Wishing you all a Happy New Year in 2017! SW GA is off to a devastating start to 2017, but as always the communities are pulling together, and with God's blessings, time and patience all will persevere. 2016 Paws Patrol-Pet Partners year in review: - December was Paws Patrol's one year anniversary as a Pet Partners Community Partner, and we also renewed. - Paws Patrol became Incorporated and filed for 501(c)3 Non-Profit status allowing us to have our first fundraiser. - Paws Patrol held their first fundraiser and during our "Bake Sale" we were able to mingle with the community while raising over $2,000.00. We raised/donated more than $600.00 to benefit Pet Partners, Inc. - Paws Patrol became a member of the Albany Chamber of Commerce with the intent to become more visible and involved within our community. - Paws Patrol participated for the first time in Albany's annual "Celebration of Lights Christmas Parade". - Paws Patrol began monthly visits to Phoebe North, weekly visits to Willson Hospice House, twice monthly visits to Phoebe Sumter and Magnolia Manor in Americus. - Paws Patrol continues to grow and currently we have 34 humans, 30 dogs, 2 cats with a total of 37 registered teams serving SW GA. Some dogs are registered with multiple handlers and some handlers have multiple dogs. - Paws Patrol visited more than 22 facilities and totaled more than 975 documented hours at actual visits. This number does not include all of the visits made in our out lying areas, Tifton, Cuthbert, Beuna Vista, or our hours spent holding classes, evaluations, meetings, celebrations and etc. Great teamwork everyone! Goals for 2017: - Maintain and/or surpass 2016 accomplishments. - Continue to grow our number of registered teams. - Encourage all registered teams to commit to visit at least one hour each month. "I believe with all of my heart that our founder, Marty Harris, would be quite pleased, not to mention, very proud of our hard work and accomplishments over the past three years. Our continued commitment to Paws Patrol and our mission is quite a tribute to Marty's legacy. Thank you to all of you who continue to make our mission of promoting the healing powers of the human-animal bond a reality in our communities." New News: As mentioned above, we will be having our semi-annual meeting in February. I am planning on having the meeting on Sunday, February 26th, location TBA. Please save the date and plan on attending. Prior to the meeting, I will send out an agenda. If you have a concern, or topic for discussion, please notify me in advance and I will gladly add it to the agenda. We have grown and it can be difficult to get to know one another, so I have decided to "Spotlight" at least one volunteer each month with a short Bio and Photo. This month our "Spotlight Volunteer" is our newest team, Fran Clinkscales and her dog Rosie. Fran is a native of Blakely, Georgia and returned to her roots after a 40-year career based mostly in New York City. Fran spent 40 very successful years in business management with major clothing brands where she spearheaded the startups of major brand's golf businesses. She was President/General Manager of various golf divisions. She had two retail stores f.mathews in, in Amelia Island, Fl and Lake Placid, NY. It was when Fran founded her own company Babe Didrikson, that she adopted her first Springer Spaniel, Babe. Babe was the "spokes-dog" for the company, appearing in all the national ads, going to work daily, and attending golf trade shows with Fran. She became passionate with the Springer Spaniel Breed. Fran enjoys running and has run seven New York City Marathons, and trained for most of them with her Springer Spaniels by her side. She is now retired from the golf-fashion business and is currently registered with the Georgia Supreme Court Commission on Dispute Resolution as a Neutral, Civil Mediator . Rosie, age 2, was named for Frans's departed mother and is her third English Springer Spaniel. Rosie comes from a line of field Spaniels, unlike the previous two show Spaniels. Even though she has an excellent nose for birds she prefers to only hunt lots of love and affection from anyone who is willing to oblige. She lives for good belly rubs. Fran and Rosie enjoy long morning runs, fetch, car trips and snuggling. Fran is married to Phil Clinkscales, a retired farmer from Blakely, and they reside in Albany. Rosie, in her spare time, helps her dad, Phil, pick up pinecones, acts as a guard dog over her buried bones in the yard and is an alarm for anything out of the ordinary. Fran and Rosie are both excited to become part of our group and carry out our mission. They began visiting in December at Evergreen, just before Christmas and are also in the process of becoming a Phoebe and Willson Hospice House Volunteer. Fran and Rosie were so thoughtful, they brought Christmas socks to all of the residents we visited with that day. Please continue your thoughts and prayers for Barbara Jackson-Harden, Richard Harden and Charlye! January Birthdays! Happy Birthday to Leigh Windham! |