A friend of mine is a tireless advocate for animal rescue. She matches her words with actions.
Her story reminds me it is possible to make a difference right where you are.
She volunteers with Cats Angels to trap cats to bring them in to be neutered or spayed so they don’t unnecessarily expand the populations. She transports animals to “no kill” shelters or between foster homes. She founded her own nonprofit, “Meals on Wheels for Pets Nassau.” This nonprofit provides pet food to clients of the Meals on Wheels program who cannot get out to shop for pet food for their pets or provide needed veterinary care. Her nonprofit’s annual report for last year noted $3800 for pet food and over $6600 for veterinary care and monthly preventatives. That represents over 3,000 pounds of cat food and 4,000 pounds of dog food.
A small group of dedicated volunteers help her with delivering supplies, but she often does it herself. She also gets calls from clients and gives them pet care advice from her experience.
She recently transformed a portion of her garage into a room to house foster kittens. The room is equipped with everything a kitten could want or need. It includes blankets, toys, heating and air conditioning, proper food and litter boxes, and physically challenging climbing places. Music is played to keep the kittens company. In addition, she spends time with the kittens, playing with them and socializing them so they are ready to join a family. Kittens have to be a certain weight before they can be spayed or neutered. Once that happens, they “graduate” from the kitten room and can be adopted.
Two siblings that came to the kitten room were so young she had to bottle-feed them. They grew strong and playful and friendly. Once they were ready for adoption at Cats Angels, they were quickly scooped up as a bonded pair and went to live happily ever after with their new family, having had the best possible chance to live long and healthy lives.
She has other pets of her own so she cannot adopt all her fosters. I visited the kittens and played with them. I would be terrible at this labor of love. I would have a difficult time letting them go. She keeps her higher purpose in mind.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed and exhausted by the world’s problems, big and small. It is easy to be depressed about them and to sink into feeling isolated and hopeless about what can be done. We read about disasters and suffering online. We read comments that discourage us about our fellow humans. This is a vicious cycle that needs to be broken for our mental, spiritual and physical health.
We must remember to take time to take care of ourselves. Maybe a first priority is recuperating and replenishing your own energies. That is needed and appropriate. When you feel strong enough, look around as you go about your daily routines. Allow yourself to be open. Maybe you will see one small yet significant way you can make a difference. Not everyone has the energy or resources of my friend. My guess is that there is something you can do that will be just right for you.
In case you’d like to help her with her mission, go to Meals on Wheels for Pets.
I share this poem with you that Diana Butler Bass shared on her Substack, “The Cottage.”
It spoke to me, and I hope it does to you, too.
BECAUSE
by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
So I can’t save the world – can’t save even myself,
can’t wrap my arms around every frightened child, can’t foster peace among nations, can’t bring love to all who feel unlovable.
So I practice opening my heart right here in this room and being gentle
with my insufficiency.
I practice walking down the street heart first.
And if it is insufficient to share love, I will practice loving anyway.
I want to converse about truth, about trust.
I want to invite compassion into every interaction.
One willing heart can’t stop a war.
One willing heart can’t feed all the hungry.
And sometimes, daunted by a task too big,
I tell myself what’s the use of trying?
But today, the invitation is clear:
to be ridiculously courageous in love.
To open the heart like a lilac in May, knowing freeze is possible
and opening anyway.
To take love seriously.
To give love wildly.
To race up to the world as if I were a puppy, adoring and unjaded,
stumbling on my own exuberance.
To feel the shock of indifference,
of anger, of cruelty, of fear,
and stay open. To love as if it matters,
as if the world depends on it.
from The Unfolding (Wildhouse Publishing, 2024)