MAC “HOT TOPICS” MEETING:
Collaborating to Help Animals
When: Sunday, October 23, 2016
Time: 9 am Light Breakfast; Meeting begins at 9:30 am and runs to approximately 4:00 pm
Where: Agnes Varis Campus Center at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, 5 Jumbo’s Path, North Grafton. (PLEASE NOTE: We are guests at Tufts and dogs are not allowed on campus – in classrooms or in cars.) Map
Registration: is Now Open to Everyone!!
Meeting Fee: $20 for MAC members; $30 for non-members.
Non-members: Make your $30 meeting registration go farther – join MAC now for $10 and you can register for the meeting at the member price of $20. Members get special privileges, including reduced meeting fees and early meeting registration. See our website for details.
Organizational members: there may be free meeting passes available to your organization as a membership benefit. Please email us at [email protected] for information on using organization passes and to register your folks through your organization.
More details: There will be a small raffle so bring a few bucks to buy tickets! We will serve a continental breakfast and a vegetarian/vegan lunch.
Click Here to Register
About the meeting:
COLLABORATION! That’s what MAC is all about! This Hot Topics meeting will be a “petpourri” of cool, interesting, thought-provoking presentations and ideas that will grease your wheels and drive you towards helping more animals.
- Hear Dr. Lorna Grande, founder and coordinator of HAVEN (Human/Animal Violence Education Network) in Western MA, speak about this model program that has made a huge difference for animals and their humans. HAVEN is a collaboration of professionals who work to raise awareness about the connection between animal cruelty and violence – police, animal control, domestic violence programs, child advocates, prosecutors and mental health professionals. HAVEN has trained professionals ranging from domestic violence workers and veterinarians to juvenile court judges. This is a very important program and maybe it will generate some discussion about forming a HAVEN in your community.
- We will hear from the MAC Shelter Statistics Task Force. Boring? Snooze -fest? Wait until you hear what we have learned from our latest survey and what exciting possibilities exist for all of us as we look into the future. It is so important to think about this issue on so many levels – telling our donors how we are doing, asking for grant money, going to the State House for legislation to help animals. This will be an important, invigorating presentation and call to action! Dr. Joann Lindenmayer (MAC board member) and Theresa Vinic will present.
- We have a very exciting announcement to make about our License Plate Program and some wonderful collaborations that are helping animals at a very high level! It will get your creative juices flowing. The team from Conover Tuttle Pace in Boston will give us a show, John Perreault of Berkshire Humane Society (and board member of MAC) will tell us about his wonderful program, and more!
- A representative from the Mass Animal Fund will give us an update on the Fund and will answer your questions. (See Fund description below.)
- MAC launches “AniMatch for Cats”! Our AniMatch dog program has helped almost 2300 dogs to date and now we are able to help you help cats in your facility. If you haven’t seen the database in action we will give a very quick tour so that people can actually see how their animals can benefit from this innovative and successful program. Julia Pesek of the MSPCA and VP of MAC will present.
- How will you vote on Question 3 on the November ballot? Citizens for Farm Animal Protection is a grassroots campaign in Massachusetts that has collaborated to work to end the cruel confinement of veal calves, egg-laying hens, and pigs. As an animal advocate you will want to learn why this bill for farm animals is important for all animals in Massachusetts.
About our speakers:
Conover Tuttle Pace is a Boston-based advertising, PR and digital agency that produces award-winning work and measurable results for their clients from data-driven insights. CTP has generously offered their time and expertise to help with the huge project of marketing the “I’m Animal Friendly” License Plate. Mark Bappe, the creative director, is a past MAC board member and a current advisory council member. Mark is also the designer of the license plate! Alexis DeVilling and Tara Roman are key parts of the team, as well! A huge thanks to all three and the rest of their fantastic team!!!
