We have had a busy Spring! Our third annual Statehouse Day was in April and our first-ever, in-person Leadership Summit was in May, with both events providing our members with excellent opportunities to come together and further strengthen the Ohio Fed network across the state. We hope you enjoying reading about these events and more!
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INAUGURAL LEADERSHIP SUMMIT WAS A SUCCESS!
On May 10, leaders from animal welfare organizations across the state gathered at Deer Creek State Park to talk openly about what is happening in their communities, discuss ways they are currently addressing community needs, share ideas, and lay the groundwork for future collaborations. We were excited to host this event because it was a big step toward closing one of the most significant gaps that Ohio Fed, under our mission, can close for our members and animal welfare in Ohio: connecting organizational leaders.
Samantha Hill, Director of Data & Technology with Shelter Animals Count (SAC), opened the day by analyzing the latest Ohio stats from SAC and offering insights and comparisons to national trends, which helped put some context around why so many of you are seeing an increase in animals in your care.
After the opening session, our leaders broke up into breakout sessions and spent the rest of the day discussing: barriers to adoption; behavior issues in shelters; collaboration & mentorship; fostering; humane investigations; safety net programs & messaging to communities; staff recruitment & retention; burn out & compassion fatigue; and access to vet care. After the breakout sessions, our moderators "shared out" what was discussed so everyone could benefit from the discussions.
Our thanks to the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust for being our presenting sponsor, and to 24Pet for sponsoring our fun taco bar lunch.
We are in the process of surveying the leaders who attended to see how we can improve the Summit, but based on initial feedback we will be doing it again next year!
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Samantha Hill, Director of Data & Technology with Shelter Animals Count (SAC), presented the latest Ohio stats from SAC and offered insights and comparisons to national trends.
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Deer Creek Lodge & Conference Center offered a great venue for the Summit. |
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Leaders broke out into nine breakout sessions throughout the day to discuss topics of interest. |
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Ohio Fed members enjoyed a successful 3rd Annual Statehouse Day advocating on behalf of HB 277 and the work of all of our members across the state.
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On April 24, Ohio Fed members enjoyed a productive day at the Statehouse talking about the Ohio Animal Welfare Federation and advocating for Sub HB 277, the Pet Friendly Rental Act. The Pet Friendly Rental Act would provide participating landlords with a tax credit in return for allowing dogs and cats to live in their rental units without imposing breed or size restrictions and without charging additional monthly rent or deposits. Making it easier for people who own dogs and cats to find affordable housing will help keep families together and alleviate some of the stress owner surrenders put on our state's overflowing animal shelters. Our thanks to all of our members who made the trip to Columbus that day to meet with legislators on both sides of the aisle and ask for their support of this important bill: Sharon Harvey, Cleveland APL; Chalan Lowry, Portage APL; Gregory Willey, Friendship APL; Julie Holmes-Taylor, Green County Animal Control; Lori Carlson, Licking County Humane Society; Kelly Sauer, Cincinnati Animal CARE; Rob Craft, Miami County Animal Shelter; Julie Shellhammer, Allen County Dog Warden; Katelyn Lehman and Dakota Snure, Wayne County Dog Shelter; and Dr. Laura Advent, Columbus Humane.
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(l. to r.) Jackson Bergdoll from Cypress Partners, Julie Shellhammer from the Allen County Dog Warden's Office, Kelly Sauer from Cincinnati Animal CARE, Lori Carlson from Licking County Humane Society, and Robert Craft from the Miami County Animal Shelter, met with State Senator Al Landis, who represents Ohio's 31st District, and other legislators as part of our annual Statehouse Day.
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Member Benefit: If members would like to receive legislative updates as they happen, please email ohiofedhs@gmail.com and ask to be added to the list for advocacy alerts. |
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MEMBER RESOURCE DIRECTORY - REMINDER! Last fall we launched the Ohio Fed Member Resource Directory. We hope that you are using this resource and that it helps you better connect with other members.
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Reminder: The Resource Directory is only as good as the information your shelter or organization puts into it! If you are the administrator for your Ohio Fed organizational membership, please take a couple of minutes to log in to your profile and make sure your information is complete and up to date. To use the directory, log in to our website, hover over the Resources tab and click "Resource Directory." From there, you can enter a simple search term in the "search" field, such as county or shelter/organization name, to return basic results. Or, click "Advanced Search" to search on any number of fields such as ability to investigate animal abuse, ability to facilitate transfers or hours of operation, or to connect with other members by type (humane society, dog warden, 501(c)3 rescue and others).
