Monday, February 10, 2025

Delco Loves Animals: Exciting Progress and Our First Update of 2025!

Happy New Year! There’s so much to tell you. So, grab a mug or glass of your favorite drink. This will take a few minutes to read. 

 THANK YOU

First, we want to send a BIG THANK YOU Steve Zane, Collingdale Borough Councilman who sponsored the first Delco Loves Animals Pet Food Pantry with us on January 5th, for providing the space at the Collingdale Community Center snack bar and for all your hard work! You went above and beyond, Steve and we really appreciate all you did!

 For those of you who donated pet food/pet supplies, money and/or your time on January 5th a BIG THANK YOU to you! The Pet Food Pantry was a huge success because of ALL of you! We’re looking forward to the next Pet Food Pantry coming up on February 16th which will be co-sponsored with John Sperduto, owner of Alphabet Lane Child Development Center in Folsom (across from the Folsom Fire House). John was kind enough to offer space at Alphabet Lane which recently opened. A BIG THANK YOU to you, John! We are looking forward to another successful Pet Food Pantry and we are grateful for your generosity!

 WE’RE HAVING A MEETING

We want to invite you to our Zoom meeting on Thursday, February 13th at 7pm. We hope you can make it. If you would like to attend, please RSVP so we can send you an invitation. The topics we’ll be covering are VOLUNTEERING, the PET FOOD PANTRY and BRANDYWINE VALLEY SPCA which is not addressed in this email, as well as some topics below. In warmer weather, we’re thinking it would be nice to have some in-person meetings at a park like Rose Tree Park. It’s always difficult to find indoor space for free.

 BOARD MEMBERS

We have an immediate need for qualified Board Members before we can incorporate and apply for 501(c)(3) status. If you or someone you know is interested, please let us know so we can set up a time to meet with you. 

We are limited in what we can do until we are incorporated and have 501(c)(3) status.

OUR NAME, WEBSITE, BLOG, AND LOGO

v  Our Name: We have secured our name Delco Loves Animals with the state and Google, and we have purchased the domain name.

v  Social Media: We have a Facebook page, Instagram and TikTok. Currently we’re only using our Facebook page.

v  Website & Blog: We’re hoping to get a website up and running soon. We’re also going to have a blog which we will use to update everyone on our progress. If you subscribe, you can receive notification when a new blog post is out. 

  • If anyone has expertise in websites and would be willing to help out, please let us know (we’re going to use a template from Wix or something similar).

v  Our Logo:  You may have seen our logo on Facebook. Thank you to those who offered their advice and opinions for the logo!  You’ll see it at the top of this email.

 FLYERS & LINKS

Our flyers, 2025 Key Initiatives and our February's Pet Food Pantry flyers are below. Here’s the link for the Pet Food Pantry Enrollment form.

 MEETING WITH THE D.A.

On February 19th we have a meeting scheduled with the D.A. to discuss animal cruelty. We’re going to stress

the importance of enforcing the animal cruelty laws and prosecuting offenders to the fullest extent of the law.

We will also discuss what laws may need to be changed or added. Animal cruelty is rampant and a slap on the wrist for harming or killing animals is unacceptable and not nearly enough.

We all know that when laws are not enforced and prosecutors don’t prosecute, we see higher crime. People need to be afraid of what might happen to them if they harm or kill animals. And animals need us to be their voices.

 FREE PET SHELTERS

We met a guy last month at the Pet Food Pantry who makes pet shelters and gives them out for FREE. If you or someone you know needs one, let us know.

NEWSPAPERS FOR TRAPPERS

If any trappers are in need of newspapers, please let us know. We have a connection at the Daily Times and can get  quantities. We can pick them up and either deliver them or arrange for you to pick them up.

CLEAN, NEW OR GENTLY USED BLANKETS

Many shelters and rescues use and need blankets. We would like to have an ongoing collection of clean, new or gently used blankets that we can give to the shelters and rescues who need them.

 PET FOOD PANTRY

Our next Pet Food Pantry is February 16th. Since it’s Valentine’s Day weekend it will be a heart-filled day with some holiday fun and light refreshments!

