Midwest/ZooToo Shelter Makeover!

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I'm so excited! You guys are only 4 hours from me..... I might be able to make the trip if they allow people to come to the visit or whatever!
 
Laura,

If you need help getting ready for the site visit, please PM me. I'm not that far from you. And I want to be there for the site visit too!
 
Ooh I have a major case of post traumatic zootoo stress disorder! Most of it is bcI was so amped with the contest ending that I stayed up until 4AM working on my paper that night and then had to be up at 7AM for a full day of school. Im beat!

Laura/Jill, did they ever say anything about the fact that you guys rent a building? Im so scared that that may come into play since there isnt a place to build on..I read through the contest rules though and it didnt say anything about ownership of the land/building, just that its a "brick and mortar" establishment.
 
The makeover could mean a lot of things. If they won the million they could maybe BUY the warehouse LOL!

Still, they could build with it or whatever. Is this warehouse connected to others? tell me the setup.
 
Not sure how Zootoo will pass out the money. Will one shelter get the full $1M? Is it guaranteed the rest of the shelters will get a minimum $5000? Zootoo will look at each shelter and see how wisely the shelter will spend the money. You should draw up a list of whatneeds tobe done, and try to convince Zootoo to give you what you need for the makeover. For example, $5000 won't replace a leaking roof. What Slavetoabunny said about the related expenses needed, we should try and brainstorm some ideas on what we could do for a makeover.

I have an ideathat mightincrease the amount Zootoo could give to Midwest. Start a pledge to have people match the dollars Zootoo gives to Midwest. That might interest Zootoo that the moneywon will have more impact to the shelter. There was a thought when Midwest was out of the top 20, we were going to give our own money to Midwest to make up for their lost.

Any other ideas or suggestions?
 
Bo B Bunny wrote:
The makeover could mean a lot of things. If they won the million they could maybe BUY the warehouse LOL!

Still, they could build with it or whatever. Is this warehouse connected to others? tell me the setup.
BoBBunny and Everyone,

Our shelter is in an old 1930's warehouse and it is in the middle of a string of other businesses. The building sits perpendicular to the road and the building is long. At the front of the building is offices and then a wall separates each of the 3 or 4 other businesses located in the warehouse. We are right smack dab in the middle and we would not stay in this facility if we won.

We NEED MORE SPACE. So, we've decided that because the housing market is in the toilet in Michigan we could probably pick up a nice building or piece of land that we could renovate or build on. We are not going to worry about that atthis point, because we obviously can't change the fact that we rent. No where in any of the rules that I've read does it say that you need to own the building you're in now.

If nothing else, it is just another compelling reason for them to choose us. We are not in our own place and we need to be very badly!!!

Laura




 
Pet_Bunny wrote:
Not sure how Zootoo will pass out the money. Will one shelter get the full $1M? Is it guaranteed the rest of the shelters will get a minimum $5000? Zootoo will look at each shelter and see how wisely the shelter will spend the money. You should draw up a list of whatneeds tobe done, and try to convince Zootoo to give you what you need for the makeover. For example, $5000 won't replace a leaking roof. What Slavetoabunny said about the related expenses needed, we should try and brainstorm some ideas on what we could do for a makeover.

I have an ideathat mightincrease the amount Zootoo could give to Midwest. Start a pledge to have people match the dollars Zootoo gives to Midwest. That might interest Zootoo that the moneywon will have more impact to the shelter. There was a thought when Midwest was out of the top 20, we were going to give our own money to Midwest to make up for their lost.

Any other ideas or suggestions?
Pet Bunny,

I read somewhere inside the rules that after they determine which one of the TOP 20 finalist's is the big winner, the second place group gets $10,000. Everyone else in the TOP 20 is guaranteed $5,000. This would equate to $100,000 being handed out to the 19 others that weren't chosen and the winner would get $900,000. I think this is what they are planning to do, but we'll have to wait and see!

Laura

 
I think having you girls/guys come up when we have our tour would be so awesome! As soon as we're given anymore information about the process, I'll be sure to share.

I know that everyone is so invested and interested in what happens next. Trust me, I can't sleep worrying about how we are going to get ready and the presentation, and the cleaning and organizing, and the media, etc. . . .

It is a huge achievement to get this far, but now we have a heck of a lot of work ahead of us. I'm really nervous about the presentation and the tour.

I think I told you guys that we have our first meeting next Tuesday to talk about/brainstorm/prioritize what we do next. This is going to take a lot of my energy for the next month. I hope my kids and husband don't expect too much out of me???!?!?!?!?:p

Thanks for all of your support too! Any ideas you want to send our way are much appreciated. I want to make sure we don't miss a thing. That we think of every aspect of this and make the best presentation!!

Woooooo - I need to calm down. It makes me nervous just chatting about it with you fine people! ahahhahah

Laura


 
I just came across the terms of the contest and the prizes.



