I Don't Give to Animal Causes

"I don’t give to animal causes."

 

This is one of those statements that I completely understand and respect.  People have every right to give as they see fit and I am just thankful that people give at all in this economy.  But, and you knew there had to be a but, I don’t see us as just animals.   We do far more than just help animals and I would say 90% of the time there is a person involved that we are helping as well.  

Let me give you a great example.  An older woman called us because she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and it was time for her to figure out a place to bring her 4 dogs.  Soon she is heading to an assisted living situation and could not take them.  She loved them like they were her children because to her they were.  They were her whole life, a reason to get up in the morning.  Today, she brought them in to the shelter.  We started the intake of the dogs at 11:00 am and at 1:00 pm she was still at the shelter giving them attention, afraid to leave.   She brought us their medications, told us all about their habits and made sure we knew how special each one was.  She was scared, sad, nervous and now alone, but at least she knows that we will provide great care for her dogs and help them find new homes.  She has entrusted us with her kids.   We helped her by giving her the peace of mind that they will be safe.  Behind every animal is a person, we don't just take care of the emotions of the animal but the person's emotions as well.  

The other ends of these stories are the happy ones.  Families adopting, creating new bonds and teaching their children about lifetime love and companionship.   To see a child light up when they know they are getting a new pet is amazing.  We help people who don’t want cats on their property by providing spay/neuter services and a way to stop them from reproducing.  We reunite lost pets with their owners. We offer behavior assistance to people who are having problems with their pet.  We provide people with low cost spay/neuter services so they can afford to fix their pets.  We provide people……   We help people…. We care about people…..

Yes, we are an animal cause and our funds go to provide daily and medical care to these pets that find themselves in our facility by no fault of their own.  Pets are completely dependent on people, without support from the community we couldn’t look owners in the eyes like the woman today and tell her, “Your dogs will be fine, they will find great homes, we got this.”     

Please give locally when giving to animal causes.  The  national groups are not connected to local organizations and donations do not filter down to your local humane society or SPCA.