We will need volunteers to help out with receiving donations, handling the Guest List, bagging supplies, and helping carry supplies to people’s cars. If you would like to volunteer on February 16th, please let us know. Also, we have some ideas that we'd like to start implementing. They are as follows:

  • We want to be all around Delco! Choose a different location each month to have the Pet Food Pantry - if your place of business or municipality would like to co-sponsor a pet food pantry with us, please have them get in touch with us. All they have to do is provide the space and help us get the word out about the pantry and donations.
  • We now have an eligibility enrollment form on Jot Form for anyone who would like to enroll in the pantry. It was suggested by a few experienced people to do this. Each eligible person will receive a card good for six months. They will have to show the card and photo ID at each Pet Food Pantry event in order to receive supplies. Since the mission of Delco Loves Animals (DLA) is to help reduce the population of cats and dogs by spay and neuter, we require that anyone who enrolls in the pantry provide spay/neuter records for their pets, whether theirs, fosters, rescues, etc. If the pets are not yet spayed/neutered, they must provide proof of a scheduled appointment and then will have three months to provide proof of spay/neuter. The attached Pet Food Pantry flyer includes a QR Code for the enrollment form.

·      Each month we would like to hold a raffle that will benefit a Delco rescue or shelter. If you'd like to nominate one, please get in touch with us, otherwise we'll choose one.

  • For the raffles we will need your help...if you or a business you know would like to donate a gift basket, a gift card, entertainment tickets, pet products/supplies, etc. please let us know. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the designated recipient. More on the raffles to follow.
  • If any businesses you know would like to collect donations for our monthly Pet Food Pantry we will provide a bin for that location. However, it will need to be in a secure location so that it won’t be in view of passersby. The bin will be placed at the location at the beginning of a month and picked up on the first of the next. If they would like to keep the bin for another month, they can just let us know and we’ll return it to that location.

 FUNDRAISING IDEAS FOR RESCUES & SHELTERS

·      Monthly raffles (see above)      

       Sell merchandise with Delco Loves Animals logo: T-shirts, sweatshirts, socks, babywear (onesies), dog coats, golf shirts, hats, tote bags, mouse pads, blankets, potholders/oven mitts, homemade lip balms* and more ideas to come. 

       *Lisa’s homemade lip balms made with organic and natural ingredients – They will be sold for $3.00 each / $2.50 will be donated.

M   VOLUNTEERS

We want to thank those who have volunteered with us and who have contacted us to be a volunteer! Up until now we really weren’t sure what roles were necessary. If you would like to volunteer or have expertise in any of these areas, we have plenty of opportunities for you:

1.        Pet Food Pantry Volunteers

o   At the Pet Food Pantry events: Receiving donations, handling the Guest List, bagging supplies, and helping carry supplies to people’s cars.

o   Find and secure locations for the monthly Pet Food Pantry for the remainder of the year (at businesses and municipalities). We’d like to get the rest of the year secured soon.

o   Contact businesses to ask for donations of pet food, cat litter, and other essential pet supplies.

o   Ask for and hand out Pet Food Pantry donations flyers to prospective donors of pet food, cat litter, and other essential pet supplies.

o   Pet Food Pantry Bins: We need volunteers to find businesses who are willing to have a bin set up for donations.

o   Pet Food Pantry Flyers: We already have the flyer templates and just need someone to change the date, time and location each month.

o   Social Media Volunteers: We need volunteers who can manage our social media accounts and also get the word out each month about the Pet Food Pantry, donations, raffle donations, etc.

o   Volunteers to distribute printed flyers for the Pet Food Pantry throughout Delco.

o   Raffle Gifts: We need volunteers who can contact people you know and businesses to ask if they will donate gift baskets, gift cards, products, services, entertainment tickets (movies, concerts, sports, escape rooms, archery, family fun centers, etc.) for our monthly raffles (see below).  We just ask that you avoid gifts of alcohol.

o   Volunteers to help with our website.

o   Volunteers to help with the Amazon Wish List.

 If anyone has any other ideas that would benefit Delco rescues and shelters, trappers, fosters, etc. please let us know.

 As we continue making progress, we're gaining a clearer understanding of what needs to be done. We'd love to connect with all the rescues, shelters, clinics, veterinarians, and local officials (mayors, council members, state representatives) in Delco. If you know any of them, it would be incredibly helpful if you could introduce us and help us get in touch.

 With appreciation and kind regard,

Rich & Lisa Small



  






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