Every year, the first week of November is dedicated to help celebrate those organizations and people who devote endless hours to save animal lives. Not only do these shelters and rescues focus on adopting animals to new homes, reuniting or rehoming strays, and providing lifesaving vaccinations and veterinary care, but also work toward cleaning up our communities by treating the diseased strays and addressing feral cat overpopulation. National Animal Shelter and Rescue Appreciation Week is a great time to show gratitude toward shelters and rescues in your community. Without community members like you, these organization would not be able to provide the care and service they do! Join us in showing our appreciation this week any of these four ways!
Become A Foster- Did you know shelters, including Beatrice Humane Society are frequently looking for temporary homes for animals who are newborn or nursing, or special needs or recovering from a medical procedure? Although we joke about “foster failures” (foster homes who end up falling in love with the animal and choose to adopt), most foster animals stay in a foster home for a few weeks to a few months. Having animals in foster care helps free up crucial space in the shelter or rescue and helps provide the individual socialization that can make animals more adoptable! Interested in becoming a foster animal for the Beatrice Humane Society? Read more about our lifesaving foster program and sign up on our website: https://www.beatricehumanesociety.org/get-involved/foster.html
Adopt a pet- Choosing to adopt a pet from your local shelter not only provides a forever home for the animal, saving their life and changing yours, but also helps spread the word about the shelter you adopted from! It also helps financially support the shelter. On average, the cost for room and board at the shelter for a dog is $15/day. You do the math, but by shortening the length of stay, shelters can save money and open up space for other animals.
Donate to your local shelter or favorite rescue- At the Beatrice Humane Society, only 10% of our annual budget is provided by the city and county. Though we would love this to increase, we know there are other local services needing funding as well. We rely heavily on private donations from community members like you to continue operations! We greatly appreciate monetary donations, but also welcome items such as laundry detergent, cleaning/office supplies, purina dog/cat food, blankets and towels- even paper towels and toilet paper! If you do a lot of shopping on Amazon, consider making the Beatrice Humane Society your 501(c)3 your non-profit of choice to receive Amazon Smile donations which donates 0.5% of your purchases to your selected non-profit. To donate directly to the Beatrice Humane Society go to https://www.beatricehumanesociety.org/get-involved/donate-today.html for your tax-deductible donation!
Be an Advocate- One of the easiest and most effective ways to help a shelter or rescue is to simply spread the word about the work they do! Attend fundraisers and community events, such as our Weston Awards Event (save the date for 3/31/23 at Classic’s) or upcoming Home for the Holidays open house on December 3rd from 3pm-5pm. Our Weston Event focuses on recognizing individuals who have made a significant impact on our organization while raising money for general operations through live auction, games and ticket sales. It’s truly a fun and fulfilling event to attend! Our Home for the Holidays open house is for community members, families, advocates, and EVERYONE! Join us to enjoy cookies and refreshments at the Beatrice Humane Society while visiting and taking pictures with Santa and touring the facility! The Holiday Lighted Parade follows the Home for the Holidays open house, so be sure to catch both!
As you can see there are many ways to celebrate National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week, November 6-12th. Challenge yourself and family to pick one of these ways to help celebrate and show appreciation for those people and organizations playing such a vital part in our community! Thank you to the Beatrice Humane Society for the life-saving work you do to save and help animals in need!
First Published in Beatrice Daily Sun: https://beatricedailysun.com/opinion/columnists/celebrate-national-animal-shelter-and-rescue-appreciation-week/article_e891ff8e-2190-53d0-be3b-28690aaaf261.html
