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Table of Contents
Introduction:
Wow. We've been overwhelmed by baby kittens. Over 40 in the last month alone and we are out of foster homes for both dogs and cats, especially with many of our foster parents going on much needed holidays over the May break. We regret to say that we are almost at the point where we will have to start saying no to people who contact us wanting to pick up strays or re-home their own pets unless they can foster until adoption. I alone have my own two cats, four ring worm kittens in isolation in a spare bedroom plus am expecting another 6-10 babies coming into my bathrooms next week. We hope all will ease up after the holidays and as the breeding season slows, but if you can foster, even for a few days, please let me know, director@scaashanghai.org .
Bravo to Jayne Fitton and family who so generously met me at PAW on 20 April after I took out 17 just-weaned baby kittens from hoarder Mr. Wong (the babies were likely to die if not taken out as their immune systems are very weak.....hopefully, all adult males are now neutered and there should be very few pregnant females in this project; this was a once-off rescue as SCAA simply cannot handle this volume of foster animals in the future and it is against our guidelines and general procedures). Jayne took home ALL 17 kittens and the entire family has been on kitten duty with babies separated according to varying degrees of illness. Since then Alexandra Ormond and Jocelyn Wetzel have taken in six of the babies (they were waiting anxiously by the phone to take in several all along!), and Kate DuClos two more. It was quite a shock to call Jayne, praying that she could take in a baby or two and hear the response: "Not to worry, we'll take them all..." We don't know if Jayne and family are saints or simply insane, but we are all extremely grateful for her coming to the rescue within seconds!
Before I start rambling off on various tangents, I want to take this opportunity to invite all SCAA members to my book launch on 20 May, 4-6pm at the amazing Glamour Bar on the Bund (if you would like to join us, please make your reservation with M on the Bund directly as they are keeping a headcount; contact information is on the poster below.
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| Entrance fee is RBM 50 and includes a sponsored Solid Vodka cocktail or wine; all proceeds are being donated to SCAA, so the more friends you bring along the more funds donated to SCAA!! |
My husband and I will also personally be hosting a private cocktail party immediately after the launch to thank various SCAA members and dear friends for your support over the last 2 years, also at the Glamour Bar, 6-7pm.
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| Reservations for this are limited, so we can only extend this invitation to friends/members we already know (if you'd like to invite other friends, that is also possible but we need to ask for RMB 100/person to help us cover costs.) Please R.S.V.P. directly to me at director@scaashanghai.org |
On the morning of 20 May, we are also celebrating the final of the first SCAA kids' art final! We had nearly 150 entries, which is fantastic for a first-time try! The entries will be on display at Eno 11-19 May and the top 20 finalist will be displayed for a Coffee Morning at the Glamour Bar, 10am-noon. This is one of the only chances ever for parents, children and the public to come together in this divine bar! There will be coffee, hot chocolate, juices and cake. The top entry in each of the three categories will be awarded with their on artwork on a t-shirt and a silent auction will be held throughout the day and book launch to raise funds for SCAA medical care. All artwork will be available on the great website mto123.com to create personalized SCAA products: great for birthday, holiday and Christmas gifts for family and friends! Kids art final poster! Be sure to join us for a full and exciting day/night at the Glamour Bar!
We had two great events this past month that deserve special thanks. Greg from Moon River Diner hosted a fantastic dog party night on 12 April and donated 100% of the evenings proceeds to SCAA medical care...it was a wonderful chance to eat filling comfort food and play with our beloved dogs...we hope to have another one at MRD Pudong in early June...stay tuned!
Our first annual Talent Quest was a huge success. Many thanks to JZ Club for providing the venue. Over ten acts participated and the top three acts were: Aric Queen and Ben on piano doing a touching rendition of Prince's "Purple Rain"; first prize is airfare donated by HRG Travel and five nights in the Red Capital Club and Ranch in Beijing. Second place was won by Cathryn Masuda who sang so beautifully we all thought she was lip-syncing: prize is a RMB 500 voucher at LuShan Framing & Interiors. Third prize was won by our favorite pole dance Ralph Dreher, who this time did bad juggling but great flame shooting from his mouth (we thought the management of the club was going to rush in and attack....well worth it for that alone!); Ralph won one bottle of Jameson Whiskey, hopefully he will drink them and not used for further flame performances. Tied for third was also a lady named Irene who also won a bottle of Jamesons! Many thanks to all our great performers and most especially to Marianne Kaulima who organized the entire event and to Peter Oetken for his crucial assistance in making the geriatric mics and equipment work throughout the night. An extra special thanks to professional Rapping Professor Matthew Bloomfield who generously donated his time to m.c. the evening and who created our own special SCAA rap. Finally, a very deep thanks to the a capella vocal music group Blue Jupiter, which is an increasingly famous pop-funk band (with no instruments, just their voices) based out of New York. They were in Shanghai for two weeks and discovered our charity event and emailed to offer us a free concert...those lucky (or crazy) enough to stay until they arrived from a different performance about 1am, were floored by their talent. We are so hoping that if they return in the autumn they will consider doing a charity event together with SCAA. Much like our wild bachelor auction, it's quite possible that an annual talent quest is in SCAA's future!
