For our newly signed up Volunteers

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to send you an email to thank you for signing up to help out with S.O.A.R.! There are a lot of exciting things going on, and we will need your help to get it done!

The Orlando Show went well. We didn’t raise a lot of money, but the Parrot Nutrition presentation drew quite a crowd, and some very good networking was achieved. One really good thing that came out of the show is that we talked to Mr. Tillman (the show director) and S.O.A.R. now has the job to catch all those birds who get out of their cages during the show, and we get to adopt them out, instead of them dying several days after, or getting released to the wild where they will most likely die as well.

In other news from the show, we are going to move our booth from the main area, to the building where the presentations are done. From there, I feel we will be much more safe actually bringing birds that need homes, as they won’t be exposed to the potential bird diseases in the main hall. There is a need to present to the public that adopted birds can be better than a baby bird, and if we have some examples, that might help alleviate the misconception that birds that need homes are difficult to handle.

In volunteering with us, we would like to know what you would like to volunteer for… Right now we are in a transition phase between being an unofficial rescue to something with larger goals and capabilities, so there is much to do.

Before we start hitting heavy on finding birds that need homes (advertising at the local bird stores, vets, etc) we would like to be able to have some foster folks available for overflow, and a waiting list of people who actually would like to have a bird. To do this, we have to work on training our foster network, and making a database on who has the capabilities and room for what. It is one thing to foster for say a lovebird, but a completely different matter for an Umbrella Cockatoo…

So if you are interested in fostering, please send me an email either at phoenix@floridasoar.org or my work at neal.dolphin@sungardhe.com and let me know that this is something you would like to do, what experience you have, what equipment you have (do you have a cage?), and I will get with you and see what kind of foster work would be best for you. We also have some very good resources for training, so if you do not have as much experience as you would like, we are here to help!

If fostering is not your thing, or if you would like to do more than fostering (which is a lot of work as it is), we are planning on setting up a booth at some local festivals around the central Florida area, and we will need help with that. We are right now building a 20x20 foot free flight aviary at our house, and if you would like to help with that, we would gladly appreciate it, not to mention help with cleaning cages, transporting birds, home inspections, help teaching classes, help taking care of the website, help with advertising and marketing ect. Etc.

Please let us know what you would like to do, and I am sure we can find a place for you to do it! J

Also, we are going to go to the Parrots in the Park, which is held on the first weekend of the month at Lake Eola in Orlando at the concessions area.

Enough for now, next note I will introduce you to some of our board members who have great experience with birds and rescue work.

Take Care!

Neal and Phoenix

Time is fleeting...

As the "get ready at the last minute" madness takes its toll... So listen closely -

Hey everyone! This is Neal with the latest updates to the official S.O.A.R. launch at the Orlando Exotic Bird Show June 10th at the Central Florida Fairgrounds!

This is an exciting time for us, taking our rescue efforts from word of mouth to a real full blown non-profit corporation. We have seen the need for a bird rescue in Florida for quite a long time, and we are very happy that this is finally coming to pass.

But at the same time I am very nervous at the prospect of what could happen. Our facility right now is our home, and any rescues come into our home with open arms. However, we only have room for so many rescue birds. We desperately need to have good people who know birds to be able to foster some out to until we can find them forever homes. The nightmare would be that we open our doors and we suddenly have 50 screaming cockatoos that need help!

With that nervousness comes the cost of even getting each bird looked at by a vet. The vet we use is Florida Wild Vet. Hospital, and they have an excellent facility with good capable people. However, they are not cheap, and they are the biggest expense we have to deal with for our rescue. This is why we not only need volunteers, but we need some cold hard cash!

Well, enough of this hot air! See you at the show!

Neal Dolphin

El Presidente - S.O.A.R.

New Page

Hi All!

Welcome to the new web page and thanks for taking a look. Neal and I hope you have a good time here and find some excellent info to help you with your bird friend. As time goes on, we will be adding things and updating as much as possible.

Also, there is a bird show this coming weekend in Orlando, FL. We will be giving a presentation so please stop by if you can.

All the birds are well. They seem to have adjusted very well to the new house. Thank goodness! It is amazing how fast birds cope with things. I am so proud of them!

Anyway, that is enough for now. I will write more tomorrow.

Have a super night.

Phoenix and Neal