After a year as Board President of Safe Ha-ven, it's time to share some thoughts with you. It has been, natu-rally, a big learning curve for me. It seemed at the begin-ning that it would be quite simple: take dogs and cats in, adopt them out. How hard could that be? Well, as it turns out, very hard and a great deal of physical and emotional effort. We are blessed with a great staff. If you drop in...please do...be sure to thank them. You are the ones who support and fund us and your support means every-thing. Can you imagine how hard it is for staff to say goodbye to a cat or a dog who has, sad-ly, been at the shelter for a long time and fi-nally finds its forever

home? Or the dog who is clearly depressed at being left? Or the sick cat who needs exten-sive nursing? Just a few examples of how the work is physically and emotionally de-manding. The most difficult is probably having to say no to well-meaning adopters who are not a match for the pet they want. For example, no fenced yard for a husky mix, known to run at the drop of a hat. Or a nervous pet, especially a large dog, wanted in a home with small chil-dren. And on and on. It is doubly hard when potential adopters get upset. We try to explain that we are the only representatives for these abandoned pets and we must do what we believe is best for them.

Happily, we place about 150 pets each year. While we are not a large shelter, we are a successful one. When we have room we now bring in adoptable animals who are about to be eu-thanized from kill shel-ters. As always, your help is critical to our continued success. Please spread the word and speak well of Safe Haven whenever you can. It has been great fun to meet many of you at recent events and it is one more good reason to be involved with Safe Haven...getting to know all of you who care so much.

Hello from President Julie Moore

Volume 19 no 1

Summer Fall 2017

Safe Haven times

HEWLETT-PACKARD

Pars Fore Paws Golf 2

Adoption Fairs 3

Dog Breeds 4

Animal Enrichment 5

Employee Spotlight 6

Birdies for Charity 7

Smile.Amazon Wish List 7

Year to Date Adoptions 7

Volunteers/Bianchettas 8

Volunteers Needed 9

Mailbag 10-13

Hitchhiking Kitten 14-15

Sponsor-A-Pet 16

In Memory Of 16-17

Annual Meeting 17

Upcoming Events 18

Security Camera 18

Rescue Me Gala 19

10 Year Anniversary 19

Membership/Donation 20

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Volume 19 no 1 Page 2

Our Pars Fore Paws Golf Outing on June 4 at

the Eagle Ridge East Course was a blast.

Everyone that attended had a great time and

raved about the dinner. The golf outing netted

us $3000 in profits mostly due to our sponsors.

Thank you sponsors.

Sunshine & Smi les at the Eagle Ridge East Course Golf Event

Golf 2017 at Eagle Ridge East

Thanks to all the golfers, diners, and particularly our sponsors who helped make our June golf tournament a success. It was a beautiful day, the East course is a lot of fun to play, and we had a delicious dinner afterwards that made for a wonderful event. We particularly want to thank Galena Brewing Company and The Grape Escape and Gabby’s Gifts for fun events during the play. For those of you who attended, Thomas, our pet of the day, found his forever home soon after.

We want to recognize our sponsors – they make these events possible.

Artisan Contractors

B&J Construction

Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa

Galena Brewing Company

Hassis Handyman

Horsepower Farms

Illinois Bank & Trust

Invisible Fence

Jo Carroll Energy

Montgomery Trucking

Oil-Dri Corporation of America

Al and Leslie Stafanick

Veterinary Associates

VisitGalena.org

Woodbine Golf Course

Pictured above Miss

Kitty & John Klinkner

Safe Haven Times Page 3

The Galena Brewery is

the host

of

every

year on the first Saturday

of May and once again

Safe Haven was invited to

bring dogs and cats avail-

able for adoption. They

also donated a portion of

the proceeds from the

sale of beer that day to

Safe Haven in excess of

$1200. We often get

adoptions at this event

one lucky dog was adopt-

ed from this event.

PetFest was hosted by The

Shag n Wag Pet Salon

on May 20th. Despite the

inclement weather we

adopted a dog from this

event and collected dona-

tions in excess of $700.

Thanks also to John & Deb

at The Crooked Canvas Cof-

fee Shop for letting us have

the bake sale inside. And for

all the beautiful and deli-

cious bake sale items donat-

ed from everyone — the

dogs and cats at Safe Ha-

ven thank you.

A young man named Ray came to help

Safe Haven at The Uptown Galena

Block Party II. His stepfather manages

The Gold Room and Ray was going to

sell snow cones to make a little money.

But when Ray saw Safe Haven he do-

nated his snow cone materials to Safe

Haven to donate the profits for the cats

and dogs at Safe Haven. Not only a

hard working lad, but a young man with

a big heart. Thank you Ray.

Local Businesses Host Safe Haven Adoption Fairs

This Ray gives us all a “Ray of Hope”

July 16 Miss Kitty of The

Grape Escape hosted a

benefit for The Workshop

“The Uptown Galena Block

Party II” and Safe Haven set

up a booth for our dogs and

cats available for adoption

We adopted a kitten and

received more than $200 in

donations. At this writing we

are working on adopting a

dog from that even too.

Miss Kitty is a big supporter

of this community and Safe

Haven.

Ray at Safe Haven’s Booth at the Uptown Galena Block Party II

Volume 19 no 1 Page 4

There is discussion among shelters whether we should label dogs with a breed or breeds. In a shelter, we often do not know the true breeding of a dog. We may know a lit-tle of the history or at least a partial history but we often do not receive information on the dogs on intake. So, the ques-tion “what breed is this dog I’m interested in adopting” is often an impossible question to answer without doing a DNA test. We typically do not know the breed of a dog, so we come up with our best guess. Most dogs we receive are mutts with multiple unknown breeds in them. They make wonderful companions and they can also make great dogs for agility or other recre-ational sports that do not re-quire a pedigree background. Often dogs that enter shelters are high energy and not well trained. The breed they hap-pen to be mixed with does not matter if they are good dogs or not. What matters is how they were raised and how they are trained. Is the pedigree background neces-sary when choosing a dog? It may be. If you want a dog to be your companion to be a part of your family and not to be a specific type of work dog then a mixed breed dog will be great. Knowing what mix a dog is can be helpful in deter-mining if the dog is going to be a good fit for your family. Is it a runner, a swimmer, or a lap dog? Does it hunt? Will it

stay close to home — are all good questions in determin-ing if it is the correct dog for you. Breed is not a very strong question when looking at a dog compared to how much energy, how much mainte-nance, how much training does a dog have or need. Pit Bull Terriers, Rottweilers, German Shepherds, and Dobermans all get a poor reputation in the American society. Many people believe they are highly aggressive and they have been referred to as scary, mean and evil.

The breed of a dog is not the issue. The issue is how the dog was trained and social-ized. Large, medium, small, pure-bred or mutt -- they can all be wonderful with time and train-ing. Focus on the dog, not the breed when looking to adopt or purchase a dog. Make sure the dog has the charac-teristics that fit your family’s lifestyle and that it will be the best possible fit in your home. Ask questions, do research -- and you will find your perfect companion!

Dog Breeds — Do They Matter? By Aim’ee Henderson, Kennel Assistant

Safe Haven budgeted $2420 for our Spay/Neuter Program this year. To date we

have sent out 73 coupons totaling $1825. We have $595 left in our 2017 spay/

neuter budget which will cover the cost of 4 coupons per month for the remainder of

the year. The demand is on average 10 per month. Your donations to this program

are appreciated and needed. Please indicate on your donation that you would like

this to go to the spay/neuter program so we can continue to help our community.

activities are to benefit the animals overall health and mental well-being by making their brain think and constant-ly process. If you would’ve asked me prior to attending this conference what I thought about that, I would’ve thought it was mean by mak-ing it difficult for the animals to get their treats. However, I have a whole new perspec-tive now and love the enrich-ment idea.

Enrichment for shelter pets is so important because shelter pets often get bored with the same old routine every day. Safe Haven is currently work-ing on building an enrichment program for our shelter pets. Shelters for pets can be seen as boring and depressing. Pets that stay at the shelter for longer periods of time of-ten show signs of depression or anxiety. By providing en-richment activities and envi-ronments for shelter pets, the level of depression and anxi-ety will slowly decrease be-cause their brain is constantly processing when being enter-tained by enriching items or environments. Simple things such as an inviting room or challenging toys, scents and interactive treat toys can make a world of difference in a shelter pet’s life.

How can you, Safe Haven supporters, help our Enrich-

June 4-6 of this year, the shelter manager and I had the opportunity to attend the Prairie States Conference in Bloomington, Ill. One thing that caught my attention was attending workshops about animal enrichment. Prior to attending this conference, I never thought too much about animal enrichment. We feed our animals out of bowls, offer them a variety of toys to play with, and they are provided with an environment to burn off energy in. What more could we offer our ani-mals for entertainment? After attending the conference, we discovered our animals were probably “bored” at the shel-ter with lack of creative things to entertain them. After that, we started our “Enrichment Mission”.