I also want to thank Mandy Banks for taking time out to act as SCAA rep at the recent Earth Day and to Roots & Shoots for sharing their tent with us. Thanks to Luke Watson from the Yew Chung International School and six of his students for volunteering in our booth throughout the day! Bravo girls!
Finally, a huge Mea Culpa to the Shanghai Racquet Club. They are holding their annual charity fair on 19 May, but it is NOT open to the public. The organizing committee has generously offered SCAA a large space to sell products and have a small adoption day and accidentally we released this information to one expat magazine and then tried to withdraw it but we were not in time. We profusely apologize for any inconvenience or confusion we have caused to the management of the event.
Look forward to seeing you at our May events, adoption days and meeting on 22 May at O'Malley's... our monthly meetings are truly becoming reunions and parties, so please join us...and, it's also margarita time! Meow!! Ruff!
Purrfect regards,
Carol Wolfson
Founder/Executive Director
SCAA
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Adoption Figures
350 Total Adoptions To Date!!
53cats
196 kittens
62dogs
38puppies
1 rabbit
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Individual Donations
- Adrienne & Tomas Urbanec: US$ 1,000 in memory of their beloved cat Doug who died soon after their arrival in Shanghai. Adrienne's story:
For Doug
Doug may not be the most creative of names for a cat, but it was certainly better than ‘that other cat' or ‘the orange one'. About 12 years ago, we adopted an unwanted tabby kitten and added him to our brood. We had a Gizmo, a Beowulf, and a Caledonia and wanted to give the new arrival a name that reflected his specific characteristics and charms. While a seemingly happy little guy with a number of funny quirks, he would never win a personality contest. He did not like to be touched, was indifferent to any call, and generally lived under the bed when anyone was in the house. After a month of ‘hey cat', we finally named him after a kindly service man with an affinity for felines.
Preferring my husband, it took about nine moves for Doug to finally allow me to pet his soft rabbit-like fur. Seeing me for so long as the cat-box cleaner and food dispenser, I was honored and humbled at the gesture. While we would have preferred he be friendly and warm, Doug contributed to the family in his own way. New cats were always welcome and recovering strays were nurtured and loved. I am sure he would have preferred living on a huge cat farm to shuttling between countries as an ex-pat pet.
Doug passed just after our arrival in Shanghai but we are thankful he was able to live out his last few days with us. Peering out the windows and spying the street cats would have delighted him so much. Please accept this small token in Doug's name for all that SCAA does to better the lives of Shanghai stray and abandoned animals.
Adrienne and Tomas Urbanec
Doug
- O'Malley's Quiz Night: The total donation to date from this fantastic event has reached nearly RMB 6,000. Thanks so much to all O'Malley's for this generous donation and still a month to go!
- Rachel Speth: Anonymous Donation via PayPal
- Dominique from Yoga: RMB 500 (thank you!)
- Alex Chua/Newport Real Estate: RMB 6,000 (Jan-June)
- Lyndell Nelis and Marriott Mandara Spa promotion: RMB 2,800
- Patrick Tan who lost his beloved dog Bowie at a grooming shop (see story below in SCAA News): US$ 100. We still pray he will find his dog.
(Note: Monthly donations will be listed in our newsletter but as funds will only be collected quarterly from our PayPal account, they will only be included in SCAA accountings when the funds are physically received.)
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Finances
Incoming donations for medical care in April includes (not including individual donations/fundraisers):
- JZ Club: RMB 5,600. Many thanks to JZ Club for providing 100% of entrance fee proceeds for the 26 April Talent Quest!
- RMB 9,170 from one April Adoption Day donation/meeting
- Vip-Pet Commission and donation: RMB 1,000
Expenses include:
- RMB 17,000+ (PAW check-ups/meds 19 March-24 April)
- RMB 10,260 Hong Kong Government Charity Registration Fees
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SCAA Sponsors
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News Update
- Hong Kong registration under way: Two sets of applications have been submitted to a law firm in Hong Kong which is doing the registration services pro bono. Hopefully, SCAA will have it's registration as a non-profit charity completed within a few months.
- Photo Contest Winners: Many thanks to our generous sponsor vip-Pet for providing RMB 500, 400 and 300 vouchers for the top winners in both categories!
