Pet Talk

by Cathy Davis
    This is a very busy week for the Houlton Humane Society. Every year for the last 10 or so years (we’ve kind of lost track), we have been delivering lunches all over the greater Houlton and Oakfield areas on St. Patrick’s Day as a fundraiser. This is one of our larger fundraisers, and it takes a huge number of volunteers to make it a success. In any given year, we deliver anywhere from 800 to 1,000 lunches and each lunch contains three finger roll sandwiches, three sweets, and a bag of chips, so that means 2,400 sandwiches, 2400 sweets, etc.
    This is a lot of baking and we want to thank everyone who has offered to make cookies, squares, sweet breads, brownies as the diners really enjoy their home made goodies. 
    This event also requires a lot of hard work and dedication by the crew who take the order forms around and pick them up. We try to visit every business every year, as delivering to businesses is how we make this work. It’s very difficult to find enough people to deliver to private residences, they would be going door to door all day, but to make one stop at one business and drop off 30 orders makes the project a little more efficient.
    Having said that, we do take orders from individuals, but we ask that you pick up your order at the Church by noon on the Thursday, March 17. So if you are reading this on Wednesday and would like to have a lunch, please give a call from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday to the Houlton Congregational Church, 532-2392 and give us your name, telephone number, and number of orders and we will reserve a lunch for you.  The cost of the lunch is $6. If you are a shut-in, live in Houlton and would like a lunch, call anyways, we have a couple of kind folks who will deliver to you as long as we have good directions for finding your home. 
    The proceeds from this fundraiser are used to help with the various expenses of running an animal shelter. With the cost of oil going up almost every day, our most pressing need for funds is to keep the building warm, then pay the mortgage, and then of course the lights, garbage removal, cat litter, phone, etc. You know what it costs to keep your personal household going — you have bills to pay and you can pretty much budget it out. You know how it feels when your bills are due on the 15th, but your paycheck doesn’t arrive till the 16th. You know the pain at the gas pump, and so do we. We understand that many folks can’t afford to give like they use to. I know I can’t, everybody has their limit, but this project is one way that can help a lot. You have to eat, so why not give our lunch a try, just this one time, this one day, and help all the little critters who are in our loving care.
    Many thanks to the Southern Aroostook School’s After School Program. They recently invited the Shelter to come make a presentation to their students and Executive Director Heather Miller and Assistant Director Courtney Nelson made a fun presentation to the children, followed by a presentation to the Shelter of $127, collected by the students to help the animals.
    If your school or organization would like to have someone do a presentation, there are a number of topics that can be addressed, from humane treatment of animals, to spay/neuter issues, to how to approach (or not approach) a strange dog, how body language is important, and how to protect yourself if you are in danger. Heather and Courtney do a really nice job and are available to do presentations for your students or for other civic organizations.
    I once did a presentation for the Southern Aroostook Baptist Men and I had a blast. I got to eat dinner with about 100 handsome men, listen to some inspiring testimonies, and then give a brief history of Houlton Humane. It was a lot of fun and I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.  
    So, to summarize, this coming week is going to be wicked busy. We hope that you’ll make it even busier for us by ordering a lunch, and we hope that you’ll keep us in mind if you are looking to adopt a new pet.
    This week, I would like to encourage you to consider adopting Dennis. He is a beautiful gray tabby that was found on Charles Street. He’s still a young kitty, maybe not quite a year old. He is absolutely gorgeous, friendly, healthy, and we’re sure he must belong to someone but we’ve had him on Facebook, Petfinder, our website, and nobody has claimed him. Won’t you give Dennis a new home? Check him out on Petfinder.com, Houltonhumane society.org or our Facebook page for current photos and more information. 
    Thank you all for your continued support, encouragement, generosity, and prayers –  the staff, the board, and all the animals depend on you and appreciate you!