 | Lucky Star Spay Neuter Program News
A Publication of the Lucky Star Spay Neuter Program
12 Birch Lane Morristown, NJ 07960 Email: luckystarprogram@att.net
Volume 118 October 2023 |
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| Our Mission: To gather, recognize and celebrate the continuing annual commitment of each of our member veterinarians to provide some level of absolutely free spay neuter services to the needy animals of their choice, along with any other free services they choose to provide. |
Our Lucky Stars
We are proud to present this roster of Lucky Star Veterinarians. Together these 9 professionals have generously pledged 606 absolutely free spay neuter surgeries & other free services for needy animals of their choice in 2023, for which they have our admiration & thanks:
Since 2003:
Dr. Erno Hollo & Dr. Melissa Rotella, Basking Ridge Animal Hospital
Since 2004:
Dr. Harvey E. Hummel, Andover Animal Hospital, Newton
Dr. Danci Mock, West Caldwell Animal Hospital
Dr. Maritza Perez, West Orange Animal Hospital
Dr. P. Picone, Audubon Veterinary Associates
Dr. Sandra Stalder-Frey, Alpha Veterinary Care
Since 2012:
Dr. Carolyn Wooley, MCSNIP, Pennington
Dr. David Croman, Medical Director, People for Animals, Inc., Hillside, Robbinsville & Clayton
| Personally, I’ve always felt the best doctors in the world are veterinarians. They can’t ask their patients what is the matter—they just have to know!” ……Will Rogers |
Lucky Star S/N Program Highlights
Custom Tailor the Pledge that Works for YOU
A One Page Annual Pledge Form
NO REPORTING!
Customized Framed Certificate
“PROUD TO BE A LUCKY STAR VET” Button
Gratitude for your Generosity
Recognition for your good work
*
Your Participation is so Important,
Your Pledge so Appreciated
MAY THIS BE YOUR LUCKY STAR! |
OUR 20th ANNIVERSARY ISSUE!!
OUR LUCKY STARS are a loyal & generous group. Because of each of them, past & present, Lucky Star Pledges of free S/Ns have helped many animals during the economic, political & environmental upheavals of the last 20 yrs. It has been a priviledge to have contact with this group & to have the opportunity to learn more about such an important topic in the process. We could not be more grateful for & proud of ALL Lucky Stars, both current & past. We are always hopeful that those who leave the Lucky Star roster will share the concept w/others & adopt it when it again works for them. I picked some of my favorite photos, topics & quotes for this special issue & added a few new ones! I hope I’ve picked some of your favorites too!
“Lucky Star” PLEDGES- A History
2003: 4
2004: 202
2005: 222
2006: 222
2007: 226
2008: 226
2009: 226
2010: 226
2011: 226
2012: 376
2013: 456
2014: 456
2015: 381
2016: 408
2017: 708
2018: 708
2019: 658
2020: 658
2021: 657
2022: 606
2023: 606
Total S/N’s pledged 8,458!!!!!! |
“AS 1st REPORTED IN JUNE OF 2013”
“It was July ‘03 when Betsy, who was to become & still serves as, the Lucky Star Spokes Cat, was trapped. In Oct.’03, Drs. Hollo & Vex signed on as the 1st Lucky Stars & a mailing went out to >500 NJVMA members thanks to Braunschweiger Jewelers. Drs. Barnea, Hummel & Picone signed on, followed soon by Dr. Stalder-Frey. Also in 2004, Vet techs Gail Stock & Ilene Katz recruited Dr. Perez & Dr. Mock & People for Animals joined,”… Dr. Croman now pledging on PFA’s behalf… “supporting a program they saw as helping the S/N mission. In 2012, Dr. Barnes & Dr. Wooley joined after we read about each of their separate donations of S/N surgeries for charity.”...& we welcomed Dr. Rotella as a Lucky Star in 2018. 4 all prior newsletters, C Home pg. of R website. SGA (sga.com), an AWS cloud consulting co. has hosted, managed, & secured the website 4 us, almost from the start & at no charge!" Thank U “SGA.com”!
GUIDELINES FOR THOSE SEEKING HELP
These can also be found on the Website @ top of Pledges Pg. They are provided to help Lucky Star Vets respond to any requests they might receive for free S/N surgeries & other free services.
“The Lucky Star Program was established to help needy animals. Please do not seek a veterinary-ian’s help under this Program for animals that can be helped under other programs, or that you can help with available financial resources.To obtain help for a needy animal, please contact a Lucky Star Vet directly.The Lucky Star Program makes no decisions as to which animals are helped. That difficult decision rests solely with each Lucky Star Vet.As you seek help from a Lucky Star Vet, please understand that he or she might not be able to help you for various reasons, such as (1) they may have already fulfilled their pledge for the year, (2) they may have pledged their services only for a particular rescue group or shelter, (3) they might limit their services to animals of a particular category or (4) they might choose to ration their full year’s pledge throughout the year and be unable to help you at this particular time.If Lucky Star Vets are deluged with requests for free services, they might be driven to withdraw their pledge and opt out of the program. More help will be available as more Vets sign up. Let’s applaud those that have signed up and be considerate of their generosity! THANK YOU!
