Annual Meeting - Minutes
February 2, 2003

Discussion:

1. Adoptions
   • We had 123 adoptions in 2002. Of these, five or six were returned, but those rabbits were adopted back out.
   • Post-adoption follow-up was stressed, especially for rabbits adopted from Everett
2. Foster Homes
   • We need a foster home coordinator-Kathie Duffy volunteered
   • The average time spent by a rabbit in foster care is 6 months; new foster homes need to be aware of this to avoid frustration
   • Foster homes will need to buy pens/Rabbitat-style cages-Christine will donate one
   • We should have literature prepared to hand to new foster homes (in addition to what is available on the members’ page of the website)
   • Carol Youngclaus will write to Fellowes to see if they will donate cubes for cage construction
3. Fund-Raising
   • We still have two unsold sweatshirts
   • Orders are being taken for bunny jewelry made by Paula Hogan
   • The annual holiday ornaments were a big seller: bunny angels for 2002
   • The 2003 calendars sold out!
     – Next year, the South Chelmsford Agway store will sell calendars for us on commission; anticipated sales of about 10 through them
     – Suggestion: put organization and membership information on the calendar
4. Treasurer’s Report
   • Teresa reported that our finances essentially broke even in 2002; a separate Treasurer’s Report was distributed to members. We had approximately $15,500 in revenue, but veterinary expenses (especially spays/neuters) offset that income.
5. Bunny Sitting
   • Jen Walsh repeated a critical need for bunny sitters. A suggestion that those who cannot take in rabbits might take care of them in their own homes was discussed, but the liability issue made this alternative impractical for our organization.
6. Membership
   • We now have 35-40 members; our goal is a minimum of 50
   • It was suggested and agreed by the members that when we receive donations of $15 or more over a baseline (e.g., adoption donations of $75 for one rabbit, $115 for two), we automatically give the donor a member in the organization.
   • A “nested” benefit for donations of different levels was suggested-e.g., a t-shirt for up to one amount, some other benefit for a larger amount, etc.
   • We will bring membership forms to events such as Adoption Fairs
7. Newsletters
   • Our goal is to publish three newsletters a year; newsletter committee volunteers are Christine Bennett, Sara Sezun and Carol Youngclaus
   • The upcoming issue will include an article by Astrid, one on handicapped bunnies and one on litterbox training
   • When we receive company donations such as the carpet squares recently given to us, we will publicize the donor company with a thank-you in our newsletter and send a copy of it to them
   • The deadline for articles for the next issue will be in 2-3 weeks, and the issue should be published by the first week in March
8. Advertising/PR
   • Members are encouraged to contact their local papers for publicity, especially in the weeks before Easter.
     – Last year, we had great coverage in several towns.
     – Anybody who is able to secure an interview can contact anyone on the Board or those who have done it before for pointers
     – There is a sample letter to newspapers on the Members section ()
   • Any member who would like to have HRN business cards printed with their name should contact Carol Youngclaus (carol@anemonegraphics.com ). These cards are an excellent way of reinforcing a casual conversation with website and contact information (note that the phone number is the HRN hotline-personal information other than the volunteer’s name is not used on the cards)
   • Pet Finder is proving to be invaluable-roughly half of our adoptions originate with them
   • Pets 911 is also a potentially good resource for adoptions
9. Elections
   • Suzanne Trayhan (president), Cherryl Reinhardt (vice president) and Carol Youngclaus (secretary) will continue to represent HRN in the coming year.
10. Volunteers
    • We need to boost the volunteer efforts of our members; too much work is being done by too few people
    • The Hotline needs additional volunteers
      – Matt DiCologero and Diane Mayer offered to take on some of “shifts”
      – We’ll look into splitting the hotline into mailboxes (adopt/dump/etc.)
    • Linda Massey volunteered to take over the HRN emails
11. Other Business
    • We now have credit card capability online
    • It was suggested that we donate Rabbit Handbook 101 to local libraries. There is some question of whether this might not be productive, though
      – Many libraries are actually overstocked and may not have room to display the book as prominently as we would like
      – A privately-published book such as this might not get the “respect” it deserves