fbpx

January 19, 2025
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on Craig Newmark Is a Pigeon Guy

Craig Newmark Is a Pigeon Guy

Portrait of smiling Craig Newmark with fancy, white, crested Old Dutch Capuchin pigeon Marjoram

Craig & Marjoram (Photo Courtesy of Mrs. Newmark)

February 10, 2025 Update:

Palomacy visited Craig and his wife, Eileen, to thank them for their recent donation. We had fun being bird nerds together and he and Eileen got their annual pigeon snuggles in. We so appreciate the support they provide our feathered friends. Nessie (blind homer), Marjoram (available for adoption) and Belinay (hospice pigeon) provided the snuggles. 

Craig admires fancy Old Dutch Capuchin pigeon Marjoram while blind Homer Nessie lap naps

Craig & Mrs. Newmark chatting with blind Homer pigeons Nessie

Craig & Mrs. Newmark chatting with blind Homer pigeons Nessie

L to R: Pigeon Heroes Craig, Mrs. Newmark & Jill with pigeons Belinay, Nessie & Marjoram

January 19, 2025

Craig Newmark is many things: the founder of craigslist, an “accidental entrepreneur,” a self-proclaimed old-school nerd, a full-time philanthropist and a life-long lover of pigeons. He named his favorite neighborhood pigeon Ghost Faced Killer. (Good one!)

Palomacy, with Craig’s very generous support, saves hundreds of pigeons and doves through hands-on rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming in Northern California. We leverage our expertise, resources, and connections to help thousands more out-of-area birds, both nationally and internationally, every year. We save lives directly and by raising awareness and compassion for these birds, who have been overlooked and underserved for too long. Together with an increasing number of fellow rescues and advocates, we are reversing the unfair stigma against pigeons and showing the world they deserve our respect and protection.

Palomacy is profoundly honored and grateful to receive our largest donation ever- a grant for $30,000- from our biggest supporter, Craig Newmark Philanthropies.

Thank you, Craig, for all you are doing “to support and connect people and drive broad civic engagement… to advance grassroots organizations that are effective and getting stuff done” and to help pigeons.

Share

January 13, 2025
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on Elizabeth’s Leave of Absence

Elizabeth’s Leave of Absence

4/16/25 Update:

Thank you so much to all those supporting and covering me for three months of leave! It has been incredibly helpful. I am truly so grateful to you. I hope that you won’t mind overmuch that I am extending my return date from 4/20 to 5/1. I look forward to rejoining you then!

 

Dear Friends,

I’m writing to let you know that I’m taking a three-month leave of absence beginning January 20, 2025.

I’ve been trying for quite a while to find the right words to express how incredibly grateful I am to the amazing Palomacy community. You all have given me so much hope and faith throughout these past 17 years. We live in a hard world that often feels heartless- except within this kind, compassionate, generous family that we have created together. You all are truly the best of the best.

Though I’ll be taking a break from bird rescue, Palomacy will continue thanks to our many flock members working their miracles every day.

Jill (McMurchy) Shepard will be Acting Executive Director and taking over many of my responsibilities in addition to her role as Care Director. Please support her as enthusiastically as you always do (and maybe even a little more). Our Board Treasurer Jenna Close will provide extra support on the financial and organizational administration side of things. Rose Lalla Jensen is the Administrator and Lead Moderator for our online Palomacy Help Group. Dion Campbell is our Phone Line Lead (415 851-5948). Heather Hohlowski will be publishing your stories and articles to our website, blog and newsletter. Board member Aileen (Ellie) Paterson will manage our GlobalGiving reports and appeals. And there are over 100 more dedicated volunteers helping to do everything- all the rescuing, fostering, aviary cleaning, rehoming, care coaching, supporting, publicizing, posting, fundraising and advocating for our precious birds!

Together you are every day making the world-changing, life-saving difference for pigeons and doves that they said couldn’t be done.

I thank you with all my heart for carrying on while I take a break.