- U.S. FDA Pet Food Recall Update 2 April 2007: We at SCAA are not overly concerned about this food scare as most of us are careful which manufacturers we buy from. If you buy from PAW, they know their distributor well and all food imported carefully. Most of the problems have been with "wet cuts with gravy". For the latest information on this issue, please go to: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/petfood.html
- You MUST license your dog or risk seizure: We recently received an email from a distraught mother in the U.S. whose son, an English teacher in Shanghai, had his dog seized while walking it and wanted to know if we could intervene with the police. When we contacted the young man, it turns out he was walking his dog in an outer area of Shanghai where police were routinely checking people walking dogs for licenses. Not only did he not have a dog license, but he had also lost his passport. The young man called a friend to help him but the friend nearly got into a fist fight with the police and that was the last time he saw his dog. We asked for a phone number to contact and were given a fax number so we could not speak with the police to try to salvage the situation. They found out the "pound" the dog had been taken to outside of Shanghai but they were not allowed in to try to find the dog. The girl friend, who is Chinese, tried to talk to the police again, but they remained angry. One can be furious with the police for lack of compassion and cooperation, but it remains the OWNER's responsibility to license their dog. Getting into an altercation with the police is foolish as well. Ultimately the mother wrote to us that the dog was her son's best friend. Our heart went out to this young man, but our response had to be that if this dog was truly his best friend, he would have been responsible and licensed it right way as it is the ONLY protection against having unlicensed dogs seized. The police are cracking down on stray and unlicensed dogs so we implore anyone who does not have a dog license to do so ASAP.
- Two dogs lost in one grooming shop since January: We recently were contacted by a wonderful man, Patrick Tan, who had left his young Pomeranian at a groomer's, went for a cup of coffee with his wife and in less than an hour when they returned, the puppy was gone. No proper explanation of what happened, how a small dog could run far away so quickly, etc. It turns out that this same grooming shop lost our precious SCAA adopted dog Lulu a couple months earlier. We have no adequate explanation of how the groomers lost two dogs so quickly. Patrick's story is on our website- lost dog Bowie, and we urge people to think twice before using this grooming store. We also urge people to STAY WITH YOUR ANIMAL while it is being groomed....it can be a great bonding experience and it's an additional measure of protection for your pet.
- School visits/cooperation underway: We continue to get more requests for school visits, the next of which will be at the Shanghai PingHe School for 100 students k-12 on 18 May. We thank Sponsorship Director Jack Derington, Community Liaison Director Zat Liu and volunteer Marcela Loparco for handling most of our recent talks. We do need more volunteers who would like to get involved with school talks so that it relieves the burden on our already exhausted volunteers. If you are interested, please contact director@scaashanghai.org
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Project Updates
- Mr. Wong's 180+ Cat project update:
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 SCAA Upcoming Fundraising Events
- Kids' Art Fund Final: Coffee Morning Glamour Bar- See full poster above in the introduction. ... or here on website
- Carol Wolfson Book Launch and Private Cocktail Party: See full poster and invitation above in the introduction. ... or here on website
- Buy Shanghai Walking Tour Book and donate to SCAA! SCAA supporter and foster/adoptive mom Carolyn Robertson is one of the four authors of the "Six Shanghai Walks". Carolyn is generously donating her profits to SCAA (thanks so much Carolyn), so be sure to buy your copy now and have a great walk as the weather improves! See Book Cover Here.
- Summer others: A few other projects we are planning for: Moon River Diner Pudong dog day and dog adoption, 15 June Colabo Italian Restaurant Wine Tasting/dinner/dog night, Chinese Cooking Classes (100% of costs donated to SCAA), etc. Stay tuned for more details!!
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Upcoming SCAA Community Events
- Garden Bookstore starts up for summer; SCAA used clothing and shoe sale too! Good weather means the return of the Garden Bookstore flea markets (325 Changle Lu) on the last Saturday of every month. SCAA has a donated table for each event and we welcome volunteers 2-5pm (set up at 1pm). It's always a fun afternoon with great bargains and yummy food! We are also planning to start selling used clothing and shoes...if you are tired of clothes and shoes that you will never wear again—it's so hard to let go we know—and they are in pristine condition, donate to SCAA and we will start selling these items at the GBS flea market and at select adoption days...also a good chance to find something "new" and wonderful for your own wardrobe!! (We will collect at monthly meetings, adoption days and at GBS flea market!).
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Media/Website News
- Monthly Video Awards: Just too good this month so we have three winners:
- Rachel Speth for the HSBC ad
- Cat Brandell for dog in pool
- Marianne Kaulima for Cat Rap
Click here to see all three videos
Our monthly meeting videos are a great way to get our meetings started so please continue to send your favorites to director@scaashanghai.org
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Products
- Check out New SCAA products on mto123.com:
mto123.com is now selling short sleeve banded SCAA t-shirts and will soon have a variety of new summer products available including cup holders, polo embroidered shirts, etc.!.
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