Member Benefit: The directory was designed for use only by Ohio Fed members, not the general public. Only members who are logged in can access it.
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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!
The following shelters and organizations joined (or rejoined) Ohio Fed during the second quarter of 2024: |
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- Animal Shelter Society, Inc.
- Humane Association of Warren County – Ohio
- Pike Pet Pals
- City of Middleburg Heights Animal Control
- Portage County Dog Warden’s Office & Shelter
- Citizens Committee for Lakewood's Animals & Shelter
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Click here for a list of all organizational members.
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NEWS FROM AROUND THE FED
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Cincinnati Animal CARE is sharing what they learned from their experience with Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) last spring. Click here to view the blog post. They held a town hall at the time to share in-the-moment information about their Distemper outbreak with guest, Dr. Cynda Crawford, who is a leading expert in the diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention of infectious diseases that cause respiratory illness in dogs and cats in sheltering facilities. Dr. Crawford’s accomplishments include discovery of the canine influenza virus and development of the canine influenza vaccine. CincyCARE’s hope is that by sharing what they learned with the greater Ohio Fed membership they can help other members in quickly identifying, and managing, an outbreak of the deadly virus.
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The Guernsey County Dog Shelter is raising funds to build a new shelter and they are off to a great start! Thanks to the support of their local community, their Dog Gala held on March 14 raised $130,000 and plans are underway for their next gala in March 2025. Congratulations!
- We had a busy Spring with 24 people successfully completing our Humane Society Agent Training and another 26 people completing Euthanasia by Injection Training. Our next round of both of these trainings has been scheduled (check our Events page for details). Congratulations to:
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HUMANE SOCIETY AGENT TRAINING:
Thomas Artis II, Lawrence County Ohio HS Inc.
Hannah Bard, Cleveland APL
Kaylee Bennington, Belmont County Hoof & Paw
Debra Brownfield, Belmont County Hoof & Paw
Austin Burkholder, Humane Society and SPCA of Hancock
Rusty Compton, Pike Pet Pals
Mischele Criss, Huron County Humane Society
Lindsay Crites, Wood County Humane Society
Joe Eltringham, Jefferson County Humane Society
Robert Goewey, Wood County Humane Society
Amelia Hancock, Fort Defiance Humane Society
Dylan Hayes, Miami County Animal Shelter
Lisa Higgenbothem, Belmont County Hoof & Paw
Sara Lewellen, Williams County Humane Society Kinsley Martin, Williams County Humane Society
Scott Mastin, Cincinnati Animal CARE
Jessica McConville, Holmes County Dog Warden's Dept
Sierra Parks, Holmes County Dog Warden's Dept
Shelly Privett, Humane Society of Delaware County
Taylor Prusz, Cincinnati Animal CARE
Brady Roth, Belmont County Hoof & Paw
Sarah Steele, Clermont County Animal Shelter
Beth Ward, Cincinnati Animal CARE
Antonio Watkins, Cincinnati Animal CARE
Anthony Wolery, Clermont County Animal Shelter
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EBI CERTIFICATION:
Joie Askew, Humane Society of Summit County
Kaylee Berry, Lake Humane Society
Ian Bobick, Greene County Animal Shelter
Tori Braughton, Columbus Humane
David Britton, Ashtabula County
Megan Cleary, Citizens for Humane Action
Lacey Coleman, Ross County Humane Society
Connie Collins, Columbus Humane
Mackenzie Eddy, Toledo Area Humane Society
Jory Edwards, Humane Society of Summit County
Baylor Fortune, Lake Humane Society
Breyaunna Fulkerson, Toledo Area Humane Society
Jeremy Grant, Licking County Humane Society
Ashley Grego, Toledo Area Humane Society
Haley Hagerdon, Montgomery Area Resource Center
Nancy Jasqui, Columbus Humane
Reece Lemanski, Montgomery Area Resource Center
Tim Pappas, Clermont County Animal Shelter
Megann Smith, Wood County Humane Society
Jeni Stovicek, Humane Society of Summit County
Ryan Waits, Ross County Dog Warden
Preston Weaver, Montgomery Area Resource Center
Lora Wright, Fayette Regional Humane Society
Sara Xhepa, Montgomery Area Resource Center
Payton Yancey, Humane Society of Summit County
Jasmine Young, Humane Society of Summit County
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Do you have news to share? Click here to submit your news for the next issue.
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Member Benefit: Ohio Fed members receive discounted registration fees on all of our educational programs. |
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THANK YOU!
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We wish to thank Petco Love for their continued sponsorship of our webinar program!
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