GGBR
was formally started at the end of 2005, so we are just starting our
fifth full year as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Many of you
have known the rescue since it was part of the Northern California
Basset Hound Club, where Gloria was involved in running it for around
ten years. Now we are a separate organization, we need to generate our
own funding and a vital part of that is to build a membership base.
Our
membership year runs from February 1-January 31. We do hope you will
all decide to become members... maybe even to Patron level! With the
downturn in the economy, we know that many people will be tightening
their belts, which means our expected level of donation income will
also suffer. Every little helps!
Please read on to see the
advantages of membership. Of course, even if you decide not to become
members, your support is greatly appreciated, and we know that many of
you demonstrate that support in very practical ways throughout the year.
|
|
|
The Benefits of Membership of GGBR
As
I mentioned above, GGBR is a 501c3 non-profit organization, relying
totally on its membership dues and fundraising activities to cover the
costs of rescuing basset hounds in Northern California. Our membership
base is the foundation of our Rescue, and brings in a small, but
reliable portion of our funding. For as little as $17 per year you can
benefit from:
- newsletters,
- invitations to special 'members only' events, and
- membership
of our Yuku message board for posting questions & photos about the
care, health, or antics of your hounds, and receiving valuable advice
and comment in return!
To become a member, go to Membership Application/Renewal Form
and follow the link half way down the page, or click on the
'forms/apps' link on the left hand menu bar. You can also email me and
I will send you a form that you can complete and return by mail with
your check.
|
|
Membership Levels/Fees
NO INCREASE AGAIN THIS YEAR!!!
Single Person - $17
Family - $22 (Spouse/partner and children u/21 or still at college)
Patron - $52 (single or family... includes entrance to Waddle and Picnic for dogs and people) - that's only $1 per week!!
HOW TO PAY
You can follow the link to the Membership Application, fill it in online and then go to the Online Store
and pay by PayPal. I'm sorry we can't link the application form
directly to the checkout process! You can also complete the online
form then send a check by snail mail.
Alternatively, if you
prefer, you can contact me (Addy Dawes) at ggbassetlovr@hotmail.com and I will send you a word document
you can print off, complete and mail to:
GGBR (Membership)
PO Box 4958
Petaluma
CA 94955
along with your check made payable to "Golden Gate Basset Rescue".
The
application form asks for your name, address, level of membership, and
gives you an opportunity to say what else you might be interested in
helping with (home/phone checks, helping with transporting hounds,
helping at events or other fundraising options, fostering,
adopting....). Of course, you don't have to be a member to volunteer
for us, and you don't have to volunteer for us to be a member!
|
|
What it costs us....
Here
are some of the highlights from last year, 2009 (but I'm not going to
dwell on the 'kennel intake' as i'm sure you have all seen enough about
that particular crisis!!) :
Last year we told you about Ollie,
who started life as "Lucky Boy". Lucky Boy was bailed out of a shelter
in another Rescue's area. He had chronic and severe eye and ear
infections, and needed a hernia repair. He was indeed a lucky boy to
end up with Golden Gate as if we hadn't agreed to take him he would
have been euthanized. He is now renamed Ollie, to go with his new
life. This poor boy is pretty battered, with ears so long that the
holes in them are probably the result of him catching them with his own
feet! His first foster home, Sally & Mike Mitchell have seen this
happen in their care. Unfortunately, Ollie showed signs of unexplained
aggression. He had ehrlichia, which can cause a little grumpiness, but
even treatment for that did not improve his attitude. He was moved
down to Daphneyland last April as a rehabilitation case and rumors have
it that he is doing very well...
 Ollie "Lucky Boy"
There are lots more stories.... like Max and Macie... 
....found
in a house in Central Valley where their owner had passed away, they
had probably been several days without food or fresh water. The family
was particularly eager to have them placed together as they knew the
owner would have wanted this for his dogs. Ruth Robeson fostered them
until the perfect home was found with the Krause family in Colma.
