Posting2006Jan30

Are you wondering what has been going on at the Amigos de los Animales? Well, the big news is that after over 10 years of existence we will finally tax deductible to the local business. This will bring Amigos free food for the animals and more donations from local business to the Amigos. This dream come true should be a reality around the first of March.

The name of the board members and titles are as follows:

The Vocal positions are board members with voting power but they are to fill in where ever and when ever other positions need filling.

The board meetings are now conducted in Spanish and translated into English when necessary. Having our meetings in Spanish is part of our qualifying for the tax deductible status. We will be having general meeting quarterly from now on. Those meetings will be posted as to day, time, and place in plenty of time for anyone to attend. Meanwhile the working board is meeting the second Tues. of every month. We are discussing the need for more space because of the increase in the influx of animals. The two options on the table right now are: One we keep the place we have and use it as an adoption center only. We buy land or get land granted to us once we meet the tax deductible status. The new place would be more of a holding area for animals. The second opinion is to sell the present shelter and buy a larger place outside of town. This brings up issues of convenience for the people wanting to adopt an animal or drop off animals. The board is deep into working on what is the best course for the Amigos. Edgar Barragan thinks we have a two year window to work this out without being overcrowded with animals and having problems with the government. As things stand the shelter is bringing in almost enough money from donations to pay for itself. The local people are for the first time supporting the shelter and paying the expenses. We will need to make money and have fund raisers for Amigos to grow and build a new and bigger shelter.

If you did not notice we are happy and thrilled to announce that Sally Ross is back in the treasurer's seat! She did the best accounting the Amigos ever had and we are thrilled to have her back on the board.

One of our missions is education, and as such we have been visiting various local schools. In January, we, together with a Conrehabit representative, visited the Instituto mazatlan, with 81 kids and the Colegio Britanico, with 60 kids. Some photos of one of these visits are at:

http://maztravel.com/maz/amigos/schools/

and I encourage you to take a look and see all the happy children. During those visits we pass out coloring books and crayons to each of the kids, which leads me to our next topic.

We are looking to put together another coloring book for the children. We would like you the public to submit drawings that could be used in the book. We will be giving out money prizes for the winners of the drawings. We want to make it clear that once you submit an image it will be long to Amigos and Conrehabit. The coloring book will be jointly owned by the Amigos and Conrehabit. These are books we will be handing out when we visit the schools as an educational tool. More details about the contest are available at:

http://maztravel.com/maz/amigos/coloring_book.html

One result of these school visits is that several children have shown up at the shelter, eager to help in any way they can. Fortunately the resident dogs and cats can readily absorb all of the love and affection they are willing to share.

The catch and release program is working great. In December 8 cats were released, and in November 16. If you need to have a cat caught please phone the shelter for cage availability. They are out a lot these days because of the program. These cats will have shots and be spayed and neutered. They will have a cut on their right ear to show they have been treated by us. Please do not kill these cats they are there to help us with rodent control and bugs. Plus you will never have to worry about noises with these cats due to not being breeders.

Here are then numbers from last month's (December) operation:

Donations received $14,330 Pesos.

Alma Zepeda is in the process of putting on a Perroton Event. It will take place on March 11, 2007 at the Bosque de la Cuidad, (the city park). There will be a contest for best dressed dog, cat, most obedient dog, and the best trick performance. Admission is pet food or cleaning supplies. She and Edgar are in the process of printing more Amigos T-shirts which will be sold at the event.

That seems to be all I have to report for now. Please look forward to more updates. We hope to have a fund raiser in March some time. We hope to see you all there to show your support for this worthwhile cause.

Nadine Laxen Amigos Vocal