4/26/09 - We won!

We did it!!

The official USA Today article announcing our win:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-04-26-zootoo-contest_N.htm

The Central Missouri Humane Society won the $1,000,000 Zootoo.com Shelter Makeover II contest by "a wide margin"—we couldn't have done it without you!

From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely thank each and every one of you for your support. Your hard work will save the lives of thousands of homeless animals right here in Mid-Missouri.

We *just* got the news, so stay tuned to CMHSmakeover.com for updates as more info comes in.

If you haven't already, please join our official mailing list at http://www.CMHSmakeover.com - We will be posting lots of updates on the website, including interviews, photos and video of the press conference tomorrow morning, and photos and video of the shelter makeover itself!

There are a lot of things CMHS has in mind, but right now comes the fun part: celebrating! Please check the website for more info as we get this together. We were not expecting the announcement to come until tomorrow morning, but we will keep you in the loop as info becomes available.

One thing to keep in mind is that although this makeover is a godsend for CMHS, the makeover only applies to the shelter itself: a decrepit, 31-year-old building with drainage, flooding, and ventilation problems, not even counting the overcrowding from 7,500+ animals each year. The new shelter will almost certainly have increased capacity, which means CMHS will be even *more* understaffed: Now more than ever, we need YOUR help as volunteers, and your financial support to hire more staff and for shelter operations expenses, which are independent from the Shelter Makeover contest.

Please, even if you can't give much, help the Central Missouri Humane Society fund its operations expenses in its mission to save homeless animals in Mid-Missouri from euthanasia—every single dollar helps. For more info, please feel free to call me on my cell anytime at 573-424-0420 or the shelter directly at 573-443-3893 during business hours, or email me at mail@davemuscato.com or the shelter at staff@cmhspets.org.

Again, I just want to say how incredible grateful I am to all of you for your hard work in helping us win this contest. You are beautiful, amazing people, and you deserve more appreciation than I can possibly put into words, so I will just leave it at this!

Thank you for everything. We (and the animals!) appreciate it! Please join the mailing list at CMHSmakeover.com so you can see first-hand over the next several months just what your hard work is accomplishing!

- Dave Muscato
CMHS Volunteer / CMHSmakeover.com admin
(573) 424-0420 cell / voicemail / text
mail@davemuscato.com

*** We're just getting started!***
Join the mailing list at:
http://www.CMHSmakeover.com