I hope this letter finds each and every one of you preparing for Joyous Holidays with family and friends For those of you that are still deployed, my Christmas wish is that you will find your way home before the holidays so you can celebrate with your families. For those of you who will be caring for the animals during the Holidays, Thank you! There are not enough words to convey the sacrifices that you make for those animals in their times of need.

As I looked back on the many pictures taken this year, I reminisced at the times we have all been together saving lives.  From the Transports at Humane Society of Tampa Bay with Laura and Jim, or the shelter work throughout Tampa Bay, as well as all the valuable outreach programs completed from schools and libraries to table tops at outdoor community events, or the new friends we met at the Florida SARC trainings to the deployments that many of you have been to throughout the year. We can all say this has been a tremendous year of saving lives!

I can’t begin to mention the responses we have been asked to that have saved lives. To think of a few off the top of my head I would start with the HSUS/ ASPCA Arkansas Horse rescue, Port Saint Lucie, where we were requested to assist a community in need and saved over 300 dogs from suffering and starvation, or the team members that responded to several pit-bull fighting cases in Florida, or the awful spring tornados that devastated communities and tore families apart in a matter of minutes in Tuscaloosa Alabama and Joplin Missouri.

Again, there were the seven hundred cats that many of you were committed to care for every day for weeks by providing care, cleaning and enrichment until they were all adopted. Then you stayed until the doors were closed keeping our motto ”we leave it cleaner than we found it “ 

And then, the hurricane season where many of you worked tirelessly educating the citizens of our communities, we watched hurricanes pop off the African coast like bullets and then turn toward the northeast missing us completely, however leveling towns across the northeast, again you responded! 

When Humane Society International called for help with the largest puppy mill seizure they have ever had in Canada, you were there too, caring for helpless animals that had never seen grass, the blue sky or a gentle touch; because of you they now know love! 

And here at home, many of you were working closely with Animal Services to prepare the pet friendly shelters as well as successfully working toward the consolidation of the CHAART team in Hillsborough county into the Bay Area DART team. Preparing our marketing strategies while the Bay Area DART committee worked endlessly to strategically plan the future of our team and the direction it will go, as we have grown so rapidly.

From the tabling events to the speaking engagements that Bay Area DART members have completed this year educating our communities and saving lives , and again, many of you have been busy assisting in developing the Florida State Animal Response Coalition (FLSARC) continuing in our commitment to prepare our community and State in disaster, this is now a growing coalition that will support our State in disaster and so many of you have stepped up to help not only our Tampa Bay Area but you have also reached out to help our State and the animals in need! 

I cannot even begin to imagine the volunteer hours that have gone into saving our four legged friends this year and educating their owners about disaster preparedness!  I do know that without each and every one of you, our community would not be prepared, and the lives that were saved from suffering, starvation or disaster would not have been possible.  As you have seen, it takes a community of dedicated, compassionate volunteers to make that happen. I can proudly say that the Bay Area DART team and the Sumter DART Logistics Team has been part of saving thousands of lives this year from Tampa Bay across the country and even internationally!

I personally want to thank each and every one of you for your compassion and caring hearts, you have donated your personal time and talents as well as many monetary donations to help our four legged friends, no matter where they may be in the world! You have helped in reuniting them with their lost owners or given them that second chance to a life they so much deserve, or, held them closely when they needed a gentle touch.

A wise man once said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world."

I am proud to say I walk beside many who are creating the change in the world for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Thank you for saving lives and your continued commitment to the animals and to Bay Area DART.

May you have a joyous and restful holiday with family and friends.

Connie Brooks
Executive Director