New Hanover County Rabbit Rescue of Wilmington

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New Hanover County Rabbit Rescue of Wilmington Inc. 501c3

BOARD MEMBERS

Officers

Jennie L. Hoyt, Founder/President/Executive Director

Carrie A. Taylor, Secretary

Jason C. Hoyt, Treasurer

Retired Board Members

Paula Watkins, Secretary

VOLUNTEERS

Administrative

Laura Schlegel, Bookkepper / Accountant

Jennie Hoyt / Executive Director
Carrie Taylor / Secretary

Jessica Swanson / Scheduling

Adoption Events / Adoption Counselors / House Rabbit Educators

Jessica Swanson, Team Leader / Lead Volunteer

Madison Moran, Adoption Coordinator

Jennie Hoyt

Jason Hoy

Carrie Taylor

Anna Lia

Rene Watts

Meredith Swanson

Jillian Roach

Transport

Donna De'Angeolo, Brunswick County Transport Coordinator

Carrie Taylor

Jennie Hoyt

Jason Hoyt

Store Care Specialists / Rabbit Care

Allie Jones

Brooklyn Rhodes

Carrie Taylor

Jason Hoyt

Jennie Hoyt

Jessica Swanson

Meredith Swanson

Scott Higgins

Vicki Hufham

Tanja DeZalia Chanowsky

Meredith Swanson

Laura Schlegel

Shelter Care Specialists / Rabbit Care

Jason Hoyt

Jennie Hoyt

Jessica Swanson

Meredith Swanson (Store Care and Bunny Hospice Care)

Madison Moran

Laura Schlegel

Karl Schlegel

Tanja DeZalia Chanowsky

Kayla Hoyt

Kody Hoyt

Jennie Hoyt

Founder / President / Executive Director

August 2015 - Present

Jennie has nearly two decades of cumulative professional experience in Veterinary Medicine, Shelter Medicine, and Animal Rescue work. She has work experience in animal handling and restraint, animal behavior, animal husbandry, vaccinating, Grooming, Veterinary Technician and Veterinary Surgical Technician skills, Rabies, and Public Health.

Jennie learned most of the skills that she applies to her rescue from a combination of both her work experiences at the Vet and the animal shelter. Jennie first started fostering and rescuing rabbits from the shelter through another 501c3 nonprofit rescue group called Adopt an Angel. She jumped in by fostering many nursing litters of kittens from the shelter that were later adopted through Adopt an Angel.

Jennie has professional experience in Government Administration and working knowledge of Chapter 5 of the New Hanover County Ordinances. She is also well versed and knowledgeable of the North Carolina General Statues relating to animal law. In addition to being knowledgeable in animal law not only on the county level but the state level; she also has extensive knowledge of the rabies virus and exposure protocol.

Jennie has always had a passion for animal and animal welfare. When she was a child she was often driving her parents crazy bringing in orphaned and injured animals to help them and released them when they were nursed back to health. Today, she uses her skills to help re-write local animal laws to help strengthen the protections of the animals living in her county. Jennie gives all of her credit to God for giving her the gift to help animals in need.

Jennie is also a skilled animal photographer and takes all the public photos posted for the rabbits in the rescue that are on our online adoption sites.

Board of Director responsibilities: Active member on the board of directors that is jointly responsible for overseeing activities, voting on any matters brought to the boards attention by any member on the board of directors. The board of directors is accountable to, and might be subordinate to, the organization's full membership, which has the equal vote from all members of the board. Authorized to delegate non-board member duties.

President responsibilities: Managing and overseeing all activities of the organization in every aspect to ensure that all members of the board are actively working together in their assigned capacities aligned with the board of director’s code of ethics.

Administrative responsibility: Authorization to oversee that the assigned secretarial duties are being carried out. Authorized to answer emails on the behalf of the organization and all of our social media accounts. Authorization to have access to our shelter software database. Authorization to maintain (add/delete) adoptable animals on petfinder, adoptapet or other similar accounts that promote adoptions. Authorized to creating and maintain files, forms, and other data. Authorized to maintaining the organizational websites. Authorized to keep and maintain intake records, adoption records, medical records, volunteer records, legal forms, and kennel cards. Authorized to oversee any and all records maintained by the organization. Authorized to market adoptable animals.

