They Work So Hard...

Since there is a little "lull in the action" for the Beagles team, I thought I'd share some news from our county Animal Welfare League, which is my "charity of choice." The Trumbull Co. (Ohio) AWL was founded 40 years ago, and their non-kill animal shelter has been helping unwanted and homeless animals for 25 years. So many of these animals have found happy homes through the efforts of the AWL's volunteers. The AWL is totally a volunteer-run, non-profit organization, and this year they have plans to build a new, modern, eco-friendly Animal Welfare Care and Education Center. The TrumCoAWL (AWLTC) has recently opened a big new thrift shop, The Menagerie, and people donate unwanted items to the store. All sales directly benefit the shelter and its inhabitants! :0)
I love the thrift store, and shop there frequently! Don't be surprised if many of my necklaces contain components bought at The Menagerie. I also do my part by donating necklaces to the AWL's fundraisers for the Chinese auctions held at the events. All my sold team challenge entries also have a percentage of the sale donated to the AWL. In these tough economic times, I wish I could do more, but the AWL ladies I've dealt with have been very appreciative. In other words, every little bit helps!
When I received the latest AWL newsletter, I was surprised by the statistics. Bear in mind, Trumbull County, Ohio is not a huge metropolitan area. Even so, the numbers were staggering. I'm sure many people have no idea, as I did not, how many man/woman-hours are involved with running the shelter. I hope my AWL doesn't mind if I share a condensed version of their 2008 statistics that were published in the "Paw Prints, Fall 2009" newsletter: Shelter received 7,016 calls. 1,399 animals were taken into shelter. There were 846 adoptions through the shelter. 83 animals were returned to their owner (BTW, the AWL offers micro-chipping for your pet). 28 animals were released to rescue, and 2 squirrels were released to the wild. Working Hr. emergencies included 129 calls re: 168 animals. These calls required 115 hrs., 55 min. of time and 2,028 miles. After Hour emergencies included 233 calls re: 304 animals. These calls required 321 hrs., 39 min., and 5,874 miles. The shelter Volunteers Hours were 6,277. These volunteers were able to help 4,089 animals and 3,358 people. The AWLTC also had 668 calls for Cruelty/Neglect Investigations for 2,218 animals. The calls required 699 hrs. and 11,557 miles. The top two reasons for the calls were animals with no shelter and/or no food.
These wonderful volunteers are very busy people with incredibly unselfish and caring hearts! Huge "Paws Up" to all of them, and best wishes for success with the new shelter and thrift shop! You can visit the AWLTC website for more information, ways to help, and animals up for adoption. Thanks to all the caring people who give their time and open their homes and hearts to animals!

YAY! We've Got Authors!

I'm so happy that the invitations got to everyone! If anyone is not on the Contributors list, please send me your e-mail address so I can send you an invite to be an author on this blog! The August challenge was great fun, and we will be starting our next one, "Hounds and Harvest." It will be the team's Autumn Challenge, and will run Sept. 12 - Oct 19. You can make a fall-themed item or a halloween-themed item. I decided to end the Autumn challenge on Oct. 19th, so there will still be time for sellers/members to ship their items before Halloween. I will post the challenge thread in the Etsy Teams Forum, also. Sadly, I am linked to the Beagles Flickr page through my personal Flickr account, so I can't set up a collection or set for our challenges there. :( You are still welcome to post your challenge pics on our Flickr group page! The tags for the Hounds and Harvest challenge will be posted in the Etsy Forum thread on Sept. 12th.
I'd also like to ask that everyone on the team keep HowlinHounds, her family, and her furbabies Jingle and Louise in their prayers. Deb (howlin) lives in Louisiana, where hurricane Gustav hit, and with 2 more hurricanes on the way, that area is still very much on alert! Love ya, Deb! Please stay safe! Hugs to you and nose-kisses to those beautiful Bassett babies! :0)