Pet Talk

It’s been a busy week and an exciting week and I want to take a minute to thank Mr. Porter and the Southern Aroostook Community School for their participation in a fund raiser, donating hundreds of dollars worth of supplies to the animal shelter. We really appreciate all the hard work and dedication it takes for these teachers and children to work together to help the animals.
    Also, a huge thank you goes out to the Houlton High School Student Council for choosing Houlton Humane to be the recipient of the $200 they received from Bangor Savings Bank to donate to a charity of their choice.  Student Council President Tyler Delano presented the check to Shelter Director Heather Miller and we want to thank all the students for voting for the animals!
Recently we held our annual meeting which includes an election of officers. We are so excited to introduce our new board to you – First Vice President Dorene Humphrey – many of you know Dorene, as she has been working in animal welfare and rescue for over 30 years and has no doubt rescued more animals in her tenure than any five people.   Dorene and Tim’s house is always full of animals, those who are hard to place, those who might need some extra medical attention, those who are perhaps blind or deaf, they all end up with Dorene. She is the most compassionate person I’ve ever met and we are so delighted to have her continue another year with us.
Second Vice President Cara Maples has been on the board but just moved into the VP position, Cara and her husband Jonathan, also a board member, are just awesome. They showed up one weekend to help with a fundraiser and we fell in love with them and never let them go. They have, I think, 18 cats at home, are part owners with Chuck and Chris Loucka (Cara’s parents) of Katahdin Lodge and have a real heart for animals. Cara’s Dad will be performing on Dec. 4 for us at the Wesleyan Church at 7 p.m. and if you aren’t there, you are going to miss the most incredible talent in the area. I won’t reveal too much, I’ll just tell you that at his last performance, I saw many people wiping tears from their eyes, they were so moved by his music.
Cindy Folsom remains as Secretary of Houlton Humane.  Cindy has been involved in animal welfare as long as Dorene has and has many cats of her own.  She and our treasurer have the hardest jobs, making sure that you all receive thank you notes when you donate, and trust me, that is just about a full time job because she strives to thank everyone for not only financial contributions but the people who make jewelry to sell, or donate food to the pantry, or donate blankets or towels, or donate baskets to raffle. We appreciate Cindy’s dedication, and for those of you who think we all have board positions to get rich, Cindy pays for the notes and postage out of her own pocket, not to mention the thousand other ways she (and we all) contribute financially.
Lois Jeffery remains as Treasurer.  Nothing is more important than assuring that your donations to us are handled by an expert. As a former loan officer for a local bank, Lois has years of financial experience and has been totally dedicated to the animal shelter for many years. Her experience and love of animals is a great asset to the organization.
Heather Miller retains her board position as Agent.  Heather is also the Executive Director of the Shelter and I have to tell you, I’ve never seen such dedication. At any given time Heather has animals at home that she is taking care of because they need all night attention, medication, feeding, whatever they need, Heather is there for them. If there is ever any doubt about the depth of her love and compassion for animals, just visit her at home sometime.  I’ve lost track of her brood, last I knew she had seven or eight dogs and over a dozen cats, not to mention that just about every homeless rabbit that comes into the shelter ends up living at Heathers if they can’t be adopted. I don’t know what we would do without her.
We are very excited to welcome new board members Shelley Chavonelle, former Executive Director of Bangor Humane Society.  What a wealth of knowledge and experience she brings us.  Also Linda Sewell who used to volunteer at Bangor Humane.  Linda walked in one day when we were getting the new building ready after the initial construction and said “I’m here to volunteer, what can I do” – I handed her a paint brush and she’s been with us ever since. Linda began a new group called “Friends of Houlton Humane” to help raise funds for the continuation of our work.
Welcome to Donald Scott, we are so glad to have you join us and hope you will consider a board position and of course I already mentioned Jonathan Maples but I have to mention him again because Jonathan is so special. He has a way of seeing things that is so down to earth, so real, an ability to cut through the garbage and get right to the issue, and we all treasure Jonathan and just love his sense of humor!
I can’t forget to thank Shonna Milliken Humphrey for all her work. We had a very nice website in the past and we are extremely appreciative of all the work that went into it, but we were looking for something we could administer ourselves, update daily, add blogs, photos, etc., and Shonna built a very nice website for us, which is now live at www.houltonhumanesociety.org. We are also on Facebook – please visit for up to date happenings, photos of animals available for adoption, messages and notes.
We have a ton of kittens right now who need new homes. Please consider adopting, and please join us on Saturday, Nov. 27 from 11 am to 3 p.m. at the Congregational Church on High Street where some of our kittens will be available for adoption, Santa will be available to have photos taken with your pets, and a chicken and beef stew luncheon will be served. Lunch is just $5 for all you can eat and will include biscuits, cider or coffee, and dessert. Nov. 27 is a busy shopping day. Why not stop by, take the load off, visit for a little while and have a warm lunch.