DIY (do it yourself) projects are definitely the new craze in society today. Why spend oodles of money on some-thing that you can do yourself out of recyclable items? The Prairie States Conference showed us how to turn junk into hours of entertainment for our dogs and cats. The simplest things such as put-ting treats in a plastic bottle with no lid for the cats and putting treats under boxes for the dogs could provide enter-tainment that will benefit that animal’s brain. Enrichment

ment Mission? It’s really sim-ple! We have discovered some fun enrichment toys for both cats and dogs on Ama-zon and have added them to our Amazon Wish List. Any monetary donation is greatly appreciated as well. We have started an enrichment ac-count which is where funds will go that will be used strict-ly for building our enrichment program for our shelter pets. If you enjoy building things or painting or doing murals, please let us know! We would love to have some handmade enrichment toys made for us and we would love to have some colorful paintings or murals painted at the shelter to make it more inviting for not only for our four-legged friends but our two-legged friends as well. At Safe Ha-ven, our goal is to make shel-ter life more exciting for our pets until they go to their for-ever homes.

Safe Haven Times Page 5

By Taylor Brown, Cat Coordinator

Page 6

By Deb Kelly, Board Member

Anne Marie James had one of the shortest stints as a volunteer in the history of Safe Haven. That’s because Shelter Manager Sue Nicolini offered her a job at the shelter after just one week! “Anne started out as a volunteer and she was so good I asked her to become an employee and luckily for us she accepted,” said Sue.

Anne was not looking for a job when she and her husband ar-rived in the area about a year ago to settle her father’s estate. Volunteering for a cause she believed would be a good way to support her new community, and so Anne came to Safe Haven and fell in love with socializing the dogs. “I could play fetch with the dogs all afternoon,” she said with a smile. She began work-ing two days a week but was soon up to five. Her one-year anniversary is coming up in Sep-tember.

Four days a week, Anne’s day begins at 7 AM with getting all the dogs outside, clean-

ing their rooms and preparing their breakfast before bringing them back in. While the dogs are eating, Anne turns her attention to the cats and kittens, placing them in their cat condos for some playtime. If a poten-tial adopter is com-ing to see a particu-lar dog, Anne is of-ten the one to bring the dog up front for a meet and greet. “It’s important to bring the dog out to the person in order to minimize the excitement for the other dogs by not having strange people going back to the rooms,” Anne explained.

Anne has also taken some of her work home with her. She fostered Bubba, a young shep-herd mix who was very stressed by shelter life, for a month.

When asked if she was tempted to become a “Foster-Flunky” and

keep Bubba, she smiled and said yes but knew he had some medical issues that need-ed to be figured out. Bubba went back to Safe Ha-ven for veterinary care and while back there he was adopted by the Mayor of Warren! However, when Anne met feline Candy, she knew right away that Candy needed to become a mem-ber of the family.

She has fit right in and especial-ly loves the family dog, Bud.

On Tuesdays, Anne works the

front office, answering the

phone, greeting visitors, and

scheduling vet appointments for

Safe Haven dogs and cats. If

you’re in the area, be sure to

stop by and say hello!

Employee Spotlight—Anne Marie James

Anne Marie with one of her favorite dogs Tyson.

For those who have provided us with their e-mail addresses (new members if they provide one or existing members at renewal who verify what we have on file), this may be the last paper newsletter you receive.

Instead we will send a .pdf copy (and it will be in color) to you. This saves us money that can be directed to our dogs ’ and cats’ care. It’s likely you are already

receiving newsletters this way as more and more organizations use this approach to better communicate with their memberships. If you haven ’t signed up yet for e-mail communications, you can do so at any time. Just email us and let us know!

Email Newsletters Coming to Your Inbox Soon

Our Email addresses will be changing. Please make a note of these:

info@safehavenforpets.org (for almost all of your questions and concerns)

admin@safehavenforpets.org (for accounting, spay/neuter, memberships)

management@safehavenforpets.org (to reach the Treasurer/Board Member—John Klinkner)

Safe Haven Times Page 7

We want to thank the following for contributing to our Birdies for Charity appeal this year. The pledges were significantly higher this year and may result, with the John Deere bonus, in over $10,000 coming

to us in early November. It’s hard to describe how much that means to our programs. If you were one of the ones who guessed at the number of bird-ies, it ended up with 1,918.

