D2Care

Well, good afternoon everyone. Thought I’d just pop in and update everyone on a few things.

Take a look at the website, www.d2care.org. We have updated the Home Page article and created a new page for archived articles. We would like to send a huge thank you to T. E. Houston for her submission. Ms. Houston has also written an article on training a deaf dog with basic obedience commands. That will be the next article to be posted.

If you have an idea for an article, please be sure to share it with us. We are accepting submission of new articles. Submission and posting of articles does require a signed agreement. This is to protect both D2Care and you, the author, for future generations of D2Care website viewers.

Also, as you move through the website, you may notice a change in Committee names. You will find our current and active committees on the http://www.d2care.org/aboutus/committees.php
Several of the committee names changed to better reflect their purpose. We, the current Board, realized that there might be confusion for future generations of Board Directors and Members of D2Care if one were to simply look at the names, so we worked to find names that might be less confusing, and rewrote the purposes of the Committees to enhance clarity.

A third page to look at is the Bonus Shopping page. We have increased the number of Affiliate organizations that we subscribe too. http://www.d2care.org/supportus/bonus.php
We now have affiliate agreements with:
Dog Lovers Wine Club
Helping Udders
Amazon.com
Grower Flowers
1-800-PetMeds
Disney Shopping
Doctors Foster and Smith
Gifts for You Now
Petsmart
Plow and Hearth
J.B. Wholesale Pet Supplies
Terry’s Village
Dogwise.com
SitStay.com
The Popcorn Factory
Petco
BuyForCharity

And finally, I would like to remind those that purchased a sweat shirt to look for them sometime after April 29. Also, return to the website periodically to see what new merchandise has been developed.

The minutes for the March, 2008 Members meeting will be posted soon. I would like to thank all of those that attended the meeting. Our next member meeting is May 18. At the May Members Meeting, we encourage our members to review and ask questions about D2Care finances.

And, last but not least, a quick reminder that the Charter Memberships will end on June 30. Our Charter members will receive a letter of membership renewal in May. An individual membership is still $15.00, while a family membership remains $25.00.

Katrina
President, D2Care

D2Care Presidents Update
3/31/08 

It seems appropriate that on this last day of March, that I send out an update. So here goes: 

Many of you are aware that we received a general grant from Petco. This is a huge bonus for us and gave us that extra boost we needed to start fulfilling our mission.Because of this grant, we have begun to award funds to rescues and individuals who have deaf dogs in need. Late last year, we sent funds to a rescue for a fencing project for a disabled dog park. This year, we have provided funds to help in the vet care of two very special Great Dane puppies. We have been contacted by a Great Dane rescue in the Rocky Mountains and will be sending funds for a Dane in need of eye surgery. And we are currently evaluating a third request. (not a Dane this time ) 

D2Care has also been in the news. Last year, our Vice President, Lori was interviewed about our affiliation with the Dog Lovers Wine Club by the Sacramento Bee in California. Shortly after, because of the Sacramento Bee article, the Woodland Democrat interviewed me and my interview made front page news. The article was entitled “No Deaf Ears Here”. However, because the article is now archived, I can not provide a link. Well, I can provide a link to the archives page, but you will have to pay for accessing it. So, if you would like a copy, please e-mail me at Katrina@d2care.org with your name and address and I will make a copy and mail the copy to you. 

Speaking of Dog Lovers Wine Club, be sure to check out the affiliates page. We now have 17 affiliates listed, and a couple more to add. If you know of an organization that has an affiliate or associate program, and think that D2Care should contact them, please let me know or Lori at lori@d2care.org. When individuals purchase products from the affiliates via the website, D2Care receives a percentage of the sales. 

We had our third Members meeting on March 16. We had 22 members attend, which provided us with our needed quorum. For those that were able to attend, the Board sends a huge thank you. During that meeting, we had a major technical problem with the chat room so had to adjourn before the agenda was completed, but we were able to establish the first Bylaws committee. This group of 2 Board Members and 3 Members will work to review some language in some of the Articles. Yes, as hard as we worked on the Bylaws, once put into practice, we found the glitches. Now this committee will work to smooth those out. 

We have established a new committee. This is the Public Relations and Fundraisers Committee. Monica Kaskey is the Chair. The committee is charged with developing promotional materials for the organization and provides support using the promotional materials for fundraisers. 

