News
Best Friends in Atlanta
February 14, 2009, 7:44AM MT
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Best Friends Founders meet with rescue groups and Best Friends’ members
Best Friends Founders meet with rescue groups and Best Friends’ members
By Barbara J. Koll, Best Friends Network Volunteer
Gregory Castle and Celeste Fripp, two of the founding members of Best Friends, along with several other Best Friends Staff members came to Atlanta on February 3 to meet with representatives of local rescues and Georgia Best Friends members for an update on the current activities at the Sanctuary and to provide new ideas on what can be done to help the animals in our local community. Georgia Network Volunteers and Ambassadors (Lori Ragan Harkey, Barbara Koll, Carol Baum, Cy Lynch and Lynne Smith) assisted the Best Friends Staff by manning the welcome table, registering attendees, distributing information and answering questions.
Educational Session for Local Rescue Groups
During the afternoon session, representatives from over 15 local rescue and shelter organizations heard about the current initiatives and campaigns and also received tips on improving their own organizations. The representatives had been asked to bring handouts on their organizations for distribution to other attendees. This event gave them an opportunity to network and share ideas about past successes.
• Claudine Wilkins, Best Friends Legislative Counsel, gave an update on legislative initiatives across the country in the area of puppy mills, breed specific legislation and dog fighting. She also let the attendees know about the puppy mill and dog fighting “toolkits” that are available to assist the public and local law enforcement in these areas. Claudine is responsible for the drafting and passage of groundbreaking dog fighting legislation in Georgia.
• Gregory Castle provided the historical background of Best Friends as well as an overview of the current major campaign initiatives. He also talked about the Best Friends Network and upcoming changes to the Network in an effort to make it more useful from a local perspective.
• Nora Della Maddalena (Best Friends LA Programs), Victoria Allen (Southern Hope Humane Society in Atlanta) and Gregory Castle participated in a panel discussion on increasing adoptions, donations, volunteers and members. Gregory talked about “super adoptions” which have been so successful in Utah. Super adoptions bring together as many as 30 rescue organizations in a heavily populated area for a three-day adoption event. No More Homeless Pets in Utah holds two of these events annually in Salt Lake City and places an average of 400 companion animals in new homes during each event.
Best Friends Members’ Meeting
During the evening session, over 150 Best Friends members gathered for an update on Sanctuary activities, major Best Friends’ campaigns and were given an opportunity to ask questions. Approximately one-third of the attendees indicated that they have visited the Sanctuary.
• Gregory Castle emphasized the importance of continuing to build the member base for the purpose of creating ongoing financial support for the Sanctuary. He gave an overview of the Give the Gift membership drive which seeks to double the membership of Best Friends in 2009 in recognition of the Best Friends’ 25th anniversary. Gregory also talked about the feral cat initiatives in California and Florida. He noted that he prefers the term “community cats” because they should be regarded as part of the local community. Click here to read about an interview with Gregory Castle on The Kitty Blog on the topic of free roaming cats. He also detailed some of the No More Homeless Pets successes in working closely with local governments and animal control agencies to increase awareness of TNR programs and ultimately save the lives of more feral cats.
• Claudine Wilkins gave an overview of the Bully Breeds campaign and pointed out that it is a multi-prong campaign focusing on legislation, education/awareness and providing a resource base for local law enforcement officials.
• Members also heard about the puppy mill campaigns across the country and “Puppy Store Free LA” - the successful campaign that focuses on peaceful protests which has resulted in a huge reduction in the number of pet stores that sell dogs from puppy mills. The last topic that was discussed was the “first home, forever home” campaign which is a concentrated effort to reduce the number of companion animals who are abandoned or relinquished to shelters. One of the focal points of this campaign is increasing the number of pet food banks that can help financially-strapped pet owners keep their pets by assisting with the financial burden of feeding their pets.
This event gave Best Friends members, along with shelter and rescues groups, an opportunity to connect and learn more about the history, current campaigns and initiatives and future goals of Best Friends. Everyone learned more about how by working together, we can achieve No More Homeless Pets in our lifetime.
Additional links:
• Best Friends’ Campaigns
• Feral Cat Community
• Breed Specific Legislation
• No More Homeless Pets Community
• End Georgia Dogfighting
Photo of Lori Ragan Harkey and Carol Baum, Georgia Best Friends Volunteers taken by Barbara Koll