Birdies for Charity 2017

2017 Birdies for Charity Participants Thank You!

Karen & Larry Gorczowski James & Ruth Henry Jane Hess Clarence & Karen Hutchings Nancy Hyman Barb & Tom Jansz John & Jane Klinkner Steven & Tanya Lipkowitz John & Rose Lorenzen Linda & Pat Malia Steve & Wendy Meyer Lorelei Mitchell Julie & Jerry Moore Caroline Nelsen Frank Ortiz

Larry & Nancy Backe George & Audrey Bilek Sandra Bloom Mary & Brian Brandt Kathy Cameron Eugene Champion Paul & Judy Chiarelli John & Margarete Cooke John & Nancy Danico John & Kay Day Judy Decker Mark & Kristine Diephuis Laura Edmonds Ron & Carol Ericson William Gehrts

Steven & Elaine Paulson Dave & Deb Powers Tim & Susan Rapinchuk Helen Regnier Thomas & Marcia Samocki Brian & Lisa Schoenrock Gary & Camille Seamans Debra Sexton & Mark Linton Dan & Cherie Smith Jo Smith Robert & Candace Thomas Marcia & Ken Thompson Glenn & Susan White Nancy Willett Bob & Sheila Zink

Year-to-Date Adoptions thru July 31st

Cats—33

Dogs—56

If you are an Amazon Prime Member you can help Safe Haven simply by picking Safe Haven as your smile.amazon recipient for cash donations on your purchases. Simply go to https://smile.amazon.com/ and choose “Safe Haven Humane Society of Jo Da-viess County” as your charity. You will also find our Wish List there. Our Wish List is named Safe Haven Humane Society of Jo Daviess County Wish List. There are many shelters with the same name so be sure to find ours in Elizabeth, Illinois.

Volume 19 no 1

Page 8

Volunteers—Tricia & Steve Bianchetta— Some Things Come Better in Twos! By Barb Jansz, Board Member

Tricia Bianchetta, as a newly retired elementary school principal from Erie, Ill, moved to Apple Canyon with her husband Steve to be closer to her mom. After serving as Superintendent in East Central, Ill., husband, Steve, became Superintendent of Scales Mound and then as an interim Superintendent in Galena, so retired Tricia was looking for another way to give back to her community.

Being a dog lover, Tricia had always wanted to volunteer at a shelter, but raising two boys and being so active in education, time did not allow for that until she retired. She had heard about Safe Haven, so she went on-line and filled out an application to volunteer. Safe Have-n’s Shelter Manager, Sue Nicolini called her and explained what volunteering would look like and how important it was for socializing the dogs to get them ready for their forever home.

Tricia found the right place to volunteer. The dogs look forward to her weekly visits as much as she looks forward to getting to know their personalities and how she can best help them. “ This county is so fortunate to have a shelter like Safe Haven to take in stray and unwanted dogs and cats until the right new home can be found for them,” said Tricia.

When Steve retired, he decided to accompany Tricia on one of her weekly volunteer visits to better understand what she had been telling him about Safe Haven. He met Shelter Manager Sue, and she told him about some of the maintenance issues that needed attention and it sparked an interest in Steve. He had always enjoyed helping his son Steve with projects, and

had developed some skills that seemed to be what was need-ed. So now, both Tricia and Steve volunteer at Safe Ha-ven!

Some things the two of them just do without even being asked. When they noticed that the front shrubbery needed some attention, they were both out there trimming, mulching and beautifying the front of the shelter. Steve has repaired areas around windows and doors that were starting to rot, thus saving Safe Haven from bigger repair jobs in the future.

Safe Haven Times Page 9

Safe Haven is always in need of volunteers to entertain and socialize with our cats and dogs. The more attention they get, the better off they are while waiting for their forever homes.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer fill out an adoption application on our website or you can come fill out an application at the shelter. We will then give you a quick orientation showing

you where everything is and introduce you to our cats and dogs.

You will then be invited to our volunteer calendar so you can fill in the days/times you will be volunteering. Our volunteer calendar is on the Volunteer Page of our website: www.safehavenforpets.org.

Anne Marie James is in charge of our volunteers, but anyone of the employees at Safe Haven can assist you. It’s that simple.

The Bianchetta’s have two sons. The oldest, Stephen, is a civil engineer in Des Moines. Cary lives in Chicago and has followed in his parents’ footsteps with a Masters in Elemen-tary Education.

Tricia and Steve have had several wonderful dogs throughout the years. They recently lost their 18-year old Bichon, Hal. Before Hal was a deaf Dalmatian, Bit and a Lab mix. Now they have a Yorkie, Missy and a cat, Tina Turner whose name fits her perfectly.

When Tricia was invited to become a board member for Safe Haven, her first question was, “Can I still be a volunteer?” Wow! So now, they are both volunteers and Tricia is a board member and Yes, things are better in twos! How lucky are we?

Some Things Come Better in Twos! Cont.

Thank you to all our 2017

Safe Haven Volunteers:

Joseph Avila

Tricia & Steve Bianchetta

Ellie Bonar

Taylor Brown

Ashley Chambers

Dana & Brandt Esling

Aim’ee Henderson

Jane Hess

Jordon & Cole Wickersham

Jim & Barb Kellar

Lisa Kelly-Buros & Gabrielle

Natalie Kozelko

Candy LeBowe

Debra Melton

Melissa Merkel

Carola Niedermayer

Mary Owen

Misti Schweertman

Peggy Schweertman

Sandy Siuda

Dan Stuart

Doug Vanni

Dixie Wand

Morgan Wilson

Page 10

Daisy is doing well so far! Ours hearts are stolen!