2 IMPORTANT 2 WAIT TIL DEC 2023.
Sadly, over the last 20 yrs, we’ve seen many situations, here & abroad, having serious nega-tive impacts on animals & the people who care about them: wars, pandemics, natural disasters & financial crises. .Early news of the epic August wildlfires in Hawaii reminded me of “911” when medical personnel rushed in large #’s to NYC hospitals to await the injured that never arrived. The needs on Maui continue, for animals and people. Here’s the link to news from AVMA’s disaster relief fund which responded early on https://www.avmf.org/news/disaster-relief-for-maui/ & a link to a center of rescue activity for pets, their people & wildlife, the Maui Humane Society. See a recent update from them here:
https://www.mauihumanesociety.org/press-release-an-open-letter-from-lisa-labrecque-ceo/
“Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
.........Unknown |
“LUCKY STAR SPOKESCAT”-A HISTORY BETSY, the tiny kitten rescued from a NJ super-market lot on July 7, 2003, named for Betsy Ross, & the impetus behind the Lucky Star Program, died in April 2016. The 1st “Lucky Star Spokes Cat”, a title she bore w/much grace, lived her 13 yrs. in the care of her wonderful “Foster Mom” & that family’s group of rescued dogs, cats & more.TULIP, a stray Momma cat fixed for free by a local town’s program placing her kittens for adoption & cheering her own adoption,made her debut as the Lucky Star spokescat in Dec 2018. Tulip’s Forever Mom (who also arrang-ed Betsy’s adoption 20 yrs ago!) supplied this updated photo for this special edition!
Our search for a spokesdog & a spokesrabbit have rec’d no nominations so far.Goal is to let all know that Lucky Star is an EOP, it can work for ANY needy animal. Nominations welcomed. Preference to nominees from Lucky Stars!!
HUMOUR HELPS!
 
GREAT GRAPHIC- SOURCE UNKNOWN
This makes me smile! Some of you will recall the bandaids enclosed with one issue to enable you to fashion your own “S/N” band-aid “ad” to wear on your white coat lapel
Why WAS this dog smiling?
Because the San Antonio clinics of the Spay Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP)were celebrating Mexican Independence Day with a special FREE S/N day for Chihuahuas!
LOVE his photo!
“CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE?”
What looks to me like a balanced look at the conflict between private & non profit clinics: https://www.animalsheltering.org/magazine/articles/caught-middle
AN EXCELLENT FREE TNR RESOURCE
Per Animal Sheltering magazine (Sept/Oct 2013), Neighborhood Cats TNR Handbook is "the most comprehensive resource for educating caretakers on all aspects of colony management.” This FREE 168 pg guide at
https://www.neighborhoodcats.org/resources/books-guides
You have not lived today
until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
…………………….John Bunyan (1628-1688) |
THE IMPORTANCE OF “DREAMING”
We all know the famous “I have a dream” speech by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, & the Carl Sand-burg quote, “Nothing happens unless 1st we dream.” Taking a “leap of faith” in that direction, I share w/you a dream that seems far away for now & for which I can think of a million or so likely “It’ll never work!” road-blocks. But, I share it anyway with fingers tightly crossed:
“I wish that S/N were FREE & easily accessible to all animals that would benefit from it. That anyone could call for expert high-quality S/N help when they saw the need. FREE help would be provided promptly & include whatever was needed to get the animal(s) to a surgery/ recovery site & return them to the area from which they came or to a well managed area where they would be routinely cared for post surgery & beyond. It would include FREE trapping & return of the animals being fixed & FREE trans-portation to & from the surgery site, w/ or w/o their human, if they had one, as needed.”
..................maybe in the NEXT 20 years??
HAIR TODAY GONE TOMORROW
From Dr. Philip Bushby, DVM,MS, DACVS: Use an adhesive roller to pick up any fine hairs missed by a vacuum after shaving S/N site. Hairs can interfere with sterility & complicate closure. After use, remove adhesive tape & roller is ready for next patient. (original link provided previously no longer active)
THANK YOU FOR BEING “WITH US!”
We are so proud & happy to have such a dedicated & generous group of Lucky Stars! Thank you to each & every one for UR pledges of FREE S/Ns for the needy animals of your choice all these years! Don’t tell Snoopy, but we think that you are the “Cat’s Meow!”
“Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.”
…..Clarissa Pinkola Estes |
NEXT ISSUE: DECEMBER 1st 2023
One page only....I promise! 
 Lucky Star Spay Neuter program 20th Anniversary News Volume118 October 2023.pdf |
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