Finical responsibility: Authorized to oversee the Treasurer. Authorized to open/close accounts on behalf of the organization. Authorized to purchase supplies on behalf of the organization. Access to move or transfer money to accounts and/or accounts payable. Authorized to accept payments for adoptions. Authorized to pay bills (accounts payable) and authorized to deposit money at the bank on behalf of the organization. Authorized purchasing rights on behalf of the organization to replenish any supplies needed to continue to provide for our owned animals that are maintained at partner stores; such as purchasing and disturbing food and cleaning supplies for our partner sites (fixtures housing our rabbits at the pet stores) or animals in our shelter.

Transport responsibility: Provides transportation support to and from shelters as needed, in addition to emergency veterinary transport or spay and neuter transportation. May also be responsible to refill prescriptions and make and schedule appointments to veterinarians and/or pay for any provided veterinary care or medications provided to animals owned by the organization; authorized by the board of directors.

Educator responsibilities: House Rabbit Educator. Skilled and knowledgeable speaker - capable of presenting educational segments to the public on rabbit care as needed. May appear in media, news, articles; Etc. Active public speaker on domestic rabbit welfare issues.

Adoption responsibilities: Adoption counselor. working most Saturday adoption events. Skilled adoption counselor teaching the public proper rabbit care. May schedule and meet prospective adopters for pre-arranged adoption appointments.

Other responsibilities; Bunny slave! Maintains and treats and medicates sick rabbits in isolation and assesses behavior and health of animals at time of intake to adoption. Trained veterinary technician. Skilled in nursing newborn orphaned domestic rabbits from birth to weaning age. Skilled in animal photography and responsible for taking and editing all photos of animals adopted by the organization and promoting adoption profiles on public websites. Animal Welfare Activist, house rabbit welfare activist. Public speaker and media public outreach.

Contact: Jennie@nhc-rabbitrescue.com

Jason Hoyt

Treasurer

August 2015 - Present

Jason serves on the board as Treasurer. He is a mechanic by trade and skilled bowler even though he refuses to admit it. In his spare time, he enjoys rebuilding classic cars and riding his Harley. He is a country music fan and loves the outdoors.

Jason helps this organization tremendously but always down plays his role.

Jason has a love for animals and his special pet is a Chihuahua named Foster who was a shelter dog that Jennie brought home from the Shelter that was treated for Parvo and survived.

Jason secretly is a rabbit whisperer... oh no… now his secret is out!

Board of Director responsibilities: Active member on the board of directors that is jointly responsible for overseeing activities, voting on any matters brought to the board’s attention by any member on the board of directors. The board of directors is accountable to, and might be subordinate to, the organization's full membership, which has the equal vote from all members of the board. Authorized to delegate non-board of director duties.

Treasurer responsibilities: Keeping and maintaining all financial records. Authorized to open/close accounts on behalf of the organization. Authorized to purchase supplies on behalf of the organization. Access to move or transfer money to accounts and/or accounts payable. Authorized to accept payments for adoptions. Authorized to pay bills (accounts payable) and authorized to deposit money at the bank on behalf of the organization.

Administrative responsibility: Authorization to answer emails on the behalf of the organization and all our social media accounts. Authorization to have access to our shelter software database. Authorization to maintain (add/delete) adoptable animals on petfinder, adoptapet or other similar accounts that promote adoptions.

Finical responsibility: Authorized purchasing rights on behalf of the organization to replenish any supplies needed to continue to provide for our owned animals that are maintained at partner stores; such as purchasing and disturbing food and cleaning supplies for our partner sites (fixtures housing our rabbits at the pet stores) or animals in our shelter.

Transport responsibility: Provides transportation support to and from shelters as needed, in addition to emergency veterinary transport or spay and neuter transportation. May also be responsible to refill prescriptions and make and schedule appointments to veterinarians and/or pay for any provided Veterinary care or medications provided to animals owned by the organization; authorized by the board of directors.

Educator responsibilities: House Rabbit Educator at adoption events. Skilled and knowledgeable speaker - capable of presenting educational segments to the public on rabbit care as needed. May appear in media, news, articles; Etc. Active speaker domestic house rabbit welfare advocate.

Adoption responsibilities: LEAD volunteer. Working Saturday adoption events, skilled adoption counselor fully capable of teaching the public proper rabbit care. May schedule and meet prospective adopters for pre-arranged adoption appointments.

Other responsibilities; Head bunny slave! Maintains adoption equipment, responsible for setup and break down of equipment at adoption events.

Contact - Jason@nhc-rabbitrescue.com

Carrie Taylor

Secretary

October 2016 - Present

My name is Carrie, I am a single mom of three (one boy and two rabbits). We were introduced to the NHC Rabbit Rescue when we started looking to adopt our first rabbit and needed more information.

We fell in love with rabbits after our family dog passed away; we wanted something to love but were not ready to go the same route. We have grown to love these sweet babies and everything that makes them unique, learning more every day.

I am excited to be a part of such a special and needed organization. I have grown to love not only Kovu and Rambo, the two rabbits we have at home, but also all of the ones I've been able to snuggle through the rescue. They need help finding their special homes and people to care for them on their journey.

I enjoy helping with the NHC Rabbit Rescue adoption fairs and events and talking to people about my experiences so far being a bunny mom as well as helping to see if adopting a rabbit is the right step for their family.

Secretarial responsibilities: Sending tax deductible receipts to donors and keeping records of such transactions for the organizations tax records. Keeping minutes of official board of director meetings and other duties not otherwise specified.

Administration responsibility: Authorization to answer emails on the behalf of the organization and all our social media accounts. Authorization to have access to our shelter software database. Authorization to maintain (add/delete) adoptable animals on petfinder, adoptapet or other similar accounts that promote adoptions.

Transport responsibility: Provides transportation support to and from shelters as needed, in addition to emergency veterinary transport or spay and neuter transportation. May also be responsible to refill prescriptions and make and schedule appointments to veterinarians and/or pay for any provided Veterinary care or medications provided to animals owned by the organization; authorized by the board of directors.

Adoption responsibilities: Working periodic Saturday adoption events, skilled adoption counselor teaching the public proper rabbit care. May schedule and meet prospective adopters for pre-arranged adoption appointments.

Contact: Carrie@nhc-rabbitrescue.com

Laura Schlegel

Bookkepper / Accountant

June 2019 - Present

My name is Laura and I’m a proud USMC spouse, mom to two awesome kids, and a very happy bunny mama to Zoey and Sophie. I got introduced to the NHC Rabbit Rescue when I was doing research on adopting a bunny (my daughter had one as a class pet and we fell in love with him!). Jennie and Jason were so helpful answering our MANY questions and preparing us to bring home our first bunny, Zoey (they even walked us around the pet store and showed us exactly what we needed!). It wasn’t long before we decided that Zoey needed a friend, so after doing some bunny “speed dating”, Sophie came home with us. We cuddle with our sweet girls on the couch each night, they sit on my desk during the day when I work, and they even come running at night when we say “Salad!”….can’t imagine our family without these beautiful, spoiled rotten bunbuns! We would go and visit the bunnies on Saturdays at the adoption events and were so impressed with all that the NHCRR does for the bunnies that we tried to help out however possible (they are a non-profit and do this alongside fulltime careers!). From sewing cage liners, to helping with adoption events, and grooming the rabbits (seriously the best part of my week!), I still felt like I could do more. My love of financial math and taxes have offered a great way to get involved in a larger way and I am so excited about this new position…gives me an excuse to spend even more time with the sweet bunnies at the rescue!

