The Beginning of a New Year!

[Maggie Funkhouser]

Greetings Alley Cat Rescue Members!

I hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday and is excited for the New
Year ahead. We at Alley Cat Rescue are always looking forward to
another year of helping those who are in need.

For members on our snail mail list, our latest Alley Cat Mews should
be arriving soon. This issue includes articles on ACR’s international
work, feral cats in the media, the continued cat versus bird debate,
and a special note from the president. So, keep an eye out for the
latest news from Alley Cat Rescue! And be sure to check out ACR’s
petition to the National Animal Control Association to decriminalize
feeding stray and feral cats on Care2’s website. For more information
please visit http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/decriminalize-feeding-stray-and-feral-cats.

On another note, in the second half of 2008, ACR established a low-
cost spay/neuter clinic thanks to a grant from The Snyder Foundation
for Animals and from donations from members, like you! Currently, this
program is assisting PG County, MD residents that earn less than
$35,000 a year. Those who qualify can have a male cat neuter for $40
and a female cat spayed for $45; these prices also cover distemper and
rabies vaccines. We have had a slow start, only sterilizing 15 cats so
far, but with increased visibility of the program and hopes of
offering our services to all Maryland residents in the near future, we
know our spay/neuter clinic will be a success. Therefore, anyone
meeting these two qualifications who is interested in taking advantage
of this opportunity, please contact ACR by email or by phone for more
information and to acquire an application.

To show your support of humanely controlling the pet population
through spay and neuter, please consider purchasing an Alley Cat
Rescue t-shirt. Two different styles are available: “Spay or Neuter”
on a gray shirt and “Neuter is Cuter” on a blue shirt. Both t-shirts
are available in sizes: small, medium, larger, and X-large. Pictures
of both can be found in our newsletter (and online in archived
newsletters).

And remember, when doing your shopping online, use the GoodSearch web
engine to do your surfing and help the charity of your choice. At no
cost to you, you can donate money to ACR while surfing the web. Simply
visit www.goodsearch.com, choose ACR as your charity of choice, and
begin searching…it’s that easy! For each search, the site raises about
$0.01 for the specified charity, so the more people who search using
this site that choose ACR, the more money that is donated to ACR!
Please tell you friends and family to surf the web using GoodSearch.

Again, I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday season and is looking
forward to the New Year. If you have not done so already, please
consider renewing your Alley Cat Rescue membership for 2009. Thanks to
last year’s members, 383 cats were sterilized, including 119 who were
TNRed ferals, and we placed 258 cats in forever homes. So, if you
still have a few dollars of “gift money” lying around, please help
Alley Cat Rescue get off to a great start in 2009, by making a tax-
deductible donation. To give a gift that keeps on giving, please visit
https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=522279100
to give online or mail your donation to Alley Cat Rescue PO Box 585
Mt. Rainier, MD 207125.

As always, thank you for your continued support, we could not do it
without you!

Kind Regards,

Alley Cat Rescue
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www.saveacat.org
http://alleycatrescue.blogspot.com