As you know, it’s been a long season for Houlton Humane and someone asked me the other day why we were still suffering the effects of one tragic event. I explained to her that a single mistake is like an atom bomb, it makes a big noise and then the fallout continues for months, sometimes years. It takes a very long time for the air to clear.
Taking analogies one step further, it’s very much like being married, finding out your partner did something unforgivable, divorcing, and then blaming the new spouse every chance you get. He had nothing to do with the first event, but your anger is still there so you take it out on someone who had nothing to do with it.
We get that, it’s normal and we understand that earning back trust is a long process and the good news is, because we are here for the long run, and because we are here for the animals, who have no clue about all the drama, we do know that things will get better.
Already we are seeing a turnaround with several pieces of very exciting news just this past week. We have partnered with an organization that will assist in our spay/neuter efforts, and that will help us reduce costs to adoptive parents and help us place animals in new homes more quickly. This program will take a little while to implement but the long term implications are so dramatic we just can’t keep ourselves from dancing a happy dance.
And then there are the kind and generous people who do know it’s about the animals who have come forward to offer assistance. A Scentsy fundraiser after the holidays, a Temple Cinema movie event in December, an online auction with absolutely fabulous items to share, more and more volunteers offering their assistance, more donations of food, cleaning supplies. A huge team effort to finish up our Shoes for Shelters program, an offer to write grants, our long time friends reaching out with open arms to embrace us and pat us on the back and say “there there, it’s going to be OK.”
An overwhelming outpouring of support in just one week. Why do we care? Because it takes a village. Houlton Humane isn’t a small group of concerned citizens, it’s a congregation, a movement, it’s an entire community pulling together to make sure when your little Scruffy gets loose, you know he has a safe place to go to until you can pick him up. When someone ignorantly abandons a tiny kitty out in the cold, you know they will come to us for tender loving care. You know someone on staff will be up all night, bottle feeding, keeping them warm. I have seen one of our staff members, who has over 10 years of experience in animal care, warm a baby kitten back to life, cradled close to her body, tenderly watching over every movement.
We are so very grateful to all who have stood by us during hard times, and increasingly grateful as you come back to embrace our mission and support our goals. If you could look into the faces of the shelter staff and board members, you would see in their eyes a level of compassion that has never wavered, never faltered, never fallen short of 100 percent. It’s about the animals, always has been and always will be.
Come back to the shelter and visit, adopt, take a kitty home, take two. Join the board, join the volunteer team, start your own fundraiser, collect some shoes. We need you, the animals need you, let the past be behind us, let today be a new beginning for all of us.
