As the holidays approach, we look forward to
visiting
during this joyful time of year. Feel free to dress your
dog or cat for the season. A ruffled collar, Santa hat, or
other holiday wear will help your pet celebrate the
holidays. The residents and patients will enjoy seeing
their little visitors in their holiday outfits!
The January-May, 2009 schedule is now on the
website www.visitingpetprogram.org. Please note that
due to Mardi Gras parades, holidays, and special
events, such as the VPP Annual Picnic, visit dates for
many facilities have been changed.
Be sure to consult the schedule for your visiting
dates! We need to know your plans for each individual
month. You can confirm your visit schedule using the
on -line confirmation form (members only page) or
email your confirmations to [email protected]
or fax to 504-324-0963 or call 504 432 8349.
Thank you for your commitment to VPP and
service to
the community. I hope you and your beloved pet
have a
wonderful winter-spring visiting season.
JOYCE KLEINFELDT
Program Coordinator
Quick Links
Visit
Schedule for Spring 2010
To Claire to schedule your visits
[email protected]
To the web site
Visiting
Pet Program web site
Message from the President |
The Visiting Pet Program is extremely
excited to
announce we are the recipient of a $3500
grant from
the New Orleans Red Dress Run sponsored by the
New Orleans Hash House Harriers. For those of
you
who don't know, the New Orleans Red Dress Run is
one of the largest Red Dress Runs in the United
States. http://nolareddress.com It is is
hosted by The
New Orleans Hash House Harriers (NOH3) which
is a
local kennel (chapter) of The Hash House
Harriers
http://neworleanshash.tripod.com The NOH3
describe themselves as "A Drinking Club with a
Running Problem". The New Orleans Red Dress Run
is not affiliated with any specific charity,
but instead
contributes to several charities.
The "New Orleans Red Dress Run sponsored by the
New Orleans Hash House Harriers" funded some
very deserving organizations this year and
the VPP
was fortunate enough to be included in that
number.
VPP member Judilyn Schneider was instrumental in
introducing the Visiting Pet Program to the New
Orleans Red Dress Run. In October Judilyn and I
attended the New Orleans Red Dress Run Volunteer
Party at the 3 Ring Circus in New Orleans.
During this
party, NOH3 awarded checks to the grantees and
honored the organizations they were able to
support
with this year's proceeds from the Red Dress Run
sponsored by the New Orleans Hash House
Harriers. The list of organizations was
impressive
and I am honored the VPP was included.
Thanks so much to the Red Dress Run sponsored by
the New Orleans Hash House Harriers for this
generous award.
Claire Sommers
President
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VPP at Delgado Animal Expo |
The Visiting Pet Program was well
represented at the annual Delgado Animal Expo in
October. Volunteers Patty Spampneto, Ellen
Goldring,
Kim Carlson, Kevin Hand, Dawn Hagmann and Gayle
Kroeger all helped spread the word about the
value of
Animal Assisted Therapy.
The event fell just before our fall
orientation, offering a
golden opportunity to invite people to the
orientation.
Volunteers also sold our fabulous 2010
calendars.
Over 600 people attended the event and many
of them
stopped by our booth.
Our thanks to Fay Schultz for offering to
take on the
effort of organizing the booth an volunteers.
Another job really well done!
Lee Gaffney
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VPP Member Gets Recognition |
Under the leadership of VPP member Danna
Morris, the Department of Information
Technology and
Telecommunications of Kenner has continued to
grow
and is credited with not only saving Kenner
more than
$100,000 a year on phone services alone, but
also
with improving the city's technology, emails and
organization improvements, including working
with the
Kenner Police Department to connect the city
and the
police department to a single communications
network.
City of Kenner Mayor Ed Muniz says the Department
of Information Technology has been a
tremendous success, not only in saving
money but also in creating systems that
the city of Kenner owns in perpetuity.
