Reason for Hope
–Helen Morrison, President, Board of Directors
I have been lucky enough to have two passions in my life. The first was teaching. The second has been the Shelter.
I began teaching in 1968 in inner city Boston. In 1981, I moved to Vermont and taught at Cabot High School. I absolutely loved teaching. I love teenagers. They are old enough to really focus on something they care about. They are young enough not to be soured (though they pretend to be, sometimes).
For the Boston kids, and the Cabot kids, both seemingly so different, they had two very basic things in common. They wanted to feel a part of a Community. And, they wanted to do something meaningful; they wanted to make a difference.
These young people are our Hope….pure and simple….and I am totally in awe of them.
Over the past 14 years that I have been immersed in the Shelter, there have been some truly wonderful and precious young people volunteering at the shelter. I asked Isabel Magnus if she would be willing to write about her experience volunteering at the Shelter. She heartily said, “yes”. Isabel will be a Junior at St. Johnsbury Academy for the upcoming year.
So, here she is! I present to you, Isabel!
I have been lucky enough to have two passions in my life. The first was teaching. The second has been the Shelter.
I began teaching in 1968 in inner city Boston. In 1981, I moved to Vermont and taught at Cabot High School. I absolutely loved teaching. I love teenagers. They are old enough to really focus on something they care about. They are young enough not to be soured (though they pretend to be, sometimes).
For the Boston kids, and the Cabot kids, both seemingly so different, they had two very basic things in common. They wanted to feel a part of a Community. And, they wanted to do something meaningful; they wanted to make a difference.
These young people are our Hope….pure and simple….and I am totally in awe of them.
Over the past 14 years that I have been immersed in the Shelter, there have been some truly wonderful and precious young people volunteering at the shelter. I asked Isabel Magnus if she would be willing to write about her experience volunteering at the Shelter. She heartily said, “yes”. Isabel will be a Junior at St. Johnsbury Academy for the upcoming year.
So, here she is! I present to you, Isabel!
Volunteering with KAS
When I first reached out to Fran, the then-shelter coordinator, I was fourteen years old and had wanted to volunteer at Kingdom Animal Shelter for at least two years. The second time I emailed her, she decided to give me a chance, even though I was four years too young to volunteer on my own. I like to think this was due to my persistence alone, but I know that it was also partly because I went to school with her grandchildren who must have relayed to her my well known-reputation as a cat lover.
For my first few months as a volunteer, I went to the shelter every Saturday morning to help Fran and whoever else was on duty that day. Two years have passed since then, and I now help out at the shelter much more frequently and with a whole array of wonderful volunteers. I would not call myself a people person, but everyone is very nice and we all love cats, so it works out pretty well for me. I have loved volunteering at KAS since that first day with Fran, and I decided that I might as well put my writing skills to work and talk about some of my favorite events at the shelter in the hope that someone will be inspired to join our special cat-loving community.
KAS spaghetti dinner fundraisers take place at the United Community Church on Main Street in St. Johnsbury, twice a year. Many members of the KAS community gather to set up and then serve spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and, of course desserts which can include anything from cookies and truffles to pies and cheesecakes, all made by our dedicated volunteers. The spaghetti dinners usually include a high-stakes raffle of both Vermont and cat-themed goods donated by the community. Nobody can help but enjoy the delicious meal, and at the most recent dinner, we had so many attendees that we ran out of spaghetti!
The annual KAS holiday party is a shelter event with a dessert spread that may even rival its spaghetti dinner counterpart. The party takes place at the shelter which is always well adorned in holiday decor. One year, a cardboard fireplace and holiday scene set up by volunteer Christine Fournier in Wendy the cat's room ensured that she had plenty of visitors. Although nothing rivals in importance my job of selling KAS merchandise, all the volunteers do a wonderful job of setting up and hosting the party, and it is always fun, regardless of the number of t-shirts that I manage to sell.
Another one of my favorite shelter events is the series of rabies vaccine clinics held in March. Our shelter vet, Dr. Sally, administers the vaccines, and a team of volunteers fills out the required paperwork, assists Dr. Sally, gives out treats, and works on crowd control. The clinics can be very busy and even a bit hectic as the town vaccine deadline approaches. In fact, it’s not unusual for some very excited puppies to relieve themselves on the floor (or my shoe) only adding to the controlled chaos. Luckily our volunteers are very skilled at cleaning and we have a mop on standby to ensure that nothing spoils the fun.
- Isabel Magnus, Shelter volunteer
When I first reached out to Fran, the then-shelter coordinator, I was fourteen years old and had wanted to volunteer at Kingdom Animal Shelter for at least two years. The second time I emailed her, she decided to give me a chance, even though I was four years too young to volunteer on my own. I like to think this was due to my persistence alone, but I know that it was also partly because I went to school with her grandchildren who must have relayed to her my well known-reputation as a cat lover.
For my first few months as a volunteer, I went to the shelter every Saturday morning to help Fran and whoever else was on duty that day. Two years have passed since then, and I now help out at the shelter much more frequently and with a whole array of wonderful volunteers. I would not call myself a people person, but everyone is very nice and we all love cats, so it works out pretty well for me. I have loved volunteering at KAS since that first day with Fran, and I decided that I might as well put my writing skills to work and talk about some of my favorite events at the shelter in the hope that someone will be inspired to join our special cat-loving community.
KAS spaghetti dinner fundraisers take place at the United Community Church on Main Street in St. Johnsbury, twice a year. Many members of the KAS community gather to set up and then serve spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and, of course desserts which can include anything from cookies and truffles to pies and cheesecakes, all made by our dedicated volunteers. The spaghetti dinners usually include a high-stakes raffle of both Vermont and cat-themed goods donated by the community. Nobody can help but enjoy the delicious meal, and at the most recent dinner, we had so many attendees that we ran out of spaghetti!
The annual KAS holiday party is a shelter event with a dessert spread that may even rival its spaghetti dinner counterpart. The party takes place at the shelter which is always well adorned in holiday decor. One year, a cardboard fireplace and holiday scene set up by volunteer Christine Fournier in Wendy the cat's room ensured that she had plenty of visitors. Although nothing rivals in importance my job of selling KAS merchandise, all the volunteers do a wonderful job of setting up and hosting the party, and it is always fun, regardless of the number of t-shirts that I manage to sell.
Another one of my favorite shelter events is the series of rabies vaccine clinics held in March. Our shelter vet, Dr. Sally, administers the vaccines, and a team of volunteers fills out the required paperwork, assists Dr. Sally, gives out treats, and works on crowd control. The clinics can be very busy and even a bit hectic as the town vaccine deadline approaches. In fact, it’s not unusual for some very excited puppies to relieve themselves on the floor (or my shoe) only adding to the controlled chaos. Luckily our volunteers are very skilled at cleaning and we have a mop on standby to ensure that nothing spoils the fun.
Despite the many shelter events that I have participated in and enjoyed, my favorite part of volunteering at KAS has without a doubt been forming relationships with the extraordinary resident cats. From the lovely and chubby siblings Peter and Evelyn,
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to tough yet sweet Henri,
to my favorite kitten duo, Flower and Clover,
I have cherished getting to know countless special cats at KAS, as well as getting to see so many amazing cats find loving families. Even kitties that are difficult to love at first end up finding homes and people that are perfectly suited to their needs through the shelter's amazing program. For me, witnessing this has certainly been the best part of volunteering at Kingdom Animal Shelter, though the lovely community of caring, dedicated people (and the delicious desserts) have also made it very worthwhile.