Garage Sale Dates:
October 1, 2, 3, 2010
8:00 am to 4:00 pm

Location:
7512 N. Western Avenue
(next door to OK Humane adoption center)

• Dropoff time/dates
• But…that’s OU/TX weekend!
  
• What items should I bring?
• Where should I bring the items?
  
• Can you pick up my items at my house?
• Should I pre-price my items?
• Supplies we need to borrow (to use for the sale and then return to you)
• What happens to the items that don’t sell at the garage sale?
  
• Contact info for questions
  

Many of you may remember the mega-garage sale OK Humane held in the fall of 2008 in the education wing of our adoption center. Did you know we raised nearly $8,000 at this garage sale? Well, we’re going to do it again, and this time we’ll raise even MORE money to help animals in Oklahoma City!

A shot from the 2008 OK Humane Garage Sale

This is where we need your help. We need stuff to sell! Any donation of items for the garage sale is tax-deductible; we will give you a receipt at the time of donation.


Do you have items to donate, but need them picked up? We are going to be able to pick up items from those who REALLY need a pickup–elderly, handicapped or those with large items that cannot transport them. If you have just a few boxes of things and you’re able to drop them by, please don’t ask us to pick them up. We are going to do pickups on 2 different dates so that we can economize on gas, volunteer time and volunteer vehicles (trailers, pickups, etc.) If you need items picked up, please contact Emily Garman.

Tell all your friends and family to start getting stuff ready!

DO NOT take items to the adoption center.  The staff at the adoption center does not have time to receive garage sale donations. We have tried to offer a variety of times and days, so everyone should be able to make it.

Here are the dates and times you can drop off garage sale items:

• Monday, September 6, 6-9 pm
• Wednesday, September 9, 9 am – 12 noon
• Saturday, September 11, 9 am – 1 pm
• Saturday, September 18, 1-5 pm
• Sunday, September 19, 1-5 pm
• Wednesday, September 22, 9 am – 12 noon AND 6-9 pm
• Saturday, September 25, 1-5 pm
• Sunday, September 26, 1-5 pm

Sunday, September 26 is the LAST DAY that we can accept donations! We will not be able to take anything else after that day, so please have all your items to us by then.

What items should you bring for sale?

Here is information about what types of items we need. If you have ANY questions at all, please contact garage sale chairperson Emily Garman at 290-8723.

Furniture in GOOD condition (if it smells, is torn/ripped/damaged, covered in pet hair/pee, etc. we can’t sell it)

Sporting goods, toys, household decorations, holiday decorations, kitchen items (Pots, pans, silverware, etc.), linens, towels, pet items, mattresses, books, records, picture frames, art.

Men’s, women’s and children’s clothing in good condition. Please no torn, dirty, stained or damaged clothing–it will not sell. Please bring clothing ON HANGERS if at all possible. Winter/fall clothes will sell better at this time of year, especially coats. Avoid bringing shorts, swimsuits and other summer items.

Accessories: purses, belts, hats, scarves, shoes, bags, briefcases, etc.

Electronics: DVDs, CDs, video games and systems, iPods, stereos, TVs, etc. Please bring all chargers and accessories, and bring only items in working order.

Donations Needed for the sale:

• Plastic and paper bags
• Sharpies
• Folding tables (rectangular and card tables; will be returned; please mark clearly with your name)
• Regular masking tape (not painter’s tape)
• Extra clothes hangers
• Clothes racks (will be returned; please mark clearly with your name)
• Ziploc baggies – all sizes
• Shelves, bookshelves and bakers racks (will be returned; please mark clearly with your name)
• BIG sign to advertise the sale in front of the building
• Vinyl tablecloths

Please DO NOT price your items. If you are bringing items that are remainders from a previous garage sale, please try to remove the tags. We will price all the items so that the pricing is uniform across our entire sale.

Yes, it’s OU/TX weekend. Due to logistics of other OK Humane events, and the space being donated for the sale, this is just the only possible weekend we can do it. We realize this will make it difficult for some people to volunteer and shop at the sale, but hopefully the impact will be minimal. We’ll have a TV at the sale with the game on the whole time on Saturday, if you’re a die-hard fan but still want to volunteer!

Please bring your items to the location of the garage sale: 7512 N. Western Avenue. Next door to the OK Humane adoption center. Please pull around back to unload your items. Bring items only during the specified times when we will be there to receive them.

What happens to stuff that’s left over after the sale?

The books are donated to the Friends of the Metropolitan Library System. The children’s and women’s clothes and household items are donated to the YWCA women’s shelter. Health items/equipment are donated to Other Options. Anything else remaining is collected by the Children’s Miracle Network thrift store.

Questions? Please contact Emily Garman, garage sale chair. news@okhumane.org or 290-8723. If you have a general question that other people might also have, please post it in the comments section of this blog so it will be visible to everyone.

THANK YOU for making this huge fundraiser possible with your donations!

