CARIBOU — Officials with the Halfway Home Pet Rescue (HHPR) have expressed an urgent need for volunteers to help at their gift store, Toby’s Treasures, on 246 Sweden St., in Caribou at the former Beaulieu’s Garage building. The volunteer shift hours would be from noon to 2 p.m. or from 2 to 4 p.m. on Friday or Saturday afternoon. Without an immediate increase in volunteer help, the store will be forced to close before the holiday season; without some financial help as well, the volunteer rescue will not be able to continue the level of medical care that they have been providing to feral and abandoned cats.
According to Norma Milton, president of the rescue, the store is “stocked with beautiful holiday gifts at low prices. The store has created an influx of clients which has led to a broader base of prospective homes for the rescued cat,” she said, “and it’s a terrible heartbreak to think of closing the store.”
“The store has kept our adoption rate very high; people who came to visit the cats bought a few gifts, and then came back to adopt a cat they had fallen in love with,” Milton added, “but the bad economy and cold weather has caused a sharp decrease in donations of returnable bottles and cans for the rescue at the Bennett Drive Redemption Center and the decrease in store volunteers has curtailed store hours on Monday through Thursday and now it looks like we could lose Friday and Saturday afternoon as well. This added to the drastic decrease in financial donations, due to the economy as well, has been a triple whammy for our beautiful cats. But people are hurting so badly right now, they just cannot help.”
Although the rescue has seen a drop in volunteer help, returnable bottles, and donations, it has seen a much bigger increase in the number of cats as cold weather hits the county. Milton noted more cats are coming in very sick and in immediate need of more than the routine medical care. The rescue is also seeing a huge increase in the number of owner-surrendered cats.
“Our cat medical bills of the last few months have been about $2,000 each month. It hurts.” Milton added.
According to Milton, the rescue is also seeing a very scary increase in the number of people depending on the Marie Joyce Allen Free Pet Food Pantry in order to be able to feed their dogs and cats.
“Even with the one pickup load of donated food from Portland each month and the help of the Tractor Supply Store in Presque and Paradis Shop’n Save in Caribou as local drop-off sites, we are constantly out of pet food. If people can’t feed their animals, they are forced to turn their pets in to a shelter,” she said.
Milton stated that recently they have installed a monitoring system to make sure that no one is allowed to take more than a small amount of food at a time. “It is horrible to have someone walk in to the pantry for help and see their face drop when they notice the ‘cupboard is bare’,” Milton said. She hopes that the monitoring system will discourage anyone who may be overly depending on the pantry and, thereby, extend the supplies over a broader group of deserving individuals.
Milton is worried about the decrease of donated funds and volunteers and the increased demand for the shelter’s services, but she said her board of directors has been very supportive.
“This economy makes us very aware of how greatly we are needed so we have dug in our heels. Time will turn the economy around – but will these people and their pets have the time if we don’t keep helping them?” she asked. “I doubt it.”
Volunteers able to help out at the Toby’s Treasures HHPR Gift Store should call Judy Robertson at 492-6061. Financial donations can be mailed to Halfway Home Pet Rescue or HHPR, PO Box 488, Caribou, ME 04736. Donations are tax deductible and tax receipts are mailed along with a thank you note. Adoption inquiries should be sent to Milton@mfx.net and adoptable animals can be viewed on petfinder.com or the www.halfwayhomepetrescue.org website.
