Letter from the President

Help Needed: That is a phrase we are used to seeing these days and usually ignore. Please do not ignore the statement this time.

As most of you know,the vast majority of fund raisers for A.S./A.P. have been done over the years by Georgette and Joanne. No more. Physical, financial, and health considerations involving the entire family are conspiring to prevent any extra time or effort being available for us.

As a result of these changes over the last four months A.S./A.P. is OUT OF MONEY. As members are aware, it takes a constant influx of money to maintain a non-profit charity.

I am unfortunately very serious when I state that unless someone quickly begins getting donations of monies for A.S./A.P. the cat shelter will have to be closed.

As it is, the cattery is being steamlined so that it involves far less work, expenses, and cats.

Granted A.S./A.P. was formatted to be an animal rescue group NOT a cat shelter, so this may be an opportunity for those of you who don't think we should be sheltering cats to close the cattery.

My question is "What are the needy cats going to do?"

Call or write quickly if you can help! (608) 269-3525 or A.S./A.P., P.O. Box 101, Sparta, WI 54656.

             Georgette

(Note: In the time is has taken us to get this newsletter out, two people have come forward with ideas or prize donations for a raffle. Great minds think alike! We need more of the same. Let us know if you can help with the raffle tickets. Two books are included in member's newsletters, try to sell them for us if you can. We also need people to sit and freeze at WalMart in Tomah and Sparta and anywhere else they will let us in. If you can't sell your two books, please send them back, maybe we can move them.) The first prize is a print and an information sheet on it is attached. Second prize is $100.00. Third prize is the hot tub room at Country Inn, Sparta. This is not the first time the Country Inn has donated to our organization, and we appreciate it very much.

Memorials

We have received several donations for memorials in the last two months. One was in memory of "Willie" the goat, from Carol, and one was in memory of several dogs and cats.

We also received a cash donation in memory of "Elliot", beloved feline companion of Sally.

Jeannie and Earl asked if they could write something for this newsletter. We are happy to publish this for them, and encourage our members/readers to submit information any time. We will make a real effort to get it in.

Panzer, Lucy, Adonna, Frank
It's hard for us to say goodbye to our pets. This memorial will help us heal. They gave us their love and devotion, so to Panzer Kampfwagen II (1985-1996) and his daughter, Adonna, who lived with us for five short years, (1993-1998); and to our cat Lucy (1980-1998) and her son, Frank (1982-1998): You were dearly loved and will be greatly missed.

           Jeannie and Earl

Donations

We have had two separate donations this last month that were kind of unusual. One of our adopters donated back the half-price neuter/spay certificate they were given when they adopted one of our kittens. A member donated cash earmarked for neuter/spay of our cats in the shelter, along with new towels and supplies. We deeply appreciate all these efforts to help.

If you have any coupons for Purina cat chow, Friskies cat food, or any form of Clorox bleach/clean up, we sure could use them. We use a lot of bleach in cleaning the shelter and doing laundry.

Holiday Party

We will be hosting a holiday party at our house, if possible, on December 19th. We will hold the raffle drawing at that time, no matter where the party is held.

We had a lot of fun at our last party/raffle drawing and hope many of you will come and join us this year.

On the Web

If you have the ability to "surf the web", we have an active website now. Stephanie, one of our members, created the website and is maintaining it for us. (www.centuryinter.net/asap) The website is donated by centuryinter.net.

Only a Cat

This poem was submitted by Jeannie.

I'm only a cat and I stay in my place
up there on your chair
or your bed or your face
I'm only a cat.
And I don't fuss much
I'm happy with cream
and Swiss cheese and such.
I'm only a cat,
and will get along fine
as long as you know
I'm not yours - you're all mine!