At 10:30pm on June 4th I really began to panic. Our whole team of staff and volunteers had been setting up all day for our Mega Adoption Event “Midnight Woofness”. The event was scheduled to kick-off at Midnight on Friday night and go around the clock until Sunday evening. The goal was to adopt 300 animals in under 48 hours.

PetSmart Charities had funded the event and the pressure was high to hit our goal. It occurred to me on Friday night that maybe a midnight kick-off was crazy and who in their right mind would come out to adopt a pet in the middle of the night?!

I walked out in the parking lot to have a look at 11:00pm and to my surprise there were approximately 100 people in line. Victory!!! By Midnight there were several hundred people in line and we knew we had a hit on our hands. At kick-off time adopters flooded into the event and collectively the partner groups performed 100 adoptions in the first 2 hours!

The entire event was such an incredible experience with total adoptions of 388 by Sunday evening! The event was filled with wonderful families that made the right choice in adopting a shelter pet. “Midnight Woofness” is yet another example of how the Oklahoma City community is embracing our mission to end needless euthanasia in our City.

“Midnight Woofness” set a national PetSmart Charities 48-hour adoption event record. People are now excited to adopt a shelter pet and it is up to us as the animal welfare community to continue giving them great venues to do so. Maintaining the momentum that adoption is the better option is our job.

So, you had better look out because we have an even BIGGER adoption event scheduled for October!

Christy Counts
President / Executive Director
Central Oklahoma Humane Society

Did YOU know that the Central Oklahoma Humane Society adoption center also has pet supplies and food for sale?

That’s right! We have lots of dogs and cats available for adoption, but you even if you can’t adopt, you can support homeless animals in Oklahoma City by purchasing collars, leashes, clothing (for dogs and people!), toys, food, treats, beds, crates and any other supplies you can think of at our OK Humane Retail store!

It’s located at our adoption center, at 7500 N. Western Ave. in Oklahoma City. We’re open 11 am to 7 pm Tuesday through Saturday, and 12 noon to 5 pm on Sunday. (We’re closed for cleaning on Mondays).

So stop by to purchase any supplies you need for your dog or cat, and help Oklahoma animals at the same time!

The OK Humane Place Spay & Neuter Clinic has hosted four low-cost vaccination clinics since opening our doors in June of 2009. During these vaccination clinics we have been able to provide our services to 869 dogs and 167 cats.

These clinics benefit us and the community in several ways. Our clinics are available for people to get their animals vaccinated at an affordable price.

The more animals we have vaccinated in our communities helps to cut down on the number of zoonotic diseases we see. So it is not only beneficial to our furry friends but also to ourselves.

Our vaccination clinics are also a wonderful fundraiser for our clinic. To this current day our clinic has been able to spay and neuter 6,436 animals.

We appreciate all of your support!

The OKC shelter has a bonanza of animals being turned in this summer, and we are trying to transfer as many as possible into the OK Humane adoption program via our foster homes.

All of these puppies and kittens are eating more food than we have budgeted for! We really need your help to keep feeding them. We’re in need of Purina One Dog, Puppy, Cat, and Kitten dry food in addition to Purina Pro Plan dry Cat and Kitten food.

The reason we ask for those specific brands is because that’s what all of the animals in our adoption program eat; and it’s important to maintain consistency in diet, especially for the babies.

All donations are tax-deductible. If you can donate a bag or two, please bring it to our adoption center at 7500 N. Western Avenue in OKC.

You could also set up a recurring monthly donation of any amount you choose.

THANK YOU for your help!!

Donation Options

$10/month : $10.00USD – monthly $20/month : $20.00USD – monthly $25/month : $25.00USD – monthly $30/month : $30.00USD – monthly $50/month : $50.00USD – monthly $100/month : $100.00USD – monthly

by Leslie Smith, Dogtime.com
Link to original article

Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security announced last month that it plans to train 3,000 dogs over the next five years to help keep Americans safe. The Department is looking for Labs, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, and other “breeds with prior approval” to help FEMA and Customs and Border Patrol agents in their work.

Great, I thought. Shelters are loaded with these breeds — many right in the age group they’re looking for: one to three years. As I read further, however, I learned that the Department is not going to enlist shelter dogs for this task. Instead they’ll pay millions of dollars to breeders to “create” what we, in essence, already have.

The worst part: Only 20% of the bred dogs will qualify for the Department’s programs. That means the remaining 80% — around 12,000 dogs — will need homes, adding considerably to the number of homeless dogs already waiting to be adopted.

Urge Janet Napolitano to reconsider her decision to add to the millions of animals in shelters, many of whom will ultimately face euthanasia. Ask dog-loving congress members for their help in influencing Napolitano. (Please keep your emails short and respectful; see below for examples.)

Let’s take the fight to the national level on behalf of shelter dogs across this country.