❤️ ❤️ ❤️. She is so attentive, curious and smart. She's a doll!

Keri Walter

Hi Sue,

Janzi is doing well. She follows me around and does not leave my side. The only thing we need to work on is if one of the dogs gets near her face she starts to growl. I think she is still a little apprehensive and it will just take some time before she is more comfortable with them and her new home. Other than that she has been just fine!! I will keep you posted and send more

photos when I have a minute.

Jen

Gretel now Ali - She is very happy in her new home. Jean Knipprath

Safe Haven Times Page 11

Here is a picture of Sunny's first outing on the river. He is a great dog.

Thank you. Ginny Bellings

To the folks at Safe Haven,

Lucille and Lola are great kittens. They're healthy and happy. It's so very obvious that

you gave them the best care.

Thank you so much for giving us the oppor-tunity to have a cat family.

Valerie Curley and Charlie Dolan

Miley has been the absolute best thing that

has happened to me this year. She has ad-

justed very well and after she realized she

was home, she became much more relaxed.

Miley loves to be the neighborhood watch

dog when it’s warmer out. She’s become

quite skilled at stealing blankets and sheets

from the laundry and sleeps on them instead

of her bed. All of the kids in the family adore

her and she is amazing with all of them. I am

so blessed and lucky that she waited for me

to come and bring her home. Thank you for

helping bring her into my life. I love her and

love having her here to spend my days with.

Mistia & Miley

Page 12

Hello! This is Matt Anderson, we adopted Mimi from you folks about a month ago - I thought you'd like to see how happy she is. She became a part of the family on the first day. She's a best friend to the boys, and we couldn't have asked for a better first dog for our little family! She's been great on a leash and goes for (mostly) nightly walks in our quiet neighborhood. She is perfectly fine being alone all day while we're at work and school/daycare. She hasn't had a single accident, and is perfectly adapted to city life at this point. She actually gets along pretty well with our cat Layla, although Layla certainly asserts her domi-nance in her own way! Mimi has been to a farm, took a dip in the river, and has been worn out al-most every day running around in the back yard. When she's in the car she has to be between the boys. She sits perfectly still and puts her head in their laps when she's on a long ride. It's the cutest thing! The only issues we've had are she's an escape artist (she loves being outside with us) and barks a lot when we go out front without her. She enjoys chewing on toys the boys leave out inside, which has only encouraged them to pick all their toys up when they're not using them... so I don't see a problem. :-) She's been eating Blue Wilderness Bayou Blend (perfect for the state dog of Louisi-ana!) and has her first veterinary appointment at Glenroads Veterinary Clinic here in Bettendorf in a couple weeks. Thank you for helping us find the perfect dog! I think the stars aligned when you posted her online. Matthew Anderson

Safe Haven Times Page 13

Molly has brought so much joy to our home.

She and Cooper are great friends, playing a lot of time. They are able to go out and in the doggie door during the day whenever they want to.

I have sent two pictures of the back yard. It is so much fun to watch them running back and forth.

The fireworks so far has not bothered her but she doesn't really care for the rain and will find a spot to hide.

At night I like to have her sleep with us. She loves to have her chest caressed. Thank you for making it pos-sible to be able to have her.

Jane Potratz

This is a photo of Romeo and Wren that were recently adopt-ed by a good friend. Pat had lost his cat 5 years ago and was finally ready to get anoth-er fury friend. I myself adopted Romeo's brother June of 2016 from Safe Haven. I knew that his mother and two other sib-lings were still there and I kept watching to see if they got adopted and Mom and sister did but Romeo was still there after a year. It just broke my heart but having 3 cats al-ready myself it just wasn't an option for us. I then approached my friend with my plea to take him and he said yes but at the time he didn't know he would get 2 cats instead of one. I guess Romeo in that time of being there had found him a girlfriend named Wren. Safe Haven did not want to split them up but would have to get Romeo a home but after Pat seen her cute little face he knew he couldn't separate the two. So now Romeo and Wren are going to live happily ever after in their forever home. Makes me so happy these sweet fur babies will be well taken care of.

Kelly Marr

This is my little “Susie” with my identical twins, as I used to call them...now my triplets...2 of whom came from Safe Haven...the third was dumped in Galena. The other Safe Haven dog was known to you as Tooth Pic. I call him May Z..

Cindy Schroeder

Volume 19 no 1

Page 14

The Hitchhiking Kitten’s Guide to Safe Haven A couple weeks ago work literally followed me home. Well…more like hitchhiked.

I was working here at Safe Haven and happened to look out the window right when a tiny orange kitten ran across the parking lot. Alarmed, I ran outside to try to catch it before it headed towards the highway. I soon realized our little guest was accompanied by a sibling and the two scrambled about in front of the shelter, dashing from bush to bush trying to find a good hiding place. This erratic behavior suggests that they were dumped (illegally, by the way) in Safe Haven’s yard. My coworkers soon joined me in the urgent rescue and together we realized that we had to find a better way to catch them. We placed live traps around the yard & parking lot with canned cat food inside in hopes that we could lure them to safety. Frightened, the orange kitten jumped up in the underside of our Safe Haven van. The other kitten, gray & black, seemed to think this was a great idea and jumped up in the underside of the next closest vehicle, which happened to be mine. Af-ter a couple hours, we decided that there was nothing left to do but to wait it out. We were pretty sure the orange kitten would be found in a live trap soon, since she had been seen in the trap a couple times already. She was so little, she didn’t initially set off the trap but at least she got a snack out of it!

It came time for me to leave work, and I was on a time restraint since I needed to get home to take my own cat to the vet for his appointment. I was terrified to think that the little gray & white kitten was still in my car somewhere. My coworkers & I tried honking the horn on my car, opening and closing the car doors, and even turned the car on for a few seconds at a time. We thought surely it would have jumped out from all the noise and figured she must not be in there anymore, that most likely she found a different hiding place when we weren’t looking. Reluctantly I drove home, just a couple minutes away, and picked up my cat, Ptolemy. As I sat his crate down on the ground for a second so I could open the car door, he let out a distressed cry (he is not a fan of traveling). All of a sudden, I heard a tiny meow almost like an echo to my Ptolemy’s cry. “Oh no!” I thought. The kitten is still in there! I immediately put my cat back in the apartment and called my vet to tell them I wasn’t going to be able to make it in time because a kitten was stuck in my car. Of course, they understood and graciously rescheduled my cat’s appointment.

So back to the kitten in the car I go, and I do my best to crawl under my car to try to locate my little hitchhiker. Unfortunately, it was one of our scorching 90-degree days & laying on the black

pavement made this ordeal even more difficult. I’m sure I looked ridiculous half way under my car and of course here comes a UPS driver delivering a package to my neighbor. He smiled and questioned what I was doing and wished me good luck on getting the kitten out. I was starting to panic, realizing that this was a situation I didn’t know how to solve on my own. Just then my neighbor came home and politely asked, “Umm, anything I can help you with?” He decided to try his luck at getting the kitten out, but after 20 minutes it was even more clear that she wasn’t going to budge.

Safe Haven Times Page 15

It was time to call my very own rescue team. I sent my Mom a text, “Send Dad.” After a couple minutes, my Dad arrived and instantly he knew what to do. We took my car to the local garage, Palmer’s Auto-motive, and there they put my car up on a hoist. The mechanics tried to reach her, but she was really tucked in there. They eventually decided to try blowing her out with an air hose. The poor little kitten shot out and flew across the room…and once again found herself a new place to hide. It was closing time at the garage and their shop cat, Bumper, was coming in for the night. We were informed that he didn’t like other cats and might attack the little kitten. With time running out, we decided to set a live trap overnight and much to his cha-grin, Bumper had to be confined to the office until morning.

Thankfully, at 8 am the next morning, I got a call from Palmer’s that the kitten was in the trap. Since Safe Haven didn’t have an available isolation room for this kitten, I took the little rascal to my home. I very quickly fell in love… what a sweet, cute, playful, & spunky little lady! I ended up taking her with me to the vet with my cat and they did a health check up on her. For the most part she seems healthy but she does have a raspy sound in her throat and she has been on antibiotics ever since as a precaution.

After a few days at my apartment it was clear that my household wasn’t ready for a new member to the family, no matter how cute. My cat is 13 and no longer wants to share his home and my son who is 2 years old was overly curious of “Baby Meow”. Eventually we decided that we could set up a tem-porary isolation room at Safe Haven for her. After suffering many different names the first few days that didn’t quite fit, we came up with the perfect one. We were inspired by Bumper, the garage cat, and thought she needed a name to go along with her adventurous arrival in to our lives. From there on out she has been called Axle Rose, our little diamond in the rough.

