Phone System Press Release

The Assisi Animal Foundation (AAF) in Crystal Lake is asking local businesses to please consider donating their phone or voice mail system to the AAF to help homeless animals. The AAF is a no-kill, not-for-profit shelter for homeless dogs and cats that focuses on finding the animals new lifelong homes. Or, at least, that's what they would like to focus on. Instead, much of their time is spent handling phone calls.

Sandra, the AAF's volunteer webmaster, said, "The number of calls this organization receives on a daily basis is incredible. The majority of callers are all asking the same questions about the same topics. If we had an automatic voice mail system set up to handle these calls and give detailed information about those topics, then the staff and volunteers could dedicate more time to taking care of the animals and finding them new homes."

The ideal system would answer calls and use a recorded greeting to direct callers to different menu options, such as adopting, donating, volunteering, and so on, as well as pass calls directly through if the caller has an emergency. Recorded greetings would explain the shelter's policies to callers interested in a topic before passing the caller through to a special voice mailbox for calls related to that topic.

"Our aim here is to cut down on the time spent handling these phone calls while still providing information and assistance to callers. We simply do not have the resources to either hire someone to perform this task or purchase a phone system ourselves, but the number of calls is becoming overwhelming, and help is needed with this to maintain the quality level of care given the animals," Sandra explained.

The foundation hopes a local business will upgrade to a new phone or voice mail system and donate the old one to the Assisi Animal Foundation. The AAF is a 501-C3 not-for-profit organization. Companies should consult their tax advisor about their donation. If your company would like to donate to the AAF, please call (815) 455-9411 and mention that you would like to donate. For more information about other ways you can help the Assisi Animal Foundation, please visit their website at www.assisi.org.