With love and gratitude,

Elizabeth Young, Palomacy founder
How it all began: Remembering Gurumina

Share

January 1, 2025
by Heather Hohlowski
Comments Off on Volunteer Opportunity – Community Outreach

Volunteer Opportunity – Community Outreach

Join us at outreach and adoption events to talk about rescued pigeons and doves and introduce people to birds. (No prior experience required, we train. Use our birds as ambassadors or bring your own.) This is a really amazing experience – people light up when they hold a pigeon or dove and learn how sweet and gentle they are. We participate in about 30 events each year, including the Solano Stroll, the Sonoma VegFest, the San Damiano Blessing of the Animals, Pigeon Palooza in Oakland, San Francisco Middle School STEAM Night, the Berkeley Bay Festival, Earth Day at the Oakland Zoo, the Lakeshore Elementary Community Superhero Day, adoption events at a variety of animal shelters, Pet Food Express stores, in classrooms and much more. A typical shift is three to five hours. (Check out our Events page and learn more)

Frequency: Commit in advance only to the dates/locations you choose (we’ll invite you as opportunities are calendared)

Skills needed: Friendliness, reliability, no bird nor experience required (we bring birds and we train)

Location: Throughout Greater San Francisco Bay Area (Sacramento to San Jose)

Want to do this? Please complete our application and we’ll connect to discuss the possibilities.

 

Share

January 1, 2025
by Heather Hohlowski
Comments Off on Volunteer Opportunity – Aviary Cleaning and Foster Flock Care

Volunteer Opportunity – Aviary Cleaning and Foster Flock Care

Join our amazing team of weekly volunteers at the Ploughshares Nursery in Alameda, a 16’ x 8’ aviary that houses 30 pigeons in foster care. Each volunteer visits the aviary for one shift per week (for 1 to 4 hours depending on your preference) to:

    • Sweep, scrape and hose down the floor
    • Change out water tubs
    • Change newspaper in nest boxes
    • Look for real eggs and swap for fakes (feggs)
    • Add new food
    • Socialize with the birds and take photos/videos to share

This is a great way to interact with pigeons and is a vital component of our work. As we grow, we hope to include more aviaries and our need for volunteers will keep expanding. (Learn all about it)

Frequency: Commit to one shift per week

Skills needed: Dependable, love to clean, no bird experience required (we train)

Location: Currently Alameda, CA only (with potential for Martinez, Fairfield, Napa and San Jose)

Want to do this? Please complete our application and we’ll connect to discuss the possibilities.

Share

January 1, 2025
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on Volunteer Opportunity – Foster Home/Aviary Provider

Volunteer Opportunity – Foster Home/Aviary Provider

Our foster care providers are the heart and soul of Palomacy. We don’t have a shelter facility or sanctuary. All of our birds depend on foster care. We can only say Yes to rescuing a bird when we have a foster home for them. Currently we have 40 volunteer foster sites (stretching from Santa Cruz to Petaluma) that range in capacity from one bird cared for indoors to 20+ outside. Pigeons and doves are fun and easy to live with and we always need more foster carers for birds either indoors with the family or outside in predator & rodent-proof aviaries. No experience required though a willingness to follow our guidelines is. Palomacy pays for avian vet care (your transport assistance is much appreciated) and fosters pay for food and basic care supplies. The first step to fostering and learning more and asking questions, is to complete our application. It does not obligate you and is the place where we start the conversation. (Learn about what pigeons and doves need)

Frequency: Most foster carers spend 30 to 60 minutes every day caring for basic needs, plus some extra time for socializing

Skills needed: Patience, compassion, willingness to be taught by the birds.

Enclosure needed: We often have cages or crates we can loan for indoors and/or we’ll try to assist you if you’re building an aviary. We can teach you all you need to know but you’ll need to lead the enclosure-getting effort. (Cage and aviary info)

Location: Throughout Greater San Francisco Bay Area (Sacramento to San Jose)

Complete our foster/adopt application and we’ll connect to discuss the possibilities.