Axle Rose has been having a great time here at Safe Haven, playing and recovering from her wild start at life. She is currently about 12 weeks old, she’s happy and loved and waiting for her furever home. She hangs out with me in my office and throws my rubber bands all over the floor, plays spo-radically with a hot wheel left by my son, and steals my pens. She is as cute as a button and her feisti-ness makes me grin. I’m so glad that everything synchronized just perfectly and that I was able to help save her.

And how perfect her story is for all of us…this is what we do, we rescue the lost, the abandoned, the

innocent…no matter what. I can’t even name how many people were involved in saving this little kit-

ten. It really took “a whole village” in this case. From my co-workers, to my neighbors, to the UPS driv-

er, to all the veterinarians and staff, to my parents, to the staff at Palmer’s, even to the cats Ptolemy &

Bumper, I thank you. Thank you so much for helping me save this one tiny little soul with a big name,

Axle Rose.

Page 16

Joe Avila

Kitty Behof

Kay Bertholdt

Mary & Brian Brandt

Pete & Lisa Brennan

Nancy Buening

Kitty Buske

Gary Clark

Barbara Comella

Juanita Cox

Kay & John Day

Judy Decker

Mittie Denherder

Cathy Dorwick

Bob & Lu Douglas

Edith Duncan

Lisa Edwards

John Einsweiler

Cathie & Al Elsbree

Wilfred & Linda Enders

Ben & Jaci Franzen

Tina Frey & Andrew Bugyls

Carol & Casey Garan

David Gilliland

Monica & Ian Gilmore

Karen & Larry Gorczowski

Sponsor a Pet Participants—Thank You!

Eric Hammer

Bernie & Mary Carol Harris

Bruce & Michelle Hassis

Barbara Hendren

Mary Herburger

Joseph Hetland

Wanda Honerbaum

Carol Honeywell

Maryann Houghteling

Debra Huso

Clarence & Karen Hutchings

Nancy Hyman

Richard & Karen Jasper

Laura Jelinek

Kari Jones

Janet Joy & Gracie

John & Jane Klinkner

Bill & Betty Kolacek

Michael & Elizabeth Krotiak

Lois Lauber

Myra Linton

Cheryl & Scott Lombardo

Barbara Lucas

Rose Magee

Pat & Linda Malia

Mammy's Homemade

Lucy Mattinen

Joan McGowan

Glenda Miller

Lorelei Mitchell

Julie & Jerry Moore J. Hobie Murnone

William & Helen Murphy

Sharon Nicklaus

Mel & Sandy Pearson

Becky Pierce

Donna Pries

Helen Reed

Traci Schmitt

Terri & Bill Slaughter

Jo Smith

Sam & Lynda Smith

Mary Steele Stephanie Tomas & Michael French

Douglas Troutman

Ken Van Horn

Dixie Wand

Diane Wedgworth

John & Shirley White

Jordon & Cole Wickersham

Marie Wright & Nancy Willett

The sponsor-a-pet monthly donations provide us much need-ed funds to run our day to day operations. Thank you!

IN MEMORY OF......

Shadow, Dan & Cherie Smith’s cat.

Doug Graham, Laura Scheland, & Carol Davis

Robert Anderson

Clyde & Dorothy Laughlin

Dody Finch, who never met a dog that didn’t love her.

Gail Gabbert

Little Miss Lady, the heart and soul of our home.

Nancy Peterson & Dave Becker

Happy, Duff, & Kiki

Julia Faber

Safe Haven Times Page 17

Annual Meeting at Horsepower Farm

The Annual Meeting and lunch was held at Carol & Ray Scarpelli’s beautiful Horsepower Farm on

Sunday, May 21st. It was a wonderful gathering of Safe Haven staff, board members and support-

ers, some who brought their Safe Haven alumni with them! Music was provided by Marty Raymon.

A short meeting was held. President Julie Moore

updated us on Safe Haven’s goals and accom-

plishments, Shelter Manager, Sue Nicolini, gave a

short report on the dogs and cats and treasurer

John Klinkner presented the financial picture with

graphs and charts.

The Scarpelli’s have invited us back to Horsepow-

er Farm for next year’s Annual Meeting, where we

look forward to seeing you.

IN MEMORY OF......

Maddie, beloved family member of Mimi & Robert Nimocks.

Mittie Den Herder

Herb Bruser

Liz Bulasko

Herb Bruser

Barb Bruser, Julie Bruser, Bob & Chris Millenacker, Brian & Lisa Schoenrock

Pamela Glastetter, who loved animals and would want them to be taken care of.

Jason Glastetter, Kirk & Amy Haring & boys

IN HONOR OF......

Nicholas Chiarkas’ Birthday

Krista Ginger

Do you have a Security Camera to donate?

Volume 19 no 1 Page 18

The Lion’s Club Wiener Dog Races for Oktoberfest is September 30. Safe Haven is invited to bring

adoptable dogs. Stop by and visit us. You might just find your next best friend!