Thank goD for people who want to adopt pairs!!
What about Alice?
....
came into Rescue as a 10yr old, with a little curly tail (probably a
birth defect). The curly tail had caused a 'hot spot' underneath, and
she probably had recurrent infections under there. She was fostered
with the Maddens, and then was found to have a tumor eating away at her
jaw. At her age, we really did wonder if we could afford to pay for
the surgery she needed to save her jaw. Some very fast fundraising,
and an amazing vet who offered to do the surgery at a much reduced
rate, Alice lost half of her lower jaw. You would never really know
except that her tongue slips out where she lost her teeth. The tumor
was not malignant, although it would have continued to grow and eat
away at her jaw until she could no longer eat or drink and therefore
kill her. She is now living very happily in her forever home in Santa
Rosa. Thank you Ann Da San Martino for giving her the chance of a real
home!
Every other dog we took in was given an initial vet check,
with blood testing where needed, with rabies, distemper, bordatella
vaccinations and heartworm preventative, flea medication etc. All dogs
that needed it were spayed or neutered. Several dogs had infections of
one sort or another, which we need to treat before placing the dog. On
average our vet bills come to over $400 per dog. When people complain
about our adoption donations, I have to wonder just where they could
get a basset hound with all the vet care it needs, spayed/neutered,
vaccinated, current rabies... and with the support network that we can
give them for the rest of that hound's life...
Thank goodness
for the occasional healthy, easily placed hound to lighten the burden
on both the finances, and the goodwill of our foster families.
We
are busier than we have ever been at the moment, along with the kennel
intake, we continue to see an increase in the number of hounds being
surrendered from loving, caring homes because of the economic
recession. So sad.
Thank you so much for your continued support that enables us to do this work!!
|
|
We
told you last year about GoodSearch. Since we registered with them,
we've earned over $130, but this is S...L...O...W... to accumulate.
Now they've made it even easier to support us via Goodsearch, by
downloading a customized toolbar (click HERE)
that automatically sends the searches and GoodShop purchases to our
GGBR account. We get approximately 1.3c for each search - and last
year we increased our income from these searches to a total of around
$70!! The potential for earnings via GoodShop is immense! At least two
other well known rescues got several hundred dollars from GoodSearch and we can do that as well. We have over 1000 people on this mailing list:
| Small |
100 |
2 |
$730 |
| Medium |
1,000 |
2 |
$7,300 |
| Large |
10,000 |
2 |
$73,000 |
Also, after the success of the Holiday cards and stamps through Zazzle, we would like you to keep shopping there. In the meantime, browse our gallery at Zazzle
and keep buying!! Check out the Keds shoes! You can put your bassets
photo on them if you like! You can also design your own cards, put
multiple photos on them, or other images you like, or keep the Basset
themed ones, or add images to the basset cards. The insides of lots of
the cards are blank for you to create your own message. We earn 27% on
all purchases as long as you go via our link, so please have a look!
Even BETTER than shopping Zazzle.... watch out for our new EBay Store!
One of our volunteers is working on this as an offshoot to her own EBay
business and you will not believe the wonderful items that you'll be
able to buy from there. Personalized items ranging from clocks to key
fobs and number plates. You'll get an email when it's ready to
launch. Thanks to Mary Stewart for volunteering to do this for us!
Finally,
watch out for our 'events' list, which we should be putting out
shortly, so that you can mark your calendars for this year's special
events. Of course, one date is set in stone.... this years Waddle will
again be held on July 4th, as we help Novato's Independence Day Parade
to another successful year!! It's Novato's Birthday Year this year (we
think 50), so we'll be having a party for them. We will again be using
an online registration process to make it easier to register and pay,
order your shirts (GREAT design this year!) etc. Watch for the email.
And don't forget.... Memberships are encouraged and appreciated!
Sincerely,
Addy Dawes
Golden Gate Basset Rescue | |
