Everywhere I've gone the past couple days I hear everyone saying the same thing. No one can believe it's December and 2016 is less then 30 days away from being a wrap. Where did this year go-really?
Here are some of our highlights for the year:
We added to our Sophie's Circle family with the arrival of Dana's baby girl Lily. This beautiful and happy little girl will grow up surrounded by animals and will undoubtedly inherit her moms love of them. Through the pregnancy, birth and the rugged first couple months, Dana chugged away and continued to man the front lines of our rescue team along with Jen and I. The animals are lucky to have such a dedicated fighter, champion and advocate.
This was the year of Jason. Our starved and emaciated rescue came to us from unimaginable circumstances and even though it was touch and go for weeks, under the care and concern of Jen, he is now thriving and has a nice fat belly. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the massive outpouring of love and concern for this horribly abused dog saved his life. He is not looking back, and he won't have to. It's clear sailing for Jason.
We doubled our rescue numbers from last year and we are averaging almost 2 dogs per day being rehomed. We kind of think that is amazing given the fact that everyone is doing this on the side. We couldn't possibly do this without our phenomenal team of volunteers who do so much for these dogs and cats willingly and without complaint. No one gets paid in our organization and for each and every person helping the cause, this is a labor of love. The final numbers won't be in until the end of the year, but we have already surpassed last years total a couple of months ago.
Jen, Arlene and I took a trip to the Redlands in South Florida in April to see if we could help out with the huge population of dumped dogs who are in a desperate mess. We brought back a van load of dogs, one of whom was pregnant and ready to give birth any day. We got her into her fosters care in the nick of time and her healthy babies are now living in their new homes and so is mama.
We have some of the best vets in the area helping us with our rescues and to all of them we are deeply grateful. The love and concern shown to our dogs is a beautiful thing. Very few of the dogs we bring into the rescue have been spay or neutered and there aren't enough words to stress how important this is for the overpopulation problem and for their health and well being.
Sitting here writing this, I am having thoughts of all of the people in our lives who do so much good without complaint and I feel so honored and blessed to be surrounded by this amazing team of dedicated animal lovers. We love each and every one of you for every single contribution to the
cause. To be able to say we doubled our numbers from last year means we have a lot of help. We absolutely could not do it without the people who come to our aid and it would not be fair to forget to mention the dedicated food bank volunteers. They are like family to me after all this time. We
literally have given thousands of pounds of food to hundreds of needy families since the inception of our pet food pantry. The pet food pantry is in its 7th year going strong.
I had a thought earlier today that surprised me. January will mark the 9th anniversary of the day I met Sophie. Back in quarantine, set to die, I will never forget those huge blue eyes looking right into mine. The sadness that beautiful dog was conveying to me will remain one of my most powerful memories. In Sophie's honor, we are well over 1000 dogs saved and rehomed. I hope she is proud of what we have accomplished. I hope she realizes how very important her life was and how much she mattered. You never know what will inspire you or what will change you. Sophie was my shining star and my inspiration and in her honor I can say how proud I am of Dana, Jen, Arlene, all the volunteers, and all of our supporters.
Wishing everyone reading this a beautiful Christmas and a blessed New Year. Here's to many more wagging tails and happy endings in 2017!
Love,
Kathy Blackman