Email:

Janet Napolitano

Barack Obama

John McCain

Al Franken

Dennis Kucinich

Sample letters (feel free to cut and paste):

Dear Secretary Napolitano,

On behalf of the millions of shelter animals nation wide, please reconsider your decision to contract breeders to provide dogs for Department of Homeland Security programs. There are millions of shelter dogs across the country, some facing euthanasia or months in a tiny kennel, who fit your required breed, age, and temperament criteria. Please don’t ignore the potential of these animals – according to experts, shelter dogs can be just as successful in this work as those who are bred – or the moral obligation we have to them. They deserve the chance to not only serve our nation, but to live.

Sincerely,

(your name)

Dear President Obama [Senator Franken/Congressman Kucinich],

On behalf of the millions of shelter animals nation wide, I kindly ask you to urge Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to reconsider her decision to contract breeders to provide dogs for Department programs. There are millions of shelter dogs across the country, some facing euthanasia or months in a tiny kennel, who fit the breed, age, and temperament criteria required for such training. Please don’t ignore the potential of these animals (according to experts, shelter dogs can be just as successful in this work as those who are bred) or the moral obligation we have to them. They deserve the chance to not only serve our nation, but to live.

Sincerely,

(Your name)

Snapshot of the Coolest Job Ever!

By Adriane and Shelby, OK Humane Spay/Neuter Community Liaisons

A typical week for a Spay/Neuter Community Liaison is filled with adventure. Our mission is to reduce the number of unwanted pets that find themselves at the OKC shelter by filling all the surgery slots at the NW Clinic. Consequently, reducing the number of accidental litters that are born. We accomplish this by juggling 3 main tasks: solicitation/education, urban transport, and trapping feral cats.

Exploring the city while spreading the word about spaying/neutering and vaccination services provided by the Humane Society is our most important task. Generally we spend three of our five working days going door knocking at businesses and private residences within the top four designated zip codes. There are many days that we are well received. We have even been called “the answer to their prayers” more times than we can count. One of our greatest rewards is when we knock on a door and are suspiciously greeted but are then treated like an old friend after a few minutes of conversation. Then come the frustrating days when we aren’t so openly accepted. We use these experiences to fuel our fire. Days such as these encourage us to work even harder to educate on the benefits of spaying and neutering. There are also days that leave us heart broken and deflated after witnessing cruelty first hand. Thankfully, these days are rare, but we have been able to educate the owners about changing their ways more often than not.

Urban transports are like a scavenger hunt; we load up the van and go from stop to stop picking up our prizes, which are dogs and cats we take to the clinic for surgery. Persistence is the key for some of the animal owners we meet. It has taken as many as six follow -up visits before some owners have allowed us to pick up their pets. Most of the owners, however, are truly thankful for these services because without us they would never have been able get their pet to the clinic. Their gratitude makes the trek completely worthwhile.

Interacting with the community is how we find our favorite prize: feral cat colonies. In our few short months of working, we have found many colonies ranging in size from 3 to 30. We spend one or two days a week aiding managers who are not physically able to trap or do not have transportation to get the cats to the NW clinic. Our favorite manager is a very elderly and poor lady who has the biggest soft spot for cats. She spends 80% of her income on cat food for cats that she cannot even get close enough to pet. When we first met her, she thought that we were there to take all the cats away and condemn her house. After explaining that we were only there to help, she said we had renewed her belief in God’s angels. She lost her husband of fifty years less than a year ago and the cats she takes care of are all she has left in this world. We love the opportunity to help control the feral population while helping the managers keep their beloved colonies.

Ours is a challenging adventure that takes us on a roller coaster ride of emotion and to places that we never before could have pictured ourselves. It is, however, a truly rewarding job. We both agree that it is hands down the coolest job we have ever had.

I hope that all of you are staying cool and enjoying the summer! We are trucking along here at the Adoption Center as well. July can be a slow month for adoptions, but we are making the best of it. We’ve had more kitties go home with a buddy as a result of the 2-for-1 Cat and Kitten Special, which we are so excited about.

This week we even had two adult cats adopted together! One of them is our sweet Esme who has been in Cat Room 3 for a good bit of time. We will miss her, but we’re so happy for her to have a new life in a great home.

We have done 28 adoptions this week in all, which is awesome!

We also welcomed our newest employee, Holly, to the Adoption Center staff!

Lastly, we are running low on tall kitchen trash bags. As you can imagine, we use a ton of them! We would greatly appreciate having some donated if you could grab some the next time you are at the store. All donations are tax deductible, of course!

From Lexie, Adoption Center Manager

On the first Friday of every month we gather to meet new wines and new people. We invite you and your friends to join the fun!

Here’s how it works: bring a bottle of wine according to the theme for the month and your favorite wine glass. We like to keep the wine under $15 and be creative- big props go to the person who brings the most clever bottle!

You may not bring your own pet, but we will have adoptable dogs that you can play with!

Learn more about this event on Facebook.

This event is brought to you by the First Friday WineShare Oklahoma City Chapter.