It’s kitten season again! The shelter is housing a dozen and about a dozen more are being fostered by some of our most generous volunteers. See how precious they are… and remember… they ALL need a safe and loving home.

I’ve taken the advice I received and decided to post when the timing works. And so, here I am.

I’ve been researching fundraising ideas for the shelter. A small group of the volunteers met a few weeks back, and discussed ways we thought we could improve conditions and chances for adoption at the shelter. We formed a Cleanup Day and decided to carry it out quarterly.

Our first cleanup day was about two weeks ago. It was a lot of work – 12 solid hours the first day and another 8 the next. We’re not finished but we did a bang-up job, if I may say so myself, and the cats were quite intrigued.

We thought they’d be afraid. After all, we certainly upset their normal, peaceful routine. We moved everything, scrubbed and powerwashed their cages, the floor, their toys and climbers. They weren’t fazed in the least. Instead, they watched intently. Eyeballing everything that went on, each clearly hoping to be the first to check out what we did when the opportunity arose.

The place smells better, looks better and, hopefully, by the time we’re finished with this first-in-a-long-time cleaning, we’ll be able to make potential adoptive families eager to adopt and to bring friends by to do the same.

So beyond the cleaning, we decided to work out ideas for fundraising and adoptions. We’ve yet to come up with a new and exciting adoption event idea, but we have a potentially profitable fundraising idea – magazines. Yup. Simple, plain ole magazines. A person renews their subscription or orders a new one and the shelter receives 40% of the sale. Sounds like a win-win plan to me!

As for adoption events – or even other fundraising ideas – I’m open to suggestion. And to make it interesting, I’ll make it into a contest.  Whoever comes up with the best and most usable adoption event idea, or fundraising campaign idea will get to pick a magazine of their choice from the above campaign and it will be my gift – to the winner and to the shelter. Another win-win. Now THAT’s what I call a successful campaign.

As an animal rescue volunteer, it’s my job to see that our cats are safe, healthy and happy. Whenever I can, I and the other volunteers, spread the word about our cats with the hope we’ll find loving homes for them.

One thing I cannot stress enough is the need for people to spay and neuter their pets. Indeed, if people would trap, neuter and return strays, the situation would be much less severe. Cats are mulitplying in numbers we can’t manage alone. The need for community involvement is vital. It’s also a lot to ask – and we know this. Our job, then, is to educate the community about TNR programs and to get out there ourselves to get it done.  

In order for this to happen, we need funds. It’s simple really. Everything costs money - and these days money is very hard to come by. Which leads me to my shameless plug. I’ve set up a blog about our organization. On the blog are Google ads and Google ads pay pennies per click. If you can find the time to check out the blog, post a comment, click an ad and spread the word to others you might know who are interested, I, the other volunteers and our precious felines would be eternally grateful. A few pennies here, a few more there, and who knows, maybe we can rescue, feed, socialize and find a home for one more lucky cat.

Click the photo below to go to the blog … and let me know what you think. Any way I can improve it to bring more traffic is a way I’m willing to try.

The holidays are such a busy time that we sometimes forget to think of the less fortunate among us. Many of us will stick within a budget, but still do our best to get something special within that budget for everyone on our list. This year, my family will be adding two special children to that list and to that budget.

We have no idea who those two children are. We know only that without us, they would have little to nothing with which to celebrate the holiday. While I know gift-giving and receiving is not what Christmas is all about, I have to say – and those who know me know this already – for me it is not about religion so much as about family. As a non-religious person, I want to give for the sake of giving. I want to share the warmth and love we often forget to acknowledge in our normally busy lives.

Samaritan’s Purse’s “Operation Christmas Child” will help us do just that. Samaritan’s Purse is a religious organization. In fact the mission statement from the organization’s parent webpage is this:

Samaritan’s Purse is a nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world. Since 1970, Samaritan’s Purse has helped meet needs of people who are victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ.

I deeply oppose having someone’s religion pushed on someone else but what I’ve heard about this organization is that they often give out gifts in countries where they are not allowed to include any religious instruction. So, although this organization’s purpose is to spread the message, gifts given are not limited to that purpose. 

Bottom line with this program is this - through Operation Christmas Child, we have the opportunity to bring excitment, smiles and innocent pleasure to children who would otherwise do without.

So, what is Operation Christmas Child? It’s simple – it’s a gift-giving program for needy children around the world. To participate, all you have to do is find a standard-sized shoe box and fill it with small age-appropriate gifts like paper and colored pencils, tennis balls, rubix cubes and other stocking-stuffer-type items children will enjoy. You wrap the bottom and cover of the shoe box separately, enclose a $7.00 check (for shipping to the country where “your” child lives) and drop it off at a local drop center (or ship it directly to Samaritan’s Purse).

The mission of Samaritan’s Purse is to spread the word of God. The mission of my family is to spread the word of hope, of happiness and of life’s simple pleasures.

Go, and do likewise.

How many cell phones have you had since cell phones became the rage? I’ve had two. My first was a “Tandy” from Radio Shack and was the size of a Korean War era walkie. Huge by today’s standards. I owned it about 15 years ago. Not really THAT long.

I now have my first real cell phone, while hubby is on his fourth.  What have we done with all of the old phones? Piled them in a box that’s stored in the garage. How silly is that? Will we ever use them again? Will I ever take out my old Tandy and stroll around with it in public? Not likely. We could simply toss them all but that wouldn’t be wise since another option is so much more logical.

We can donate them. And so can you.

Who couldn’t benefit from a phone these days? I think of my 94 year old grandmother at home alone during the hours my mom endures chemotherapy. I think of the latchkey kid walking home from school during the winter months when darkness comes so early. I think of all the people who did without before who could truly benefit from a phone now. But I hadn’t thought of a specific group of people who could use a phone the most.

Domestic abuse victims.

Secure the Call is a national non-profit organization that takes used and unwanted cell phones and distributes them to those most in need – like those victims of domestic abuse.

You don’t have to worry about data on your phone. You can wipe it clean of contacts before you donate it. But… Secure the Call reprograms every phone they receive and then they convert it into a free 911 phone. Those free 911 phones will then be sent to local communities around the country. Women’s shelters receive them. Senior Citizen centers. Police offices. Secure the Call will even pay for you to ship your phone to them so you don’t have to lay out a dime. OR… you could help save them some much-needed funds and pay for the shipping yourself.

We’ll be sending all of our old phones to them. We’ll also be placing a phone collection box in our office so people who stop in will be made aware of Secure the Call’s program and, hopefully, drop-off their old phones for this very worth while cause.