Responsibilities:

Records daily financial transactions and maintains accurate ledgers

Verifies receipts and makes payments to the bank through cash or cheque

Monitors office expenses and pays vendor invoices

Aids in the handling of tax forms

Verifies accuracy of transactions and makes sure they’re correctly entered in ledgers

Develops daily and monthly financial and statistical reports for management

Contact: laura@nhc-rabbitrescue.com

Jessica Swanson

Team Leader / Lead Volunteer

January 2017 - Present

Jessica has been with us the longest of any non-board member volunteer. With the support of her parents, Jessica has been the most active and committed to working our adoption events. She started when she was only 14 years old and she has volunteered nearly every Saturday with us since January 14, 2017!

Jessica is a full-time student who enjoys learning new things. She dreams of being a Veterinarian and she is interning to learn and soak up whatever she can to fulfill that dream.

Jessica adopted her first rabbit Alice from our organization back in 2017 and she adopted her second rabbit Lee-June in February of 2019.

Jessica had been with us for a year before we promoted her to Lead Volunteer. On February 9th, 2019 after a board meeting - she was promoted to Team Leader which is still lead volunteer but with added responsibilities. She was put in charge of managing and training all new volunteers working adoption events; in addition to maintaining consistent coverage for those volunteers assigned to cleaning the cages at the pet stores that house our rabbits. Jessica along with another volunteer helps us clean rabbit cages at the shelter twice a week in addition to the rest of her assigned duties.

Jessica is very dependable and takes the lead role very seriously. She can be seen working our adoption fairs on Saturdays and she also cleans our fixture at PetSense on her assigned days.

We are very lucky to have her as a part of our team!

Responsibilities: Provides guidance, instruction, direction, and leadership to our team of volunteers at adoption events, educational events, and fundraising events. Working as lead volunteer at adoption events; in charge of overseeing the training of all new volunteers at adoption events. Providing additional volunteer support by managing and maintaining consistent coverage of volunteers assigned to cleaning duties at partner pet stores (i.e. fixtures at petsmart and petsense). May be assigned other duties such as adoption counselor responsible for educating perspective adopters of proper house rabbit care at adoption events. Jessica is also is one of the administrators of our Instagram account.

Contact: Jessica@nhc-rabbitrescue.com

Madison Moran

Adoption Coordinator

June 2019 - Present

Hi my name is Madison. I have been with the NHC rabbit rescue since March of 2018. I adopted my beautiful rabbit Skittles from the rescue in August of 2018. Skittles is one of my 6 pets. Let's just say I am a crazy animal mom. I am so happy to be apart of this beautiful bun loving family. In my time with them I have found a new love for animals and of course bunnies. The bunnies at the rescue are very special and dear to my heart. Watching them get adopted and given loving homes is what I love about volunteering. Everybun deserves a loving home and I am so happy I get to be apart of that. I even hope to run my own bunny rescue when I get older to help more bunnies get forever homes. I can't imagine my life without these sweet creatures and have passed my love and knowledge on to many people around me. Earning this title means a lot to me and I will do the very best I can to be a very valuable part of this rescue and help more bunnies get adopted! "

Responsibilities: Providing administrative support to our organization by scheduling adoption events and promoting them on social media. Maintaining an active presence to keep public interest in our social media accounts with regards to educational information or promoting our adoptable animals. Creating flyers, posters, or other media needed to promoting adoptions of our animals. May also provide additional supportive duties in other areas not otherwise specified.

Contact: Madison@nhc-rabbitrescue.com

OPEN POSITION

Fundraiser event Coordinator

Your Bio Here

Is this you? If so please contact us at nhcrabbitrescue@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT- All positions are volunteer based only. No one in our group of volunteers or board members is paid which means ALL funds are used for the benefit of the animals we are saving.

Responsibilities: Organizing planning and scheduling fundraising events and activities. Negotiating with team members to ensure that everyone is working together effectively at fundraising events. Meeting with businesses to solicit donations or raffle gifts.