Yuzu big cage

Share

January 1, 2025
by Heather Hohlowski
Comments Off on Volunteer Opportunity – WordPress Guru

Volunteer Opportunity – WordPress Guru

Palomacy’s website lives on WordPress and while we know the basic basics, we also know that WP offers many features we should be taking advantage of (Forms and SEO are two important ones). We also want optimal integration with Plugins, MailChimp, FundRazr, ASM, etc. We need to keep the site easy to manage for those of us who are not familiar with html, coding, etc. In other words, we want to stick with a WP template. And we are looking to do a modest redesign in the near future. This role requires:

Frequency: Available for occasional support and projects, maybe some proactive maintenance and enhancement (approx. 4 hours/week?)

Skills needed: Experience building and maintaining a website on WordPress, ability to collaborate with others who are not so tech-savvy but have input about how the site should look and function

Location: From anywhere

Want to do this? Please complete our application and we’ll connect to discuss the possibilities.

Share

January 1, 2025
by Heather Hohlowski
Comments Off on Volunteer Opportunity – Social Media/TikTok Wrangler

Volunteer Opportunity – Social Media/TikTok Wrangler

We have lots of compelling photos and powerful stories and we post to social media every day but we need someone who can help us level up our profiles! We have 42K followers on Facebook, 15K on Instagram and only 300 on TikTok. TikTok is especially great for pigeon rescue and adoptions and we need skilled help!

Frequency: Often!

Skills needed: Team player, content creation (especially videos), algorithm insights, marketing talent

Location: From anywhere

Want to do this? Please complete our application and we’ll connect to discuss the possibilities.

 

Share

January 1, 2025
by Heather Hohlowski
Comments Off on Volunteer Opportunity – Graphic Design Assistant

Volunteer Opportunity – Graphic Design Assistant

We are always looking for help with the creation of online announcement graphics about fundraising campaigns, birds in need of homes, outreach events, flyers, and more. A few examples are shown below.



Frequency: Commit only to the projects you choose

Skills needed: Self-starter, team player, Adobe, Canva

Location: From anywhere

Want to do this? Please complete our application and we’ll connect to discuss the possibilities.

Share

January 1, 2025
by Elizabeth
Comments Off on Volunteer Opportunity – Rescue & Transport Assistance

Volunteer Opportunity – Rescue & Transport Assistance

Palomacy receives emails, messages, and phone calls every day from people who have found a pigeon or dove in the park, their backyard, under a car, in a store… birds who are lost, injured, scared, often all three. We need help getting them to safety, whether that is to WildCare in San Rafael, a foster home in San Jose or an avian vet in Oakley or anywhere in between. The vets we work with are located in Oakley, California, which is 50 miles east of San Francisco. There is no set schedule for this role – as a rescue and transport volunteer, you would be part of a group notified whenever this help is needed and let us know if you’re available. And birds can be taken on BART, buses, Lyft, etc. (Learn more)

Frequency: Commit only to the occasions you choose

Skills needed: Responsible, ability to get around, sometimes bird catching is needed

Location: Throughout Greater San Francisco Bay Area (Sacramento to San Jose)

Want to do this? Please complete our application and we’ll connect to discuss the possibilities.

 

 

Share

January 1, 2025
by Heather Hohlowski
Comments Off on Volunteer Opportunity – Adoptions and Placements Development

Volunteer Opportunity – Adoptions and Placements Development

There are so many beautiful, amazing, sassy, sweet pigeons and doves in need of homes! We need more people power helping to inspire potential adopters, to coach and support applicants and to develop placement partnerships with sanctuaries, wineries, shelters, and other rescues. These birds need more adopters and we need you to help us make that happen! (Learn what adopted pigeons and doves need)

Frequency: Ongoing 4-16 hours per week ideally

Skills needed: Self-starter, outcome-driven, creative thinker, tenacious, love for pigeons and doves, continuous learner, placement experience would be extra great

Location: Throughout Greater San Francisco Bay Area (Sacramento to San Jose)

Want to do this? Please complete our application and we’ll connect to discuss the possibilities.

Share
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox

Join other followers: