Many thanks to Diana Sutherland for planning our 3rd annual holiday party at the Denver Zoo! We had a great room, delicious food & drinks, and wonderful company to celebrate an amazing year in 2010 for Big Dogs Huge Paws!
Here are some statistics to demonstrate just a few of our many accomplishments:
**618 Volunteers spread out across our 8+ state region (as of 12/18/10)
**410 Dogs Successfully Placed (as of 12/18/10) in 2010
**96 Total Medical Cases including: 12 Eye Surgeries, 6 Cases of Pneumonia, 4 Miscellaneous Emergency Surgeries, 2 Wobbler's Surgeries, 4 Amputation Surgeries, 8 Cases of Mange, & 45 Cases of Heartworm in 2010
As we reflect back on our successes, we are overwhelmed with gratitude for our amazing team of volunteers who made it all happen! Thank you for all you have done---whether you foster, transport, process applications, help with fundraisers, check the hotline/email, or more---you are a critical piece of the puzzle and we couldn't have helped as many gentle giants as we did this year without you!
This is also a nice opportunity for us as a leadership team to recognize those volunteers who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in their efforts! The following volunteers are the chosen recipients of our special Certificate of Appreciation:
Lori Vermillion - Lori is a foster volunteer in Omaha, NE who has a huge heart and often has not one but sometimes 3 foster dogs at a time, in addition to her own dogs! She is also a regular at local events and willing to help any dog who needs her!
Laura McIntosh - Laura deserves special recognition for having the longest foster (1 year) and biggest transformation of a single foster dog! Juliette the St Bernard came into rescue highly unsocialized and pregnant. Laura & her family helped raise her entire litter and then focused their efforts on socialization and Juliette was able to attend doggie daycare by the end and has since gone to her forever home!
Judy Mead - Judy is a member of our Medical Team who mails out all foster medications to fosters throughout our 8 state region, runs bloodwork to the vet, and also fosters and attends events regularly!
Karena Broman-Ballas - Karena is our Appreciation Coordinator and is responsible for sending out Thank You Cards to everyone who hosts an event for us or who deserves a special thank you for their support! This is one of the many behind the scenes efforts that makes a big difference.
Eugenia Jaeger - Eugenia helps behind the scenes as well with dog food and is responsible for posting our dog food fundraiser on the Forum as well as emailing all new and old adopting families to help us build participants and raise more money through dog food sales each month!
Kirsten Butler - Kirsten graciously served as our host storing dog food and foster supplies all year! She not only had to put up with us coming over every month to dish out food but almost daily she had to put out something whether it was food, crates, or supplies for volunteers in need. She also fosters for us and helps microchip.
Kati Harken - Kati Harken hit the ground running and has become our transport extraordinaire! She makes almost weekly trips to Hays or wherever we need her to go to pick up dogs in need. She has also become a new foster and is there to help with whatever we need! She has some great fundraising ideas she hopes to implement in 2011.
Lisa Lajimodiere - Lisa is our Event Coordinator and has taken the lead on making sure all of our events from meet and greets to fundraisers go off without a hitch! She oversees the coordination efforts, works closely with Renee, and also attends almost all of our events herself as a wonderful, professional representative for our organization.
Sandy Count - Sandy Count has been a tremendous help with long distance transports as well as bringing foster dogs from daycares to events to increase their exposure to the public. She is always willing to help with last minute emergencies or whatever we need her for!
Dawn Mackenzie - Dawn is our Medical Director and makes all vet appointments for foster dogs, takes calls at all hours for medical emergencies, negotiates new vet relationships, and makes sure that all of our foster dogs and foster families have everything they need to provide only the best of vet care. Considering she didn't have much medical background she has shown a true desire to learn and has become a pro in no time!
Marissa Knight - Marissa fosters regularly and has even taken on litters of puppies as well as many special needs fosters. She helps keep our storage unit well-organized, meets transports to microchip dogs and take photos, and pretty much takes care of whatever the need of the moment is with a smile on her face at all times!
Nadia Hrovat - Nadia is our very top application processor! She spends her entire day off every Friday processing apps all day long for BDHPI and plays a key role in making sure that applications are processed in a timely manner and applicants are screened thoroughly so that all of our foster dogs only go to the best of homes.
Kristen Kimball - Kristen handles our homecheck assignments and is our second top application processor! She also fosters some of our more difficult behavioral and medical cases and does a ton of transports. She is always eager and willing to get involved in any way she can make a difference.
Tina Ward - Tina is a key player every year in our 5K fundraiser. This year, she handled several key elements including walking the course with Bree, handling the registration table, and much more. We are so grateful for her expertise in helping it all come together and raise a lot of money for the dogs!
Pat Blocker - Pat is one of our amazing Animal Behaviorists who donates her time to help us with treatment plans for some of our challenging behavior cases to aid in their rehabilitation. She also consults with the Officer team when we are forced to make difficult decisions on whether or not a dog is adoptable or too much of a liability. We are so appreciative of her expertise to guide us in the right direction!
Adrienne Burdette - Adrienne hosts many of our Big Dogs Meetup Group get-togethers to help raise awareness, attends almost all of our events and always goes out of her way to make visitors feel comfortable while sharing what we do as a rescue. She also fosters for us and is willing to do whatever we ask!
Shannon O'Brien - Shannon fosters some of our difficult cases and is very devoted to doing whatever she can to help them succeed. She also transports for us regularly whether near or far and will go wherever there is a dog in need, often with short notice. She has a huge heart and is very committed to our cause!
Regan Rising - Regan is our Medical Coordinator who oversees the distribution of heartworm prevention every month, tracks spay/neuters for puppies adopted out on special contracts due to their age, and makes sure that all of our heartworm positive dogs receive all the proper meds, x-rays, and bloodwork prior to treatment. She also meets transports to microchip dogs and take photos on intake.
Tim Irwin - Tim is our Kansas State Co-Coordinator and has helped tremendously with recruitment in the Wichita area through organizing Big Dogs Meetup Groups at the new dog park and attending almost all events. He also fosters not one but sometimes 2-3 fosters at a time in addition to his own dogs. His enthusiasm alone has helped our group grow!
Christina DePriest - Christina is our Kansas State Co-Coordinator and has helped send weekly updates to the volunteer group about upcoming events and current needs. She also fosters for us and attends events regularly. Her organization skills have helped keep the volunteer group both informed and cohesive.
Alana Devries - Alana is our Nebraska State Coordinator and is very devoted to growing our local volunteer group in her area. She has helped organize local events to spread the word and recruit new supporters and volunteers, found local businesses to support our cause, and serves as a resource to all new volunteers. She fosters most of our special needs behavioral cases in the area and is a big believer that every dog deserves a chance!
Crystal O'Neal - Crystal is our Texas State Coordinator and Transport Coordinator. She has grown our TX volunteer group to 43 people to date! She has organized local events and been critical in the rescue of a number of dogs in local shelters by evaluating them and arranging to get them safely transported to new homes.
Thank you to ALL OF OUR VOLUNTEERS for all you do every day to make a difference in the lives of hundreds of giant breed dogs every year!!!
Attached are some photos from our party for all to enjoy.
Happy Holidays from your BDHPI Officer Team,
Lindsay, Bree, Rand, & Cindy
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