Donation from Daniel!

tbar-donation-daniel-gaskamp-brenhamThe Animals of True Blue Animal Rescue would like to thank Daniel Gaskamp (center) for sharing his birthday with the animals by asking for donations of food for the animals for his birthday. Thanks to his generosity the animals will be well fed for quite a while! Daniel and Teresa Gaskamp are a blessing to TBAR and all the animals. Love this picture of them with their children during Daniels party.

Texas Unites Recap: 2016

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Six True Blue Animal Rescue members went to Texas Unites for Animals in Austin on April 22 – 25. We learned about fundraising, marketing, animal care, rescue management and so much more. Not only did we learn we had fun and won prizes too. Dale won a cat catcher (bottom left) and Linda won a cat carrier with other pet goodies inside. (bottom right). This fabulous event was brought to you by all the sponsors on the center bottom poster. We can’t thank them enough for helping the people of Animal Rescue learn more so we can help more animals!

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From Melanie:

One of the sessions I attended at Texas Unites for Animals was called ‘Take the Time to Save Time’ and the presenter was Carl Youngberg.

Rescuers spend countless hours helping animals in addition to other jobs and taking care of family. Time management is something we can all benefit from. This slide really struck me though because we feel like we’re spinning our wheels sometimes and wasting time but we love what we do so it’s never a waste!

It is important to prioritize what we’re doing to make sure that we focus on tasks that contribute toward a long term goal. For rescuers that’s helping animals but it’s also sustaining a viable rescue that can maintain and continue to rescue animals for years to come. After prioritizing tasks we need to evaluate and be sure we are doing those tasks. To help with this we can ask ourselves questions at the end of the day such as:

  • What went right today? What went wrong? Why?
  • What time did you start on your top priority task?
  • What stopped you from getting to your priority task?

Write down the answers on a log and adjust your day so you can get to your priorities the following day.

A final slide presented said it all: “Plant a Thought, harvest an act. Plant an act, harvest a habit. Plant a habit, harvest a character. Plant a character, harvest a destiny.” Rescuing is such a worthy cause and we need more people standing strong for animals. It’s very important to balance rescue, family and fun time so we don’t burn out and can stay in it for the long haul!

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From Amy Hemsell, recap on Social Media for Crisis Communication, Presented by Rebecca Poling.

Social media can go in one of two directions, good or bad. Social media is where people turn to for information now. Statistics show that 76% of adult internet users are now active on social media, 72% of those use their smart phones instead of computers. There are 342 million active Twitter users & 1.49 billion active users on Facebook.

Bad news travels fast, but people will listen if you are out telling your story. News media sources are just one sided. There are two types of crisis, man-made such as PR & natural disasters such as weather, fire, etc. There are four steps to take 1. Prepare/Anticipate 2. Buy Time-assess the situation 3. Disseminate Information 4. Wrap Up

For step one know who is talking about you, establish notification & monitoring systems, identify and know your stakeholders, make friends with the media especially ones that cover animal stories, identify your team & spokesperson ahead of time or your Point of Contact/Public Information Officer, & build a good offense. The best defense is a good offense. Show how hard the group is working & the good you are doing. Post things to identify the agency/group such as staff, vehicles, uniforms, etc. People get agencies confused so add graphics of various agencies with contact information.

In step 2 buy time, gather information and assess the situation, Release a holding statement or a generic statement which are careful calculated responses. Assess the situation online, or gauge the temperature. Holding statements are messages designed for use immediately after a crisis breaks. They can be developed ahead of time, can be used in a variety of scenarios, & don’t require hard factual information. Basically they are bland, factual, show empathy, action, & transparency. Get the holding statement out quickly after a crisis. Do not let media find other sources for news since this is how rumors get started. If you must respond to comments do so without being defensive or releasing details. Like comments that are supportive of the organization.

Step 3 is disseminating information, get the facts out. This is the opposite of the holding statement. Use social media as your “bulletin board.” Create a phone message that states refer to Facebook or other social media sites used. If there is a media release explain who, what, why, where, & when.

In step 4 it is time to wrap it up. Include “about us”, “contact info”, “additional information.” Never respond negatively or to something you do not understand.

Another thing to watch out for is if you have Facebook posts set for scheduled times to be posted, be careful of past events. For example, a website for guns & ammo scheduled a post that was released the day after the massacre shooting at the movie theater in Colorado that stated “Happy Friday shooting” This would be an example of a man made crisis. Always be vigilant and proactive and this should be your best offense.

December eNewsletter

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We just mailed out our December eNewsletter! Did you get yours? If not, sign up by clicking here and filling out the form: TBAR NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

You can view the whole eNewsletter by clicking HERE!

In the newsletter we discuss:

Website Fixed & Updated
This year we faced some challenges with our website, but we are ever grateful to our volunteer and computer programming expert, Jason Moore, for his work in fixing the site! We were able to keep ourPetfinder page and Facebook page updated while we dealt with the website issues, but we are very glad to have our “online home base” back up and running, complete with a new facelift! Let us know what you think, and if you run into any issues please message [email protected]

Paper Newsletter
Have you received our paper newsletter mail-out? Our volunteers work hard on this campaign every year to deliver the best in annual TBAR news right to the mailboxs of all current and lifetime TBAR members. If you want to be sure you get one next year, please make sure to pay your yearly membership fee and update us on any address changes!

Volunteer Opportunities
We are always looking for new volunteers to help us with current admin tasks, or to suggest new fundraising ideas. TBAR is run by volunteers and off of donations and grants, and we can not continue to grow without admin volunteers and new foster homes every year. If you have room to foster animals, or if you have fundraising or volunteer experience, or are just looking for a way to help out the animals while becoming a part of a hard-working team, please contact us! We can’t wait to have you on board!

Upcoming Events 2015

Mark your calendars and keep an eye out for these upcoming events!

January 24: Chili Cookoff at Independence Harley in College Station, Texas

May 9: Family Fun Day (tickets will be available on Eventbrite)

The Gift of Giving

Wondering what to give the person who has everything this year? Donate to TBAR in their name! Set your own one-time gift price, choose a monthly reoccurring donation, or select one of the memberships:
  • Family: $25
  • Lifetime: $500
  • Guardian: $100
  • True Blue: $1000
CLICK HERE to give!
AND MORE! Read it all here…