Within the Drought, A Gift of Glorious Colors
-Helen Morrison, Board President
What a year 2020 has turned out to be! Challenges, losses, renewal of family ties, learning new ways to connect with friends, not taking things for granted. Here, in Vermont, in the middle of our drought, glorious Fall colors, wonderfully brilliant in some places. Here in Vermont, amidst the stay-at-home orders, the masks required, the working from home, new ways to run businesses, restaurants, and yes, even our Shelter. We are still closed to the public for adoptions/visits, but incredibly, having been pretty much closed totally for several months, we have had, to date, about 80 adoptions. Typically in a year we might have 120 adoptions. So we are on track for almost a normal year in terms of adoptions. Those adoptions have occurred out of foster homes and out of the Shelter, for the most part using Zoom.. I am amazed that we have had as many as we have had, given the period of time we were literally closed down. And we decided in the Spring not to do a Chucky Fund appeals, because we knew that folks had so much to deal with at that time in terms of work and money and making ends meet and just getting re-tuned to a new way of life. Even so, many have been very generous and sent in donations, for which we are extremely grateful. We are finding, now, that it is time to reach out...on two fronts. One is an appeal for our General or Operating Fund. These are the monies that help us maintain our everyday shelter functioning. And the other is for our emergency Chucky Fund. This is the fund that allows us to take in cats with significant health problems and give them a good chance at having a loving and wonderful home. Without the Chucky Fund, we wouldn’t be able to help these special cats as we wouldn’t be able to afford it out of our ordinary Operating Expenses.
-Helen Morrison, Board President
What a year 2020 has turned out to be! Challenges, losses, renewal of family ties, learning new ways to connect with friends, not taking things for granted. Here, in Vermont, in the middle of our drought, glorious Fall colors, wonderfully brilliant in some places. Here in Vermont, amidst the stay-at-home orders, the masks required, the working from home, new ways to run businesses, restaurants, and yes, even our Shelter. We are still closed to the public for adoptions/visits, but incredibly, having been pretty much closed totally for several months, we have had, to date, about 80 adoptions. Typically in a year we might have 120 adoptions. So we are on track for almost a normal year in terms of adoptions. Those adoptions have occurred out of foster homes and out of the Shelter, for the most part using Zoom.. I am amazed that we have had as many as we have had, given the period of time we were literally closed down. And we decided in the Spring not to do a Chucky Fund appeals, because we knew that folks had so much to deal with at that time in terms of work and money and making ends meet and just getting re-tuned to a new way of life. Even so, many have been very generous and sent in donations, for which we are extremely grateful. We are finding, now, that it is time to reach out...on two fronts. One is an appeal for our General or Operating Fund. These are the monies that help us maintain our everyday shelter functioning. And the other is for our emergency Chucky Fund. This is the fund that allows us to take in cats with significant health problems and give them a good chance at having a loving and wonderful home. Without the Chucky Fund, we wouldn’t be able to help these special cats as we wouldn’t be able to afford it out of our ordinary Operating Expenses.
Let me introduce you to our Chucky Fund poster boy for this very unusual year. His name is Earl. Earl was brought to us, after being found as a stray in Derby Line, Vermont, up near the Canadian border. He had been hanging around a local restaurant where the employees were feeding him leftovers. But Earl was literally bones, with a covering of fur. Yet within that skin-and-bones being was a bright and cheerful and loving boy. It turns out that Earl is over 15 years old...and upon arrival at the vet, weighed slightly less than five pounds. He spent a month at Western Ave Vet Clinic, where they worked hard to nurse him back to health. He had a rather unusual and nasty intestinal pathogen, found only when we did some special testing. This pathogen, cryptosporidium, created huge problems with his absorption of food and elimination. With the proper antibiotic, this was resolved. It also turned out that he is hyperthyroid, so that required some special on-going meds. In addition, he will need continual B-12 shots as he is not making this vitamin. Earl is slowly gaining weight and gaining control of his bowels. He is very loving and alert, and eager to explore his surroundings, make new feline friends, and to spend time being petted and loved. Our next task was to get him to a specialist at Peak Veterinary in Burlington. There, Dr. Benitah is processing and assessing what is next for Earl, to get him back to a full and healthy cat, ready for a forever home. I confess we were worried that she might tell us that the prospects were not at all good. But she is hopeful….and conveys that by saying “he is a work in progress”. He will need more special meds to heal his intestinal inflammation and restore the flora to his digestive tract. Earl is one very precious boy who has been given a second chance to find his loving, forever home.
Soon, you will be getting a letter in the mail from us. It is an appeals letter, our annual Appeals Letter. But it is a bit different this time. This time it will ask you, if you are able to donate, to consider donating in part to the General Fund and in part to the Chucky Fund. For instance, if you were to give $100, you could say on the donation slip that you would like $40 to go to the Chucky Fund, and $60 to go to the General Fund. Or….you could have all your donation go to one or the other fund. Any of these would be so appreciated. And if you find you are unable to give at this time, we totally understand, and know that you are holding us in your hearts.
Soon, you will be getting a letter in the mail from us. It is an appeals letter, our annual Appeals Letter. But it is a bit different this time. This time it will ask you, if you are able to donate, to consider donating in part to the General Fund and in part to the Chucky Fund. For instance, if you were to give $100, you could say on the donation slip that you would like $40 to go to the Chucky Fund, and $60 to go to the General Fund. Or….you could have all your donation go to one or the other fund. Any of these would be so appreciated. And if you find you are unable to give at this time, we totally understand, and know that you are holding us in your hearts.