What a great year!  Thank you from our Shelter Managers and Board of Directors! 

All of you have made this year one to be remembered, with your dedication, your tireless work and your devotion to our dogs and cats. STAF is anorganization that goes above and beyond to help animals in need and without you, the volunteers, our mission could not be fulfilled. 

Thanks to all our volunteers who came out, time and time again this year, to help STAF, over and above your weekly shift, to make sure the following activities and fundraisers were all such a success. We wish we could name all of you individually… but this list is HUGE! 

• The Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction in March
• Two weekends of Basket making for the Silent Auction
• Contacting businesses for Donations (for the Silent Auction) 
• Summer Open House
• Winter Open House
• Alumni Day
• Blessing of the Animals
• National Pit Bull Awareness Day
• Chili Cook-Off
• Attendance at the STAF Yard Sale
• Photos with Santa at the Pet Spot
• Pet Spot Summer Cook Out 
• RP McMurphy’s Halloween event
• Promo opportunity at the Cyclones Game
• Media Sale
• Sunday afternoon training times with pups and young dogs( for the children and young relatives of STAF volunteers)

What a great year for our dogs!

183 dogs adopted this year, 92 dogs saved from death row in county shelters, not to mention the found strays, the owner surrenders and the poor dogs who have lost their homes or owners due to tragic circumstances.

Plus…huge thanks to the transporters for our dogs who are lucky to go to Day Care at either Strictly Dogs, The Pet Spot, Red Dog or Camp Bow Wow.

More thanks go to all of the volunteers who regularly spend an evening a week taking dogs to training. This training makes the difference in our dogs finding a home; it adds a level of confidence and good manners that potential adopters want to see.

Thanks to the volunteers who transport dogs from county shelters to STAF, or from homes on our wait list. Sometimes a long trip is necessary…so thank you for filling this much needed niche in our rescue efforts. 

Thanks also go to the volunteers who donated extra time to STAF to spread new gravel in the yards (back breaking work!); spray the yards with bleach twice this year; remove shrubbery from the fences, spend two days power washing the dog areas, on two weekends before the summer Open House; for sorting through the Q-Hut and organizing our storage area; for providing swim pools for the dog yards; for buying extra leashes, collars, kongs, bowls and supplies (to name a few things). 

Thank you to all of the Shift Leaders who have been wonderful about sharing news and memos with your shifts.  Thank you for keeping the safety and welfare of our STAF dogs, your main concern. 

Thank you to the volunteers who have personally rescued and paid for the boarding and vetting for dogs they have saved from death row in county shelters. These volunteers kept the dogs in their homes or in boarding until their space on the STAF wait list opened up. Their selfless dedication to rescue has enabled STAF to help even more dogs who would otherwise have died before we could get to them. 

Thank you to Holly and Erin who head up a fabulous adoption team; to Chalice who deals with hundreds of requests from people who try to bring in dogs to STAF; to Pat and Judy for the countless vet runs; to Pat, again, for monitoring the health and vet paperwork for every single STAF dog; to Cindy who heads up our Mentor and offsite programs; to Sherri and Sara for all of their work as Volunteer Coordinators; to the volunteers who run Volunteer orientations, and to Kathy for taking on the position of Training Coordinator. 

Thank you to Karla for providing all of the calming music in each room, and for master-minding the softened lighting in the dog areas so that no dog has to sleep through the night under a bright emergency light; to Cindy for the TVs and collection of videos; to Andy for the extensive time he has put into repairs and projects in the dog areas; to all of you who have taken on more responsibilities after seeing the “Dog Bulletin Board” (SO many of you); to Tracy for helping with several Shelter Manager Projects, and for organizing the Lobby; to Maggie for sharing the Fundraising responsibilities; to Candis for bringing in her friend, Julie Keefe, to start (discounted) classes for volunteers in Animal Reiki, and to Beth S who tried to win STAF some money through her Wag the Vote Video. 

Huge thanks to our three (non-volunteer) foster parents who came through in our hour of need (all on one day!) and looked after Lissa…as she gave birth to ten puppies, then cared for them for two months (thank you Erin S); for Maja…who came to our vet with open wounds, and a broken tail, thank you (another) Erin S for keeping Maja with you for her first six weeks with STAF, and thanks to Julan N who cared for Tehya…a little black and white pittie puppy who was found in the road, with a particularly badly-broken knee. Julan literally carried this pup for two months until she was strong enough to walk on her own.  (Then she adopted her!!!)

Thank you to all volunteers who regularly take our dogs offsite, and on home visits to give them some semblance of life in a home, and time away to de-stress from shelter life, and special thanks go STAF volunteers Joanne, Cindy, Sherri and Michele, who are long-term fostering Digby, Cubby, George, Summer, Roxy and Laura. 

The THANKS go on and on…because you all form a team that makes STAF such an incredible organization. If we left anyone out, it is certainly not deliberate. We apologize up front for any oversights and many thanks go to each and every one of you, and if we have left out something or someone who certainly deserves mention, PLEASE do not hesitate to let us know, and we will make amends.

What a great year for our cats!

Thank you everyone so much for all the time, the work, the heart-n-soul, the care, the love, the attention, and everything you gave to the cats. 

Because of you, we rescued 154 negative cats.  This included cats who had been abandoned, were starving, some shot, some injured, some just in dire need of someone to care – and you were there for them.   

We provided sanctuary to 49 FIV and leukemia positive cats – cats that literally would have immediately lost their lives without you. 

This year we adopted out 141 cats and kittens, a record number in our shelter’s history and no small feat when you consider there are over 20 cat rescues and shelters in town. 

Our spay/neuter program for colony and low income family cats resulted in 303 spays and neuters this year. 

Our dedicated volunteers feed over 140 colony cats around the greater Cincinnati area. 

We helped facilitate placement of 82 cats and kittens with other no-kill rescues, shelters and foster groups.

And on top of all this, you continue to give absolutely remarkable care to 600 cats – something most people would never believe is possible and you do it with constant optimism and energy.  You’re amazing.  Thank you so much for being STAF.  We’re the best shelter in the world, with the best cats and dogs, because of you.