This edition of Animal Aid enews comes to you with sincere gratitude to all of our supporters, at the end of another very eventful year. If we cast our minds back to this time last year, I think we would have been complaining about many of the same problems. We still have too many cats and kittens coming in, we still see too many dogs that are not being cared for properly and surrender rates are a constant concern. Thanks to the support of people like you, we are here every day to make sure these precious creatures get the kind of care that they deserve.

As the weather warms up and we are all starting get a little nervous about the type of fire season we will be facing this year, our minds are drawn back to the extraordinary events of Black Saturday and the weeks that followed. The relief effort that we were able to provide thanks to all of the marvellous people involved, was such a remarkable feat. We hope that our services won’t be required this year but we are making the necessary preparations just in case.

In March we launched the Meet Your Match® Adoption Program, the first shelter in Australia to do so. It has been such a natural progression for us, the program is so practical and just makes good sense. We were very well represented by Sharon Van Den Bergen and Cassie Pearton at the National Summit to End Pet Overpopulation in Queensland. Having the opportunity to tell our industry peers about the innovative programs, like Meet Your Match®, is something that we couldn’t miss out on. If you haven’t heard about this program before just click here to find out more.

This year we have had an unprecedented number of requests for Animal Aid representatives to conduct educational and promotional talks. This pleases us no end, as we are always only too happy to tell people about what we are doing at the shelter. Our ability to develop and enhance this very important form of communication will be given a very big boost in the new year with the addition of our long awaited Education building. I know that this is a bit of a tease but we will tell you more about that next year.

2009 also saw us participate in more community festivals, ably coordinated by Karen Blizzard and her fantastic Volunteer and Promotional teams, than ever before. It is always a valuable exercise for us to get out into our surrounding communities and talk to people first hand about some of the challenges we face. Equally it is a chance to meet up with some of our triumphs, as adoptive families proudly parade their treasured new family member up to our stall.

Our final event to cap off what has been a very challenging year was our annual Volunteer Christmas BBQ. This is a really important evening for us because it gives us the opportunity to give a little bit back to those who give so much to us. Together with our financial supporters, our Volunteers are an integral part of everything we do we. Let’s face it, we wouldn’t be where we are today without them.

There is so much more that I would like to tell you about but we only have so much space. So a big thank you to everyone who has been involved this year and we look forward to the coming year with determination and enthusiasm for the job at hand. So from all of us we hope that you and your pets have a happy and safe festive season.