There's no question that in today's tough economic climate, many worthy causes are facing trouble.
After it was broken into by a drunk man, the country's only cage-free, no-kill animal shelter, The Saint Francis Animal Rescue Center, has gone into tailspin and needs your help:
Now, with almost no volunteers and two staff members, the shelter might have to consider permanently closing its bashed-in doors.
"It's just been horrible," said shelter director Charlene Rodriguez. "My assistant and I have been using our own funds, and I don't mean trust funds, but as in paycheck to paycheck.
"It's been extremely difficult."
http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/nationsonlycagefreenokillshelt-1302 - Thanks Jill!
According to Amy Lieberman of ZooToo Pet News, you can donate to the Saint Francis Animal Rescue Center through their paypal email of StFrancisAnimalRescue@yahoo.com.
Like the Roger & Me movie said: "Pet or Food?".
No; you drain your own resources and become a less efficient manager because your own interests are tied up with those of the animals and everybody's helpless. I really think that in order to do real Good, you need to be savvy and objective and kind of clinical about things. Some of the most saintly people in the world are also the most no-nonsense, realistic, and non-touchy-feely. And those are the most successful.
I have to agree with violet on this. Donating one's paycheck because you aren't proactive enough to get out there and do positive things to actually get donations is really sort of mind boggling.
The other disturbing thing here is that they have two regular staff and very few volunteers to take care of all those animals. They can't afford to vaccinate the 100 cats and who knows how many dogs, but there they all are, roaming around together. They can't spay/neuter, and while they have the genders separated,I would not be surprised if overworked staff threw a tom into a room full of female cats by sheer accident. Having worked with animals, the more I think about how they are operating, the slightly more horrified I become.
Maybe another group of people can run a local no kill shelter in a better way.
I commend these 2 for their work. They are doing the best that they can with what they have available.
Yes they should have been planning ahead and trying to get a 501c Non-profit group ID. But getting the 501c and/or Grant money is not as easy as they make it sound on TV and radio commercials.
There are people who actually make a living by preparing the paperwork for these grants. Maybe someone in the area that does this type of thing can help them with the paperwork, but they need help NOW years from now. And it takes a year minimum to get a the paper work done and through the proper channels these days.
All non-profits are hurting these days. When the economy sucks people have no $ to donate. They need to see if they can get the local TV & Radio networks to allow them to make a Public Plea for help. Even if they don't get $ they may get volunteers and other donations.
I know how much work it is taking care of 5 cats,2 dogs and 2 kids is. Imagine taking care of this many cats.
I encourage everyone to give $5, if not to this shelter, than to a local shelter near you. Send 'em a check or just stick a fiver in an envelope.
They will appreciate it.
If I had five bucks to send, which I don't, I would still feel like I might be tossing it into a bottomless pit and not really effecting change because there's no organized plan in place to switch the scene from Helplessly and Perpetually in Need to Using Our Resources to Create a Framework for Sustained Success.
It's kind of like how I don't feel like there's much use in handing over my spare change to one homeless person. He's not got much of an action plan, and so the act is an isolated instance of giving but not an effective aid. I donate services to those who have a systematized effort going to help homeless people with beds and clothes instead. Teamwork.
I'm not saying that abandoning these people is a great choice, but pouring money into an ill-managed endeavor is not effective just because the principle is correct. It's like when somebody with a great idea asks for seed money to get his invention off the ground. I want to see the business plan.
Nothing screams "mismanagement" and "hostile work environment" like a cage-free no-kill shelter full of lovable kitties that somehow can't secure volunteers at a time when volunteer organizations are bursting at the seams with jobless folks looking to do a good turn.
Non profit organizations are suffering right now, which is to be expected. Fine. But when one is basically drowning in its self made puddle of mismanagement, then there's little point in offering support. If they haven't been able to manage their funds before now, what makes anyone think that they will just because they get enough money to stay open a little longer.
I also suspect that they can't keep staff/volunteers for a very good reason.
There are better run facilities a person can back and have some peace of mind in knowing that their money is actually making a difference rather than prolonging the life if a shelter that probably shouldn't even exist.