Washington State Animal Response Team
General Membership Meeting Minutes
Enumclaw WA
March 11, 2015
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Present: Zoe Clelland, Gretchen McCallum,Barb Archer, Greta Cook,Aaron Cook, Michaela Eaves, Diane Johnson, Lucinda Yerbury, Mari Ann Pratt-Eierman, Joyce Moody, Bill Vogel, Ashley Patterson, Jeanette Whitmore, Mir Plemmons, Amanda Plemmons, Larry Fosnick-Davis, Margaret Schwecke, Karen Kinman, Connie Edwards, Irene Murakami, Chris Black.
The WASART General Membership meeting was called to order by Vice-President Zoe Clelland at 1900hours.
New Meeting Format
Zoe started the meeting by introducing a new format where it will be more interactive, informative and fun. She asked for feedback from members on what they liked or didn’t like about past meetings. Some responses touched on the seating arrangement, where the square setting allowed members to see each other, but the drawback was that others seemed far away. Another commented that the meetings were too long.
New Equipment
Attendees were invited outside to meet our new articulated horse, now named Joey. Michaela explained that the winning on-line naming auction was won by Dr. and Mrs. Shelton, from Chelan County, known for saving the badly burned cat, Alta. The name Joey came from their dearly loved horse that they had owned for many years and had recently passed away.
The new van, WASART2 was also on-site for members to look over. Greta and Aaron showed where stuff was stored, what new equipment has been added, and noted a few more items that will be added to make it complete.
SARVAC update – WASART is a member of SARVAC, and they have revised their bylaws to include WASART as a voting member of the organization.
COMMITTEE HIGHLIGHTS
Public Relations – Michaela Eaves
There were three rescues during the last quarter, Griffey, a yellow lab, and a cow from a ravine. Michaela shared a video from the “Bossy the cow” rescue.
The new vehicle graphics for both WASART1 and WASART2 were shared with the members.
Michaela explained how the “likes” work on Facebook, with only sharing information with a percentage of people, and as more people like and share, it releases posts to more people.
Current stats:
Facebook: 3798
YouTube: 237
Twitter: 18 subscribers, 1771 views
Merchandise – Diane Johnson
Diane showed the new soft shell jackets and vests that are available for sale. Carabiner key rings are also a new item. For members that want to order shirts or other merchandise, they can contact Diane at .
Inventory & Equipment – Greta Cook
Greta is looking for help with this committee:
- A maintenance person to keep equipment tuned up and running.
- An Inventory person, tracking what we have, what is needed, what needs to be replaced.
- Cleaning, setting up a cleaning party after deployments
Membership – Gretchen McCallum
Membership Statistics:
113 current members
53 are field response deployment eligible
8 are base support eligible
45 are shelter deployment eligible
Training
Pet First Aid will be Saturday March 14th
Field Response Training will be April 25th
Eastern WA training will be April 17-20th
SARCON will be May 15-17th – an annual event offering a bunch of classes throughout the weekend. For more information, go to wasarcon.org
Field Response Training will be April 25th. Irene has most of the animals in place, but needs help finding someone who has pigs that will let us use them for this training event. She asked members to contact her if they know of anyone.
Volunteer Coordinator – Lucinda Yerbury
There will be a housewarming party at Ken and Gretchen’s new home. Invitations were sent via email.
Lucinda is setting up work parties with other non-profit organizations. This is a great team building exercise and a great way to network with other organizations.
Intro to TRT will be offered May 9th. Anyone interested in learning about the TRT team is invited to attend.
ADDITIONAL BUSINESS
Quarterly Volunteer Recognition Award Winner – Ken Hasbargen and Connie Edwards
- Ken Hasbargen- Ken was chosen for this award because when he is available to help, he is the first to show up and last to leave. He is consistently reliable for every job. Deployments, Work Parties, Training Events & transport. These events would 1000xs harder without Ken’s help ! Thank you, Ken, for everything you do for WASART!
- Connie Edwards-Recruiting Queen! The other day I was watching Connie while at Core and during lunch she had 1/3 of the class sitting with her. Connie had recruited all of those (6 ) individuals to join WASART and come to Core . Jeez Louise that’s amazing! If you go to the trainings it’s consistently like that. Connie works her magic by sharing her love for WASART to all that will listen! Thank you, Connie, for everything thing you do for WASART!
A special call out to Irene Murakami, who on her own, did a fundraiser at her workplace and raised enough money to purchase a Snappy Snare, with some money left over for other supplies. Way to go Irene!
GUEST SPEAKER - Mir Plemmons from Green Cross
The purpose of Green Cross is to help the responders with counselling support.
She talked of recharging before you need it. Talked of stressors – and that’s before the callout.
- Write things down – it helps your brain
- Emotional – your emotions are important, validate them.
- Behavioral – what will help you (quiet time, working out, playing)
- Spiritual – quiet time to help you on the inside
- Interpersonal – ask for help
- Physical – do stuff
She talked about how to deal with victims of disaster. Responders sometimes become the anchor, a contact. How much can you afford to give per “customer?”
Before the situation: plan an escape plan – a rescue, tap out. To help them: be calm, use clear words, rule of 5s, refer them to other assistance. For you: breath-work, self-talk, move, and don’t lock up.
Ways to Renew/recharge
- Take 5
- Shake if off
- Walk it off
- Be silly
- Be active
When done, don’t take it with you. Affirm the awesome, celebrate the wins(even the small ones.)
A few weeks after the deployment things can and will bubble up. This is normal – call Green Cross.
QUESTIONS, DISCUSSION, FEEDBACK
Zoe ended the meeting with open forum, inviting feedback on the new format or anything anyone wanted to talk about.
The meeting ended at 20:50.
UPCOMING EVENTS
March 7, 2015 – Core Training – Snoqualmie WA (Training Committee)
March 7, 2015 – SARVAC Meeting – Ellensburg WA (Bill)
March 11, 2015 – General Membership Meeting – Enumclaw WA (Zoe)
March 14, 2015 – Pet First Aid Clinic – Cumberland Fire Station, Enumclaw, WA (Ritz and Annette Lanker)
April 1, 2015 – Board of Directors Meeting – Key Bank, Enumclaw WA (Bill)
April 17-19, 2015 – Eastern WA Shelter Training – Okanagan County (Training Committee)
April 25, 2015 – Field Response Training – Enumclaw WA (Training Committee)
May 6, 2015 – Board of Directors Meeting – GoToMeeting.com (Bill)
May 15-17, 2014 – SARCON – Girl Scout Camp River Ranch, Carnation WA (Greta and Jon)
May 30, 2015 - Transport Training – Enumclaw WA (Training Committee)
June 3, 2015 – Board of Directors Meeting – Key Bank, Enumclaw WA (Bill)
June 27, 2015 – Technical Animal Rescue Training – Cumberland WA (Training Committee)
Respectfully submitted,
Diane Johnson
WASART Secretary
Next Board of Directors Meeting:
Wednesday, January 7, 2015 at 7:00pm
Gotomeeting.com
Next General Membership Meeting:
Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at 7:00pm
North Sound area TBD
WASART BOARD MEMBERS
CONTACT LIST
Bill Daugaard, President
vacant, Vice-President
Barb Archer(interim), Treasurer
Diane Johnson, Secretary
Gretchen McCallum, Training Director
Michaela Eaves, Public Information Officer
Denise Steinkerchner, Advising Specialist
Greta Cook, Advising Specialist
David Morris, Advising Specialist
Heather Stewart, VMD, Advising Specialist
Teri Weronko, DVM, Advising Specialist
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