The Lion’s Club Oktoberfest is September 30—Wiener Dog Races!

The Apple

Canyon Lake

Ice Cream So-

cial & Craft Fair

is a must every

year. Be sure

to stop by Safe Haven’s booth where we

will be taking donations for all of the

lovely hand crafted items we receive during the year. Handmade

cards, jewelry, purses, blue bird houses, and leashes. We will be

bringing adorable cats and dogs for adoption too. See you there!

Craft Sale & Adoption Fair—Apple Canyon Ice Cream Social

Sunday, September 3

Craft Sale

Adoption Fair

Apple Canyon Lake

When: Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017 – 4:30pm to 7:30pm

Where: Culver's Restaurant: Galena

Plan on a dinner out at the Galena Culver's! Bring your friends and family and help our shelter by eating dinner and dessert with lots of other dog and cat lovers. A portion of sales from 4:30 – 7:30 pm will benefit the dogs and cats at Safe Haven!

Support Safe Haven in a most delicious way!

Safe Haven needs to install a basic security camera that

would cover the parking area in front of our building as

well as our front door so we can monitor people ap-

proaching the building. If you have a camera to donate,

please call Safe Haven and many thanks. We watch our

pennies so we can take great care of our dogs and cats.

December 2017 Marks 10 Years Safe Haven has been in Our Shelter Building

Safe Haven Times Page 19

DINNER—AUCTION TO BENEFIT SAFE HAVEN

Mark your calendars for Safe Haven’s Annual Gala,

Saturday, November 4th

at The Woodstone, Eagle Ridge

It’s that time again. We are looking for donations for our live and silent auction. Items can be dog or

cat related, or not even dog/cat related at all. Jewelry items are good, sports tickets, gift certificates,

knick knacks, household items, art work, even timeshares you aren’t able to use this year and want

to donate. Airline miles are good as well. Many smaller donations can be used to create themed

baskets, so all donations are appreciated. We also need baskets—filled and empty.

Remember, this is our main fundraiser of the year and it is FUN! Your generosity motivates us and

provides for the needs of the dear dogs and cats who come to Safe Haven, awaiting their Forever

Homes. You guys are the best! Can’t wait to see you at the Gala.

SAVE THE DATE—November 4, 2017

Hard to believe 10 years have passed since Safe Haven

moved from a foster based rescue into our current build-

ing. Time does fly. Many of you have been with us since long before we walked through the doors of

1471 US Highway 20 West with cats and dogs to shelter. And many new supporters have come since

then. To celebrate this grand anniversary we will be having an Open House, December 16 at the shel-

ter from 10 am to 3 pm. Snuggles & purrs, pictures with Santa, holiday treats and warm drinks. Be

sure to stop in and celebrate this milestone with us.

1471 US Highway 20 West

Elizabeth, IL 61028

815-858-2265

Safe Haven’s mission is to provide a haven and treatment for adoptable cats and dogs, place them in suitable homes,

increase awareness of the humane

Your address label at the right contains the date your membership is due. Is it time to renew your member-

ship? If so, please do it today by using the form below.

Thank you.

We’re on the web

(www.safehavenforpets.org)

and on Facebook! (https://

www.facebook.com/

jodaviesscounty/)

Visitation Hours Daily

(including weekends:

10 am to 3 pm

Who’s Who at Safe Haven:

Sue Nicolini, Shelter Manager

Joseph Avila, Kennel Manager

Taylor Brown, Cat Coordinator

Jeannette Thraen, Administrative Asst.

Anne Marie James, Kennel & Office Assistant

Aimee Henderson, Kennel & Office Assistant

Julie Moore, Board President

John Klinkner, Board Treasurer

Barb Jansz, Board Secretary

Tricia Bianchetta, Board Member

Deb Kelly, Board Member

Carol Scarpelli, Board Member

Dan Smith, Board Member

Linda Weeder, Board Member

Membership Application

— The animals depend on you …

remember Safe Haven in your will —

$15 Senior/Student $30 Family

$20 Individual $100 Patron

$ ____________ Spay/Neuter Fund $____________ Endowment Fund

$_____________

Sponsor-A Pet $10 or more $____________ Other

$_____________ Memorial Gift In Honor of ______________________________

Non-Profit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAID

Dubuque, Iowa

Permit #459

Name

Street Address

City State Zip

Phone Cell Phone

Email Address

Payment Check Credit Card

Credit Card Number

Expiration Date CCV #

Authorized Signature

Check this box if you want your donation to be anonymous

Make checks payable to Safe Haven, 1471 US Highway 20 West, Elizabeth IL 61028