OPEN POSITION

Grant Writer

Your Bio Here

Is this you? If so please contact us at nhcrabbitrescue@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT- All positions are volunteer based only. No one in our group of volunteers or board members is paid which means ALL funds are used for the benefit of the animals we are saving.

Responsibilities: Grant Writing, Scheduling grant submissions.

Donna D'Angelo

Transport Coordinator 1 Brunswick

2018 - Present

My name is Donna and I retired to Brunswick County about five years ago from Cape Cod, MA. My cat, Princess, was with me then and I unfortunately lost her shortly after at about 22 years of age. Since I love animals, I decided that in my retirement I wanted to do something that I loved. I volunteered with a cat rescue group, and adopted my cat, Larry. He is somewhat difficult and had a problem finding his forever home. I now work with Adopt an Angel and the New Hanover County Rabbit Rescue. I have had several bunnies and cats as pets. I am happy to be able to help these sweet little babies find their forever homes. As a transport coordinator, I will provide the bunnies transportation to our rescue, and to other appointments as required.

Responsibilities: Primarily helping with transport; pulling from surrounding county shelters. Our main focus is New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick, Columbus, and Duplin County. We have pulled from shelters all over NC but we focus primarily closer to home.

OPEN POSITION

Transport Coordinator 2 Pender

Your Bio Here

Is this you? If so please contact us at nhcrabbitrescue@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT- All positions are volunteer based only. No one in our group of volunteers or board members is paid which means ALL funds are used for the benefit of the animals we are saving.

OPEN POSITION

Transport Coordinator 3 Columbus

Your Bio Here

Is this you? If so please contact us at nhcrabbitrescue@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT- All positions are volunteer based only. No one in our group of volunteers or board members is paid which means ALL funds are used for the benefit of the animals we are saving.

OPEN POSITION

Transport Coordinator 4 Duplin

Your Bio Here

Is this you? If so please contact us at nhcrabbitrescue@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT- All positions are volunteer based only. No one in our group of volunteers or board members is paid which means ALL funds are used for the benefit of the animals we are saving.

OPEN POSITION

Transport Coordinator 5 Onslow

Your Bio Here

Is this you? If so please contact us at nhcrabbitrescue@gmail.com.

IMPORTANT- All positions are volunteer based only. No one in our group of volunteers or board members is paid which means ALL funds are used for the benefit of the animals we are saving.

Paula Watkins

RETIRED Secretary

August 2015 - Resigned 10/30/16

Paula Watkins joined NHC Rabbit Rescue when we formed our organization. She is also very active with House Rabbit Society a national rabbit welfare non-profit organization. Paula is also active in Raleigh where she serves on the board of Triangle Rabbits.

In addition; Paula runs Cape Fear House Rabbit Society, which is a partner to HRS in which she houses un-adoptable rabbits that have medical issues.

Paula is a rabbit educator for House Rabbit Society and is a expert on all things rabbits. She is invaluable to NHC Rabbit Rescue. She serves in the capacity of our Secretary and she also helps transporting rabbits to and from our Veterinarian when they need medical treatment. She is also one of our facebook administrators.

The story behind what drew Paula into rescuing rabbits is her story. Paula's first rabbit was adopted for her kids and unfortunately it wasn't cared for properly and it didn't make it. She turned her heartbreak and grief outward to help other rabbits by educating others and becoming a active rabbit care educator through House Rabbit Society.

What to do if you find a wild baby rabbit..............

Do you need HELP REHOMING your rabbit and we have told you we are too full to help you right now?

We are working with Adopt a Pet to Help you Safely Rehome Your Pet Rabbit without having to worry about them being exploited on free rehome sites where they can be used for the wrong reason's.

We have so many requests for help rehoming owner surrenders that we have to turn so many people away because we simply cannot keep up with the demand. Those are the ones we worry the most about. People do bad things when they get desperate for help.

***Please Note**** Right now adoptapet currently does not let you rehome rabbits- but we are working on asking them to change that and we hope that will change very shortly! Keep checking back as we will keep you updated when it is working! We are optimistic that it will be very soon!