project is
now underway. You can help Justin raise the rest of the funds he
needs in order to finish the project by sending in a donation.
Our shelter is located at 690 Humane Way in San Jacinto
Shelter and Kennel hours for adoptions are:
Monday through Thursdays, and Saturdays from 10-4pm.
Fridays and Sundays from 10-3pm. Phone: 951-654-8002
Animal Control is located at 438 S. State St., San Jacinto
Animal Control hours are:
Monday through Friday 8-5pm
Phone: 951-487-6565
Like us on:
Online: www.ramonahumanesociety.org
In Memory of “Norman”
Bull saved from slaughter 16 years ago passes
Ramona Humane Society was saddened to have to say goodbye to
our beloved Norman. We saved Norman from slaughter nearly 16
years ago. Since then, he has been a part of our lives, delighting
our staff and visitors. He loved to graze happily in our fields, and
led a wonderful and FREE life here. Rest in Peace sweet Norman.
First installation of new kennels
Kennel Replacement Project
Late last year we announced the start
of a new kennel replacement program. The initial phase has been
completed and you can see in the photo what a great transition it will be
when all of the kennels are eventually
updated. Since many of our existing
dog kennels were decades old and
showing horrible signs of wear and
tear, we turned to our incredible family of donors for help. Each kennel is
$2500 and the Ramona Humane Society basically needs to replace all of
our existing kennels—of which there
are more than a hundred. New kennels are safer and help prevent the
spread of kennel viruses. Additionally, the newer kennels protect the dogs
from stress and anxiety associated
with being in loud, noisy shelters. We
have already seen a big transformation in behavior and health issues
when dogs are placed in the newer
kennels. Unfortunately, with so many
old kennels needing replacement, and
with such a high replacement cost, we
are having to slow down our progress
until we get more funding to continue.
We are turning to you, our Ramona
Humane Society family, for help. If
you are interested in helping the Ramona Humane Society in replacing
our kennels please call us at (951) 654
-8002. We even have a payment plan
to make it easier to spread payments
over the course of a year.
One of Norman’s favorite pastimes was laying in the sun
and welcoming visitors to the shelter. He will be missed
RHS/PetSmart Kitten-Palooza!
Adoption event finds homes for kitties.
As we mentioned elsewhere in this newsletter,
Spring season brings an early Summer problem—too many litters of kittens! These litters of
unwanted kittens usually end up at the shelter.
Not only is this a great reminder to have your cat
spay/neutered, but it is also a reminder that there
are a lot of kittens in need of homes here at the
Ramona Humane Society. We want to give a
BIG shout out to our partners at PetSmart in
Hemet for helping us find homes for these kittens. Over the course of two weekends, the Ramona Humane Society held a “Kitten-palooza
Adoption Event”. We offered an adoption
“special” price of $75 for two kitties. The event
was a resounding success finding homes for 32
kittens! We could not have done this without the
help of our amazing foster parents. Remember,
a shelter is not the best place to try to raise kittens—the newborns are
susceptible to disease and can easily get sick and traumatized. Our
fosters—like Lisa, Karen, Jennie, and Jamie feed, care for, and give
love to the kitties until they are old enough to be adopted. Thanks
also to our staff members Jose and Donna for working so hard with
PetSmart to make this happen! We need more fosters. Call us at
(951) 654-8002 to volunteer.