As always, we are looking for more members for each of our committees. Currently the committees of D2Care are:

• Adopt-A-Dog (the courtesy profiles for deaf dogs in need of homes)
• Membership (Liaison committee between the members and the board)
• Grants (writing and applying for grants to help fund D2Care mission)
• Merchandise and Marketing (development of merchandise and marketing of said merchandise)
• Web (assist the webmaster in formatting, design and maintenance of the website)
• Bylaws (review the Bylaws for identified areas of question)
• PR and Fundraisers (development of promotional materials and fundraisers)
• Funding (developing the framework for award D2Care funds to rescues and individuals with deaf dogs in need)

Our Merchandise and Marketing Committee announced the sales of our first “special” just this month. There are two more days to get your order in before the sale ends. Go to http://www.d2care.org/supportus/merch.php to order. There is a member’s discount, so if you had a momentary thought of joining, this might be a good time to think about it again.

Katrina
President, D2Care
Katrina@d2care.org
www.d2care.org

I thought I would take this opportunity to update everyone on the goings on with D2Care.In October of 2007, the Board decided to develop “affiliate contracts”. These affiliates are large corporations that share a percent of sales of their products with the non-profits that sign up with them. However, in order to take advantage of this arrangement, the corporate link must be added to the non-profit website, and all sales must be made through that link.http://www.d2care.org/supportus/bonus.phpThe affiliates we have contracted with are a diverse group, so that you can find a little of something for any occasion.Dog Lover’s Wine ClubHelping UddersAmazon.comGrower Flowers.comPetMedsDisney Shopping.comDr. Fosters and SmithGifts For You NowPetsmartPlow and HearthTerry’s VillageThe ParagonThe Popcorn FactoryBuy For CharitySoon to be added:DogwiseWe were able to share exciting news towards the end of the year. We received a General Grant from Petco. This grant can be used for general use, and so we have decided to use it to start our merchandise line, and to start fulfilling our mission to help with the vetting, transport, and rescue of deaf dogs. We received 3 requests for funding this last year, and all requests were approved. However, uncontrollable circumstances at the rescue end did not allow us to follow through on providing those funds.D2Care provided a grant to CODA Rescue for the Dog Park Fence.The Adopt-A-Dog pages ran into a couple of glitches. So our webmaster is back at work to resolve the issues identified. The posting of those pages are our next priority.In December, Lori, our Vice President was interviewed by the Sacramento Bee about D2Care and one of its Affiliate partners, “The Dog Lovers Wine Club”. The link for the piece can be found in the News Blog on the website. However, as a result, the Daily Democrat (the Woodland newspaper) will be interviewing Katrina for an organizational profile. Look for the link once it gets printed.Also, in the news, our Logo is complete. Thank you ever so much, Marcy Rauch. It’s absolutely lovely. You will soon get to see the Logo on our Merchandise line. Look for the next exciting announcement for the Grand Opening of the D2Care Store.Thank you for allowing me to share this news update with you. I look forward to another exciting year.KatrinaPresident, D2Carewww.d2care.org

Lisa Heyamoto, of the Sacrament Bee, gave D2Care and Deaf Dogs a little boost in her lifestyle column.

Check it out:

Scroll half way down

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/557976.html

Warmly,

Lori Skinner

V.P. D2Care

Presidents Report

7/7/07

In March, 06, D2Care was founded, with the intent that it would become a new 501(c)(3) organization devoted to the health, welfare and quality of life of deaf dogs.  Those that helped to found the organization wanted it to be membership based, with the members being as involved as they wanted to be in the day to day management of the organization.

From March 06 to the present, D2Care has accomplished the following:

• Selected a name, mission statement, motto, and logo
• Created the website (www.d2care.org) and elected the founding Board members
• Created Committees to do the work of the organization

• Funding
• Web
• Membership
• Adopt-A-Dog
• Members
• Grants

Elections for the first full Board of D2Care took place in May 2007. 

Results:

Katrina McGinnis, President (4 year term)

Lori Skinner, Vice President (2 year term)

Myra Ellis, Treasurer (2 year term)

Laura Brown, Secretary (2 year term)

Kara Gilmore (2 year term)

Monica Kaskey (2 year term)

Becca Incledon (4 year term)

Jennifer Laus (4 year term)

Rhonda Champion (4 year term)

Katrina

President, D2Care