Dr. Lorna Grande is a graduate of Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. She started her career with animals in an animal shelter over 40 years ago and continues to work with shelters. She practiced medicine and surgery for over 15 years. Over time, working with families and their pets she began to understand that the way in which pets were treated often gave insight into family dynamics. Dr. Grande was a faculty member in the Veterinary and Animals Science Department at UMASS Amherst for 10 years and is currently a consultant with the Humane Society of the United States’ veterinary affiliate Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association. She is the Founder and Coordinator of HAVEN: Human/Animal Violence Education Network in the Berkshires.
Dr. Joann Lindenmayer, a MAC board member, recently stepped down as Senior Manager of Disaster Operations and Director of the Haiti Program at Humane Society International and is Chair of the international One Health Commission. She holds adjunct faculty appointments at Tufts Medical School and Tufts’ Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. She began her career as a Peace Corps volunteer in Borneo and has worked extensively in the international arena in Asia and Africa. A graduate of Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, she received a Public Health Fellowship to study Lyme Disease from the Medical Foundation and earned an MPH degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. From 1992-1994 she served as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in the Vermont Department of Health and subsequently held joint appointments as an epidemiologist in the RI Department of Health and Brown Medical School, where she founded the MPH program. Dr. Lindenmayer has received funding for her work in One Health from the Rockefeller Foundation and USAID’s RESPOND Program. She is also on the Leadership Council of the HSVMA. Joann is owned happily by three dogs and two cats.
Mass Animal Fund – On October 31, 2012, a law took effect that, in part, created the Homeless Animal Prevention and Care Fund (Massachusetts Animal Fund). The Fund is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources with assistance from an advisory committee and seeks to end the problem of animal homelessness in Massachusetts. This program is solely funded by the voluntary tax check-off (Line 32f) on the Massachusetts resident income tax form and by monetary donations.
John Perreault, a MAC board member, has spent most of his working life in animal welfare and in one place! He has been the Executive Director at Berkshire Humane Society in Pittsfield, MA for 18 years was shelter manager for 5 years prior to that. BHS began operations in 1993 at the site of a former MSPCA shelter in Pittsfield. Prior to the formation of BHS John worked for the MSPCA from 1984 to 1993, when MSPCA ceased its Berkshire County operation and turned the building over to BHS. Work began on a new facility in 2001, and the following year BHS moved from its original location to a 25,000 square foot facility. In the early 2000s the Berkshire Humane Society reported a 62% adoption rate, above the national average of 20% adoption. One decade later, the humane society reported success in re-homing 100% of its adoptable dogs and cats. John and his wife Laurie currently reside in Pittsfield and have opened their home to many foster children and animals. John and Laurie currently live with their 4 daughters and many furry BHS alum.
Julia Pesek, M.S. moved to Massachusetts from Chicago in 2012 to complete her MS in Animals and Public Policy (MAPP) from Tufts University and is now the Community Outreach Coordinator for the MSPCA at Nevins Farm and the VP of MAC. In Chicago, her professional careers were in social services and then mortgage banking, though her heart was always in animal welfare. She has more than 25 years of experience in a variety of volunteer and professional roles within various sheltering and welfare organizations, primarily in the midwest. She is the Chair of AniMatch for Cats and shares her home with three cats.
Theresa Vinic, M.S. is a recent graduate of the Master of Science in Animals and Public Policy (MAPP) program at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. Her final project was a collaborative effort with the MAC Shelter Statistics Task Force to utilize a survey to learn more about the record-keeping practices of the Massachusetts animal sheltering community. She is passionate about community cat issues, promoting companion animal spay/neuter, and advocating for the welfare of non-human animals. Prior to moving to Massachusetts, she spent three years at Leuk’s Landings, a Michigan-based rescue for cats with feline leukemia. Currently, she serves as the recovery station anchor at the Tufts’ Sunday Community Cat Clinics and is the Book Sale Coordinator for the Friends of the Westborough Public Library. Theresa lives in Grafton with her two cats and an ever-changing number of foster kittens.
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