RVHS Upcoming Events!

Our much beloved Critter Camp is coming back! We have two more sessions this summer on July 18-20, and August 15-17. Check out our event page here for more details!

Take Five Volunteer Training

For a long time, we’ve been saying our volunteers are at the core of RVHS because we simply cannot carry out our mission without the help of our community. So important is the role of volunteers at RVHS that we all committed to a training on this topic.

These photos are from a recent Take Five training session in which all of our staff participated. Take Five helped us learn more about volunteerism and how it can help RVHS. This training was designed with the needs of our organization in mind, and covered a few important topics. Recruitment and retention was number one. How to keep volunteers motivated with a positive culture that supports and recognizes their contributions. This is why we have volunteers who have been helping for years.

We also learned how to conduct engaging volunteer training sessions, virtually or in-person, how to recruit volunteers from diverse groups in our area, and how to work with the challenges specific to our field. We each went home motivated, and ready to put new ideas into practice!

RVHS 2022 Accomplishments!

The past couple years have been strange for most of us, but despite the challenges we have faced, we are proud to have made a positive impact in our community in 2021! This past year, we have made some adjustments in how we run in order to continue to take in animals from our community and provide necessary services such as spay/neuter and specialized medical care. This has included increasing the amount of transfers we do from our facility to partner facilities to create the space we need to continue helping more animals. We are so lucky to have such wonderful transfer partners that have the same philosophy as we do when it comes to the care of our fur friends and finding them excellent homes.

We have also focused a lot on TNR (Trap/Neuter/Return) of unsocial community cats who would otherwise continue to have kittens in the colonies they live in. As much as we love getting kittens, we know that most of them are coming in from moms and dads who live in colonies such as these, and we are doing our part to help with overpopulation so we (hopefully) do not see as many kittens come through our doors year after year.

In 2021, we continued to have a great need from individuals in our community who rely on our pet food bank and Animeals programs to help them get by during the month. This is made possible through wonderful donations of pet food from our supporters to help others in need.

The work we do at RVHS is important and much needed.  We receive no county, city, state, or federal funds to stay in operation. Ultimately, our doors remain open due to the generosity of individual donors and grants. We want to thank each and every one of you who have donated funds or goods, supported our thrift store, or participated in our events. Every year, we feel the love from our community and are humbled to serve you all and make a positive impact in the lives of animals…four paws at a time!

1/8/22 Hours Update

Giving Tuesday is almost here!

11/1/2021 Update-

7/6/2021 Update –

Due to a sickness in our building and short staffing, we have updated our open hours as outlined below. We apologize for any inconvenience. Our staff is available via phone or email for any questions you may have. We’d be happy to help!

3/29/2021 Update –

6/22/20 Update –

On behalf of RVHS staff and volunteers I want to thank all of you have donated money, food, items for the thrift store and other goods to help us through these challenging times.

I want to let you know that RVHS is still required by mandate to follow COVID 19 protocols to keep our employees, volunteers, animals and, most importantly, you safe. This means that we will follow protocols that are being utilized by shelters and humane societies throughout the country, i.e., adoptions by appointment, limited exposure and interaction with staff, staff wearing protective equipment etc. It is absolutely necessary.

Additionally, you should know because of loss of revenue (due to cancelled events), we have only opened with limited staff support. We are trying our very best to ensure that we can continue to keep our doors open.

We are NOT out of the woods with COVID 19 and this week alone, the numbers have increased. There is potential for our services to be shuttered, again, due to shelter in place orders.

We appreciate your help, understanding and patience. From a staff of 17 we are only 6 trying to maintain services and provide you with our standards of excellence. Clearly, it’s challenging during these times and many folks are losing their patience with protocols, government oversight etc. etc. We ask for your support and to please approach all staff and volunteers with kindness and patience. Together, we will get through this.

Sincerely,

Margaret Varner

Executive Director

3/2020 Update –

Dear RVHS Community,

I hope this letter finds you and your family healthy and safe during these uncertain times. It is with a sad and heavy heart that RVHS must join the millions of other businesses and temporarily close to the public as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. It is essential we keep our staff and volunteers safe as well as do our part to minimize the spread of the virus. Being a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that relies on fundraising, donations and grants to serve our community, we are currently feeling the negative financial impact of this situation. We receive no Federal, State, County, or City funding….you, our wonderful community has been what has kept our doors open for over 55 years! If you find a little extra after your family is taken care of, please help us take care of our four-legged RVHS family members, they have no voice.

Sadly, businesses across our region are feeling the social and economic affects of the world wide health emergency. We will continue our fundraising efforts to help in the planning of our reopening. There will be even more reason to continue our services as a result of this crisis.

Although the majority of our employees will be laid off temporarily, we will maintain a skeleton crew. Staff will tend to the animals in our care that are not ready for adoption, our ani-meals program will continue for our seniors and phone calls will be answered to the best of our ability. Our services may be paused but we especially now, need your financial assistance to continue these essential services.

We understand that these are stressful times for everyone and wish you they very best. Again, thank you for your continued support and understanding. We will be back in business just as soon as feasibly and safely possible and with community support, we will be stronger than ever!

Margaret Varner

Executive Director

RVHS 2020 Accomplishments!

Your donations hard at work. Thank you to all of our supporters!

Upcoming Events

• August 15, 10:00 AM
  • Rogue Valley Humane Society Critter Camp **SESSION FULL**

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