Move to ACT Newsletter
March 2005
www.movetoact.org

Dear Friends,
Move to ACT, Inc. (mtA) has a new look to our home page (www.movetoact.org) and we invite you to stop in for a visit.

Our campaigns:

• Target humane education and community outreach.
• Stop the negative perception and horrific treatment of pit bulls and pit bull mixes.
• Provide dog behavior education.
• Increase shelter animal adoptions.
• "Rebuild trust" in the Humane Society of Indianapolis.

As a part of our community outreach, we have pursued a pet food distribution program and a fencing project:

Free Pet Food Distribution:
Early this year Indianapolis Animal Care and Control (IACC) was informed by former IACC shelter manager, Dave Wintz, that huge quantities of Iams dog and cat food were available to animal shelters at no cost, due to the closing of an Iams distribution center in Cincinnati. Seeking help with transportation logistics, IACC contacted members of Move to Act, Darcie Kurtz and Christine Jeschke.

Christine began networking and soon secured two trucking companies offering to donate their services to haul the free food from Cincinnati to Indianapolis at no charge. Hurryin' Hoosier Transport delivered the first two loaded semi-trucks to IACC on March 4th and 9th. Altogether, these trucks delivered a total of nearly 73,000 pounds (or 37 tons!) of food with a total value of approximately $55,000. This bounty of food will likely be enough to feed all the shelter animals at IACC with high quality food for an entire year.

Move to Act arranged for a third semi-truck load of free food to be delivered to Indianapolis by Safeway United Van Lines. This third load, containing another 35,000 pounds (or 18 tons!) of food with a total value of approximately $26,750. was delivered to Move to Act on March 11. By the following week, Move to Act had organized a free pet food distribution day for other regional animal shelters and rescue groups via an announcement sent statewide by Indiana-PAW.

Move to Act received an overwhelming response to our offer and on March 19 we were able to assist a total of 23 area shelters and rescue groups with our free food distribution program. Representatives from these animal groups arrived from as far away as Crown Point, via pick-up, SUV, and cargo van. By the end of the day, with the help of several volunteers, all the food valued at approximately $26,000, had been dispersed to the following regional animal service organizations:

• Morgan County Humane Society
• Franklin County Humane Society
• Madison County Humane Society
• Vermillion County Humane Society
• Clay County Humane Society
• Paws Here Rescue
• Countryside Animal Rescue
• Alliance for Responsible Pet Ownership
• Happy Paws Animal Shelter
• Indiana Sheltie Rescue
• Central Indiana English Setter Rescue
• Southside Animal Shelter
• Unconditional Love Foundation
• Indiana Westie Rescue
• English Cocker Rescue of America
• Sunbird Second Chance Rescue
• Newcastle Animal Shelter
• Heller's Angels Dog Rescue
• Shelter Rescue of Greater Lafayette
• Dachshund Rescue of North America
• Indiana Greyhound Rescue
• New Hope Rescue
• Second Chance Rescue

Since this was such a successful event, Move to Act plans to organize future food distributions.

Fencing project:
Move to Act was recently notified of an urgent situation involving a large number of dogs in a neighboring community. A kind-hearted woman had eventually ended up with nearly 50 dogs dumped on her rural property over the years.

The woman dealt with the situation by individually chaining each of the dogs to a doghouse. Although the dogs were otherwise well-cared for, county officials recently required her to decrease the number of her dogs by half. While other animal groups are working to find homes for half of her dogs, Move to Act has stepped in to help improve the lives of the dogs that will remain.

We have recently acquired a huge amount of discounted chain-link fencing. We are donating a large portion of this fencing for use in constructing outdoor enclosures for the remaining 20 to 30 dogs on the property. This will free all of these dogs from their chains and allow them to run freely in a secured enclosure. The dogs will also no longer be confined in isolation, but rather, will be housed in small groups and allowed to enjoy the companionship of other dogs. Move to Act believes that this project, which will improve the quality of life for a large number of dogs, is a perfect use of our resources. We plan to use our remaining fencing for similar projects to help improve the lives of dogs by getting them off of their chain and into a securely fenced yard.

Crume Trust Protection:
The effort by community animal service organizations ["ARPO" (Alliance for Responsible Pet Ownership), "SNSI" (Spay Neuter Services of Indiana), "SSAS" (Southside Animal Shelter), "HFA" (Home for Friendless Animals), and "mtA" (Move to Act)] and Jean Balcomb (an heir of Mrs. Crume) to protect the Mary Powell Crume Public Charitable Trust remains at the Indiana Court of Appeals. We remain confident that the integrity of the legal system will recognize the merits of this case allowing a party, other than the Attorney General, to have legal standing in the lower court to protect an at-risk public charitable trust.

We are pleased to share an observation that just recently Attorney General Steve Carter has come forward in supporting legislation (House Bill 1453 and Senate Bill 424) that will enable the AG's office to deal with suspected wrong doing in regards to mismanagement of public charitable trusts.

Future newsletters will provide updates of mtA campaigns as they develop.

Please share this newsletter with others on your e-mail lists and thank you for your support of Move to Act.