Shelter News
Spring 2008 Newsletter (pdf)
Winter 2007 Newsletter (pdf)
(Please note this edition is in printer format so check the page numbers on bottom for order).
Summer 2007 Newsletter (pdf)
We now have our general brochures online and available for printing. Click on the links below for the brochure you are interested in!
Volunteer Brochure
Information Brochure
Donate Brochure
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April 18, 2008- Thanks goes out to Harrington Photography and the Orchard Mall for raising over $600.00 for the Humane Society Animals at their "Fashion Show" on April 14th. A great time was had by all the attendees and our adoptable pets got some great publicity also! Thank you!
April 10, 2008 At the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan we can always tell when Spring has really arrived because we start getting "wildlife" calls.
The Humane Society does not have the licensing or skills to care of wild animals. However there are several wonderful wildlife resources in our community. Rainbow's End Wildlife Rehab Center at 468-6730, Sarrett Nature Center at 927-4832, Love Creek Nature Center 471-2617, and Fernwood Nature Center at 695-6491. Here is a list of some of the licensed rehabbers in the area and their speciality:
• Rainbow's End Wildlife Rehab Center 468-6730 (all wildlife)
• Barbie Carrell (mammals and has other contact people) - (269) 641-5049
• Faye Handley (mammal babies) - (269) 683-0352
• Larry Kauffman (songbirds, no waterfowl) - (574) 654-3652
• Diane Kuhl (waterfowl, shorebirds, turkeys, pheasants, herons) -(574) 654-8714
• Nolan & Sons Farms (deer) - (269) 641-7953
• Carol Riewe (raptors) - (574) 288-5549
• Cindy Sellers (mammals, no raccoons) - (574) 291-7331
• Donna Sorenson (squirrels, raccoons, opossums, groundhogs, no bunnies) -(269) 663-8341
• Nancy or Jennifer (mammals, but call for others) - (269) 362-7297
April 10, 2008 We would like to thank long time supporter and sponsor of our "Pet of the Week" in the Herald Palladium, Country Carpet Shoppe (www.countrycarpetshoppe.com)! Our "Pet of the Week" actually runs every other week and the ad space has been donated by Country Carpet Shoppe. The great folks at Country Carpet Shoppe are now going to donate ad-space every week for one of our pets! We have always gotten a great consumer response from our Pet of the Week profile and are thrilled to be able to offer even more publicity for our homeless pets thanks to Country Carpet Shoppe!
April 05, 2008 Thanks are in order to the wonderful people at Edgewater Banks for allowing our Board of Directors to utilize a conference room for Board meetings! We want to thank this locally owned bank for giving back to the community!
March 31, 2008: A huge thank you goes out to A&J Hardware of Baroda for donating paint and painting supplies so we can "spiff" up our lobby, get aquinated room, office, and bathroom! Our volunteer painter has completed the "sand" colored walls and in the next week or so will be putting up our contrast wall! We are excited about our new look and hope you will stop in and check it out for yourself!
February 16, 2008- The 4th grade classrooms at Lincoln Elementary School in St. Joseph hosted a "We Love Animals Drive" to benefit the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan from January 1st through February 14th! Teachers Kelly Nimtz and Leah Alsbro incorporated the Humane Society, its role in the community, and its needs in helping homeless animals into their "Community Share" unit. Donation drives for needed items were combined with a Valentine Day Candy Sale and ended in an extremely successful campaign with over 700 items and $100.00 donated to the Humane Society to help us care for the pets awaiting adoption at our shelter! Pictured above our the delivery volunteers needed to transport all the items from the school to the Humane Society! Thank you Lincoln Elementary School showing that Humane Kids are alive and well in the classrooms!
February 15, 2008- Please join us in welcoming Jill Hercik as the Interim Shelter Director. Jill comes to us with a background in education and management and lives with her Humane Society adopted cat and Animal Aid adopted dog. Jill brings with her a gift for organization, a passion for customer service, and a "Can Do" attitude.
February 14, 2008- Dozens of volunteers came out in force over the past weekend to participate in a 2 day adoptathon at the new PetSmart in Benton Harbor. Volunteers greeted guests with dozens of available animals from the Humane Society. When all was said and done our hard working volunteers were happy to discover that almost a dozen animals had found new homes! Along with that we were able to educate hundreds of people about our organization and our programs. We couldn't do that without the help of our volunteers and we thank them! If you want to be a part of excitement please visit our Volunteer Page for more information!
February 11, 2008 -A giant thank you to JohnsonRauhoff Communications Group and Whirlpool for working together to design our donation cannisters and process the lids to accept donations! Look for our new and colorful cans at locations throughout Southwestern Michigan and consider dropping your spare change inside to help our homeless pets! If your a business and would like a donation cannister at your business please contact the shelter for delivery!
February 2, 2008- Casual Friday's at Whirlpool to Benefit Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan & Animal Aid of Southwestern Michigan! A huge thank you goes out to Whirlpool for designating the month of February HSSM & AA Jean Day Month! Employees are allowed to wear jeans on Friday for a minimal $1.00 donation. All the donations for the month will then be split between HSSM &AA. With over 6000 employees in the Twin Cities, Whirlpool employees expect to make a sizeable donation to the two organizations. THANK YOU WHIRLPOOL your support in our community does not go unnoticed or unappreciated! Whirlpool has been a friend to the animals in our community for many years and this is one more way they are showing their support for our homeless and needy pets!
