Well, three of my volunteers have now moved out of state (have since gone off to college), and the other two now have their hands full with their two new children, one of which is a Down's Synd. baby...where are you? I found the kids willing to help that time at one of the high schools in the area. They have to do community service to graduate in Maryland. Not all of the kids want to work at church, or are comfortable helping at a soup kitchen, and there are quite a lot of young adults who love animals and are very into activism, but are limited as to how much they can do first hand because they still live with mom & dad. BUT, if you contact the local high schools & churches in your areas, you'd be surprised by how many people are willing to help. AND if you have any affiliations with actual rescues, very often the local lumber yards & little ma & pa hardware stores in the area will be willing to donate either regular merchandise, or slightly damaged items that can be still be useful...just not "pretty". You can also get ALOT of stuff on the CRAIGS LIST website. People list items there they want to get rid of, but don't want to throw away....most are give-a-ways, some are up for trade. It never hurts to ask youth church groups, schools, shops that sell animal supplies..even vet offices, boarding & grooming businesses. But if you approach the schools and church groups, do it correctly, start at the HEAD of the school, explain in writing what you are looking to do and WHY, try to find some educational value in it for those who would help. If you are in need of blankets or throws for your rescues...contact an assisted living care facility. Offer to maybe give a talk to the residents about felv+, show pictures of your cats, or if they have the temperment and are up on shots, to bring them in to visit. Talk with them about what you do, what you need...if you supplie the raw materials, and can find a resident or two there who love cats and can say knitt or sew...perhaps you can sit with them and make blankets or throws that you need. ALWAYS remember tho to bring pictures back to your helpers of your critter using the items they made or donated. In that instance where I offered to help the woman who had offered to take Simms, I did so because I would have been making the living space more livable for an animal that had been in my care (and that I WANTED desparately to keep, but couldn't for space reasons (VERY small apt....condo Nazi's already all over me b/c I had too many...three of which were already special needs critters...etc...), I was willing to put the supplies I couldn't get donated on my charge card. As it is, I used that money to drive the cat across 4 states to a better home. T
Nina <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: No kidding! That was exactly what was going through my mind when reading Tamara's offer of help. I'm always wishing help like that would fall out of the sky and into my lap! Susan Hoffman wrote: Ummm, would you and your volunteers like to come give me a hand at MY place? I'll accept! tamara stickler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: I agree. That's what scared me about the woman who originally agreed to take Simms. After seeing her place, I called her back and told her I had five volunteers lined up who had agreed to come help her finish insulating the garage where she kept the felv+ cats, build new cat trees and levels for them and her healthy foster cats and even help her husband build the larger shed he told me he wanted to build for the healthy foster cats that she had. I told her all her hubby had to do was get us a list of the materials he needed, give us a weekend or two when it would be good for them, and we'd be there. --------------------------------- Food fight? Enjoy some healthy debate in the Yahoo! Answers Food & Drink Q&A.
