for the animals - Chemung County SPCA

Little Voices Making a Big Difference
The fourth grade classes from Erwin Valley Elementary pose with
the letters they wrote to get donations for the Chemung County
SPCA.
On March 26, representatives from the Chemung County
Humane Society and SPCA visited Erwin Valley Elementary
School’s fourth-grade classes to pick up donations that were
raised in a very special way. The students wrote letters to
various companies to ask for donations for the shelter. The
outpouring of support shocked shelter staff and teachers alike.
Large boxes of rawhides and Kongs were just the beginning
of what turned out to be a successful donation drive.
To fulfill an English Language Arts (ELA) letter writing
requirement, the classes took the SPCA’s wish list and wrote
letters to the manufacturers of some of the items on the list
asking for donations.
“We never expected to hear back from the companies,” said
Sarah Michaelson, the teacher of one of the classes participating
in the project. “I wanted the students to have an authentic
experience writing a business letter, not a pretend letter to a
pretend company. Students learned their words have power.”
Michaelson went on to explain how the students got personalized
letters from companies who sent donations directly to
the Chemung County SPCA. These companies do not usually
make donations, but were so touched by the students’ letters
that they made an exception.
“We were delighted to receive these donations,’” said Barbara
McLean, Executive Director of the Chemung County Humane
Society and SPCA. “It means even more to us that the
students took the time to write letters on our behalf and that
the companies answered in such a positive way.”
Volunteer Profile
From left to right Marcia McPherson and Betty
Ling hold shelter residents Koala and Mary
Mabel during a Monday afternoon cat cuddling
session.
Volunteers Marcia McPherson
and Betty Ling started volunteering
on March 31 of last year. The
retired school teachers from Addison
volunteer whenever their
schedules allow, but have been
coming on Mondays for the last
few weeks. “After being retired
for a year, we looked at options
of what to do with our time,”
Betty said. “This option appealed
to us over other options.”
The pair mostly cuddles cats, but,
“if we see something that needs
to be done, we do it,” Marcia said. As for their favorite part of volunteering,
Marcia says it’s, “holding the cat,” while Betty thinks the best part is
the older cats. “It’s strange because we both agree that we like the older
cats more than the kittens,” Betty said. “The older cats have already established
personalities, while the kittens are just forming a personality.”
The pair agrees that this is a meaningful experience for them and it’s why
they volunteer to help the animals. “To me it’s something I can do in retirement
to feel like I’m still making a difference; I’m providing a needed
service,” Betty said. “I do this because the cats need socialization,” said
Marcia. “I enjoy it and the cats do, too.”
Paulette Millan and the staff of the Chemung
County SPCA in front of the shelter.
A French Connection
On Wednesday, April 14, the Chemung
County Humane Society and
SPCA had a trial run of their new
“Shelter-to-Shelter” program. This
program hopes to build relationships
with other shelters locally,
around the country, and in this
case, around the world.
Shelter representatives met with
Paulette Millan, a woman who
volunteers with the SPA Limoges
(Society for the Protection of Animals)
in Limoges, France. She was in the country visiting her daughter
who adopted a cat from the shelter last year, and her daughter arranged
for her to tour the shelter and meet with our staff.
With the translating help of her daughter and our quadra-lingual Executive
Director, Barbara McLean, Millan told shelter staff about the policies
and procedures in place at her shelter and the Chemung SPCA staff
shared their experiences with her. It was a great multi-cultural test run of
our “Shelter-to-Shelter” program.
A New Look for Employees
Our employees have a brand new look! To the left: Chemung SPCA
employees Jennifer Farrel and Audrianna Jones model the new Chemung
SPCA Staff t-shirt. The uniform was implemented in an effort to make the
staff more identifiable to the public.
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