February 1 2008- Team Neuter is Back! Every year for the past several years a dedicated group of volunteers from the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan, Al-Van Humane Society in South Haven, & Animal Aid of Southwestern Michigan, along with area Vets, get together and host low cost Neuter Clinics for our areas low income citizens. This year we are proud to participate in two neuter clinics, one in South Haven and one in Berrien County, as well for the first time EVER for Team Neuter two low cost Spay Clinics. Watch our Event Page and Spay/neuter Page for details from this event! if you would like to volunteer to help with these events email greytniki@yaoo.com for details!
January 15, Hope for the Holidays UPDATE! Stedman, after he was finally healed and had his pins removed was placed at our offsite PawMart adoption Center inside the PawMart store on Cleveland Ave. in St. Joseph and was adopted soon after his arrival! Another example of "It takes a community to save an animal". Without the person who brought Stedman to the shelter, the shelter staff who cared for him, Dr. Almus and his staff who fixed him and took care of him until he was healed, PawMart for having a wonderful adoption center inside their store, and the volunteers from both the Humane Society and Animal Aid who take care of the cats at PawMart while they await new homes! So thank you Southwestern Michigan Community for saving this cat!
December 18, A huge thank you to the employees of Golden Brown Bakery in Downtown St. Joseph who have been collecting their change tips for the Humane Society! Thank you!
November 13, We would like to thank IPC printing for donating the printing cost for our Winter newsletter! Thank you IPC! Also thank you to Becky Heaps of Pro Broker Real Estate in Stevensville for compiling and formating our newsletter!
November 10, Thank you to Maritimes in St. Joseph for hosting a fundraiser dinner for the Humane Society and also the employees have been saving their change tips to donate to the animals also! We love you Maritimes!
Hope for the Holidays-Stedman came to our shelter with a badly broken back leg. Thanks to the generous donation of time and talent from Dr. Almus of Nickerson Animal Health Care Center, who donated the repair of Stedman's leg, Stedman will be healed and ready to be adopted just in time for the Holidays! Stedman was a lucky boy, many animals come into our facility with serious injuries that are repairable but due to lack of medical funds to help them we are often not able to save them. If you would like to make a donation to help animals like Stedman, please follow this link and make an online donation that will give other animals, "Hope For The Holidays"!
YES I WANT TO DONATE NOW!
October 24, 2007-What if each time you shopped online, a percentage of the sale went to The Humane Society of Southwestern MI?
That's the idea behind GoodShop, our new online shopping mall. Brought to you by the same great folks who are behind GoodSearch the online search engine that rewards paybacks to your favorite charity!
We're pleased to share with you some success stories...
- A $7,100 purchase placed at Giaiam.com resulted in a $284 donation to the Motion Mania Dance Theater in Gaithersburg, Maryland!
- A $432 purchase at online shoe store Zappos.com earned $26 for the Berkshire Humane Society!
- A $4,700 order was placed at Adobe Software, earning Capri Elementary School in California $191.
Hundreds of top merchants including Target, BestBuy, Zappos, ebay, Staples, Macy's, Apple, Nike, Wal-Mart, Home Shopping Network, Kohls, Itunes, Lands End, and Barnes & Noble are on-board, and we're rapidly adding new stores.
Just go to GoodShop, click on the store's logo and then shop as you normally would. No username or password is required. Yes, it's that easy! You'll get the exact same prices as if you went to the store's website directly except now a percentage of the sales price will be donated to your favorite cause. The donations average around 3%, but can go as high as 37%!
September 26, 2007 The Humane Society is committed to finding loving homes for our adoptable pets and realize that sometimes initial costs of adopting a pet may prohibit some of our pets from being adopted. We also realize that there are lots of options available to people who are looking to add a pet to their household. Because of this the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan has initiated a new adoption fee schedule for our animals with an additional rebate incentive made available with a grant from the Heart of Cook Foundation. Our new adoption fees are as follows:
Adoption fee for dogs is $50.00 + $25.00refundable Spay neuter deposit required by law = $75.00
Adoption fee for cats is $35.00 + $25.00 refundable spay neuter deposit required by law = $60.00
Along with the $25.00 refund, a $10.00 refund from the Heart of Cook Grant will also be given to each adopter when proof of spay/neuter is presented. The Heart of Cook Grant must be used for spay/neuter only. Total refund: $35.00.
August 29, 2007 A HUGE thank you to RADIX Communications in St. Joseph and owner Carl Mosher who donated 10 computers, desks, lockers, and office supplies to the shelter! It's like Christmas in August!
August 20, 2007- Many Woofs & Wags to Pet Supplies Plus in Benton Harbor for raising $1230 through our "Give A Buck to Change Their Luck" campaign. Thank you Pat, Terri & staff! PSP was so excited about the results of their August 6, 2007-The Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan is committed to finding our adoptable pets lasting and loving homes. In our quest to accomplish this mission we are utilizing all resources available to promote our adoptable pets. Petfinder is an internet based weblisting to help promote adoptable pets throught the United States. The Humane Society is listing adoptables on Petfinder at http://west.petfinder.com/shelters/MI354.html as well as on our own website!
August 3, 2007-Thank you to the Berrien County Courthouse Employees for hosting a Bake Sale on Monday August 6th at the Courthouse in St. Joseph. You Raised over $600.00 to help repair the air conditioning at the Shelter! Our Cool Cats and Dogs salute you!