2000inreview

Following are some of the highlights of the past year. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we enjoyed looking back at what was a wonderful and positive year for all of us at Wildlife Works, Inc.

On May 20, 2000, we held our second annual Walk for Wildlife at Twin Lakes Park. Over 30 walkers attended to enjoy the local flora and fauna, as well as refreshments provided by the Wildlife Works staff. The Walk yielded over $1400.00 in proceeds.

In June, volunteers pitched in to give a facelift to the animal admission area of Beth’s basement. After a coat of paint, we added desks, our new computer system, copy machine and fax, and three office chairs donated by our friends at Ooh-Mah-Nee Farm. The room was then fleshed out with assorted wildlife photos, artwork, knick-knacks and Beanies. We then proudly displayed our framed permits and certificates of achievement, and the new, official Wildlife Works office was born! To make the office complete, Wildlife Works hired, for the first time, a paid, part-time Administrative Assistant to handle phone calls, admissions, bookkeeping and newsletter production. The addition of this office environment and staff has enabled us to consolidate our efforts into one location to more efficiently manage the day-to-day administrative tasks necessary to keep a non-profit corporation up and running.

Another first-of its-kind step for Wildlife Works this year was to establish a working relationship with the Executive Service Corps, a group of volunteer professionals serving non-profits. We were blessed to be assigned Mr. Jim Matheny, a resident of the Seven Springs area, as our ESC contact person and mentor. This arrangement has been extremely beneficial in helping us work towards fine-tuning our administrative skills, building our board and achieving our organizational goals.

In conjunction with our work with ESC, Wildlife Works held its first “Work and Play Picnic” at Mammoth Park on August 12, 2000. The purpose of this gathering of Wildlife Works board members, staff, volunteers and friends was to share input about the organization while enjoying a day of camaraderie. This brainstorming session yielded many great ideas that have been, and will be, put into practice to help us move forward into the future.

Also in August, we were proud and pleased to see the completion of our outdoor raptor facilities, another first for the Youngwood location. This enclosure features a 30’ x 12’ x 10’ flight exercise area, with three 8’ square adjoining holding pens that will allow us to rehabilitate larger numbers of birds of prey. In fact, in 2000, the Youngwood center admitted 46 various birds of prey, including an osprey, a threatened species in Pennsylvania.. This is the highest number of raptors ever accepted in one year at the Youngwood location!

Wildlife Works was very fortunate this year in receiving wonderful coverage of our activities in the press. Beginning in July with a feature in our local Youngwood Advisor, we also had extensive articles in the Standard Observer, the Tribune Review’s monthly magazine, Westmoreland Women, as well as a front page story in the local section of the Post Gazette. Additionally, KDKA TV did spots in June and December on Wildlife Works and the rescue work we have done with abandoned domestic waterfowl.

On October 6 through 9, three representatives from Wildlife Works, directors Beth Shoaf and Mary Beth Molnar, and rehab assistant Pam Valla attended the Northeast Seminar and Wildlife Rehabilitators Conference at the Hudson Valley Resort in Kerhonkson, NY. This educational symposium gave our staff an opportunity to network with rehabbers from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont; and featured sessions on everything from homeopathic first aid and stress management in captive animals to fundraising and cage building. The trip was informative and enjoyable, and all participants returned with a wealth of ideas to help make our job here at home much more efficient and effective. Special thanks to the sponsors who contributed funds to help us make this trip possible.