Morris said her department has
worked to improve productivity by
better managing technologies such as
emails.
Congratulations to Danna. We are all proud of
you.
Keep up the good work!
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Visiting Pet Program 2010 Calendars For Sale |
I wanted to remind everyone about the 2010
Visiting
Pet Program calendars we are selling. The
calendars
are our only fundraising effort this year.
Since it is
December, I'm sure everyone is thinking about
holiday
gifts. These calendars will make a great
gift: one size
fits all, easy to wrap, perfect for a man or
woman, and
they are just downright cute! These would be
a great
gift for your vet, your groomer, pet sitter
or dog walker.
Actually for anyone that is a pet lover. And
of course we
all need one for the home or office.
Calendars are priced at $15 each. If you buy 4
calendars you get the a 5th calendar Free If
you buy 8
calendars, you get an 9th and 10th calendar Free.
Please contact any of the following to purchase
calendars: Claire Sommers at
[email protected]; Pam Bellone at
[email protected]; Lee Gaffney at
[email protected]; Malay Hajra at
[email protected] and Rebecca Breaud on the
northshore [email protected]
Also, if you want to have a calendar mailed
to a pet
loving friend or family member that lives out
of town,
we can take care of that for you. Contact Pam
Bellone
at [email protected] to arrange to mail
calendars. There will be an extra fee ($2)
for postage.
If paying by check make the check out to
Visiting Pet
Program, cash is also accepted. You can also
pay via
paypal.
Thanks so much and Happy shopping.
Claire Sommers
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GUARDIAN ANGELS |
A donation was received
from Mina Lea
Crais in memory of
Eleanor
Maier's cat, Charley.
A donation
was
received from
Lee and Tommy Gaffney
in
memory
of
Alison Cook's Greyhound, Betty.
A donation was received
from Mina Lea
Crais
in memory of The Duplesis
Family
dog,
Lulu.
A donation
was
received from
Lee and Tommy Gaffney
in
memory
of
Connie Back's boxer, Stella.
A donation was received from Mina Lea
Crais
in memory of Ralph
Marchetti's
and Peter Tiskis' dog,
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About the Visiting Pet Program |
The Visiting Pet Program is an all
volunteer 501
(C)(3) non-profit animal assisted therapy
organization serving Orleans, Jefferson and St.
Tammany parishes.
For the past 22 years, the volunteers of the
VPP have
lived up to their motto of "Bringing Love and
Leaving
Smiles" to the residents of nursing homes and
hospitals.
Our literacy project, Reading
to Rover,
offers young readers the opportunity to practice
their reading aloud skills to the gentle therapy
dogs.
If you would like to make a donation to
the Visiting Pet Program, please click on the
button
below or mail your check to 5831 S. Johnson
Street,
New Orleans, LA 70125. Please note if your
donation
is in memory of a person or a pet. We will be
happy
to send an acknowledgment of your donation to the
family. Please include the name and address
to send
the acknowledgment. Because we are a 501(C)(3)
organization, your donation is tax deductible. We
are an all volunteer organization. Your donation
goes directly to the support of our mission.
Thank you
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Take Note! |
CELEBRATING
22 SUCCESSFUL
YEARS
Pet/Handler
Evaluation
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
Harahan Senior Center 100 Elodie
Pre-registration required Contact Barbara
Hyland to register at [email protected]
or 504-
481-6288 if you would like to have an
additional
pet tested.
Reading To Rover
On the East Bank
Held on the third Tuesday of each
month
at the East Bank Regional Library
4747 W. Napoleon in Metairie
6:30pm-7:30pm
On the West Bank
Held on the second Sunday of each month
2751 Manhattan Blvd., Harvey
from 2:00pm-3:00pm
Events are now being planned in conjunction
with the
STAIR program. Please contact Fay for
upcoming
times and locations
Contact Fay Schultz [email protected]
to confirm your slot at any of these
Reading To
Rover events.
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