[align=left]The Makeover Winner receives a makeover for its shelter up to a maximum approximate construction value of one million dollars.

The runner-up receives $10,000

Eighteen (18) Finalists receive $5,000 each
[/align]


[align=left]In the link below, they have the specificsfor the makeover.

http://www.zootoo.com/media/pdf/ZootooHouseShelterRules.pdf[/align]
 
Laura:

One thing you might do is identify some potential properties which might be suitable for a shelter. You could include this as part of your presentation to show Zootoo that you've thought that far ahead.

It's going to kill me to wait until May 15th to find out who the million dollar winner is. I have visions in my head of that big, fake check that they always take photos with made out to Midwest.
 
If there is anything I can do to help preparefrom a distance, please let me know. I can try and get help from Buckeye HRS folks too.

I do believe some fake reviews are disappearing from other shelters. I noticed user janetfinegan who had over 200 reviews and most truly fake (stated she had never even seen the items) is now done to 30 reviews. She is with St. Louis.

In the last 2 hours of the contest,Greg reviewed Royal Canin Maine Coon Cat food http://www.zootoo.com/cats_dryfood/royalcaninmainecooncatfood. 2 other people had reviewed it and their reviews were blatantly fake. I doubt they've ever seen the food or they would know the kibble is about 4 times the size of regular cat food. One said. 'Good food, cats eat.' After the contest ended, both the fake reviews were still up. Today I looked and one of the fakes is gone.I believe it was a from a St. Louis person.

Unless I amhallucinating, ZT is weeding through reviews starting at the top.
 
slavetoabunny wrote:
Zootoo is already scheduling site visits. See user "topcats" journal entry. It's in the comments. Danbury is scheduled for April 10.

Laura - you may not have as long as you thought to plan!
Oh... "topcat!" Found it! :)

Wow, April 10th is next week!
 
I had flagged over 60 reviews from a single supporter of Cat Welfare who clearly said in each review, 'haven't tried it but sounds good' like she just copied and pasted on one product after another. I did this after I maxed out on the reviews I could do for one day.

None of my reviews have disappeared though. I did notice that did not appear right after I wrote because I had somehow become logged out. I wonder if that's why some people's didn't show up? I did not log out but some glitch had logged me out, not sure what.
 
oh no, it was flat out removed. They were there. We had the points and days later they were removed even.

I flagged some of those same types of posts when I had nothing else to do - and they stayed most of the time. I have to say tho, the one word things I flagged were all gone.
 
slavetoabunny wrote:
Zootoo is already scheduling site visits. See user "topcats" journal entry. It's in the comments. Danbury is scheduled for April 10.

Laura - you may not have as long as you thought to plan!

Holy Crap Batman, you're right!!!! OMG

I hope they don't schedule us right away!Jill has passed this info onto the board members too, so I'm sure everyone is panicked now. We're meeting on Tuesday next week, but we are going to have to kick it into highgear and get prepared!!!

Thanks for the info!

Laura
 
Oh, I have exciting news to share. The week before the contest ended, I tried contacting some of the local personalities on tv here in Detroit. The emails that I got back were all messages saying these people were out of the office until after the contest was over. Disappointing to say the least!

This morning I was contacted by one of the local tv people saying that she was soo sorry that she didn't see my email and wants to know if there is anything she can do to help now that the contest is over!!!!! OMG I almost screamed when I read the email!!

Of course, I responded very quickly and asked her if we could get coverage during our site visit whenever that may be in the next couple of weeks and if she could please check on it and get back to me.

I'm so excited I can't stand it. This would be so awesome if we could get media coverage of our little shelter and our cause. OMG, OMG that's all I can think of to say. OMG

Laura




 
Well, just got an email from one of the co-founders telling me that yesterday zootoo sent her an email asking about visiting our shelter on APril 24th!!!

They tried calling her back, but got voicemail or something so I don't think it is confirmed yet, but I would imagine that we will agree to the date in order to be cooperative!!

Yikes! I'm doing binkys right now. I can't sit still! OMG


 
lilbitsmom wrote:
Oh, I have exciting news to share. The week before the contest ended, I tried contacting some of the local personalities on tv here in Detroit. The emails that I got back were all messages saying these people were out of the office until after the contest was over. Disappointing to say the least!

This morning I was contacted by one of the local tv people saying that she was soo sorry that she didn't see my email and wants to know if there is anything she can do to help now that the contest is over!!!!! OMG I almost screamed when I read the email!!

Of course, I responded very quickly and asked her if we could get coverage during our site visit whenever that may be in the next couple of weeks and if she could please check on it and get back to me.

I'm so excited I can't stand it. This would be so awesome if we could get media coverage of our little shelter and our cause. OMG, OMG that's all I can think of to say. OMG

Laura
Who was it you contacted? This is all very exciting to say the least!!!!
 

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