2024 Animal Rescue Donations - supporting Hurricane affected areas

 

Thank you for helping us support the animal rescues affected by Hurricane Helene and Milton by purchasing a Mountain or Ocean themed shirt during our October fundraiser. 

According to Bestfriends.org, "more than 1,000 dogs and cats have been transported to safety: 360 following Hurricane Helene and 668 following Hurricane Milton. Additionally, the mobile vet clinic in North Carolina has assisted 816 animals from 522 families and is expected to wrap up services by November 9, depending on need."

But this is not a 'one and done' type of deal.

Although Hurricane Helene and Milton caused significant damage to many animal shelters and rescues in Western North Carolina and Florida, this was an added issue to an already big problem.

Shelters are overcrowded with animals. 

If you were wondering the difference between an animal rescue and an animal shelter, both provide temporary housing and safe place for animals. Animal shelters are often funded by the government (town, city or state level) while animal rescues are funded by donations, their own money and private individuals. In a shelter, you'll find animals in kennels, while rescues are often run out of private homes or buildings. 

A big difference between shelters and rescues is that shelters often have a capacity (and limitations) for how many animals they can care for at once and the resources available. Because public and government run shelters are mandated by law to accept all pet surrenders and stray animals brought in by the public.

As a result, many states (ex. Texas, California, North Carolina, Florida and Alabama) in the United States need to euthanize dogs and cats due to overcrowding at shelters. Overcrowding is due to breeding (there are 2000+ federally licensed dog breeders and over 10,000 puppy mills - inhumane commercial dog breeding facilities), owners surrendering/giving up their pets, strays, economic factors and not spaying or neutering. The reality is that there are more and more kittens and puppies coming into an overcrowded space, where millions of young, adult and senior animals are in need of homes - there are already 6.3 million animals in shelters nationwide. Sadly, every year almost a million shelter animals are euthanized (from puppies and kittens to seniors, to muts and pure-breds). 

Shelters work with rescue groups to help with overcrowding. When you see a plea from a shelter asking for urgent fosters, stay-cations or adoptions, this means that the shelter is overcrowded and must remove animals from kennels to free up space for new intakes (remember - they are required to take in surrenders and strays). Rescues work with shelters to help save animals from euthanasia and to improve the chances that the animals can find a forever (or foster) home. 


An example of this is our recent rescue Sunny.

Sunny (who is a little over a year old) was abandoned in an apartment in North Carolina. He was brought into Animal Care and Control Charlotte-Mecklenburg. I found Sunny on Petplace.com. When Karel and I were thinking about a new furry family member after Campy passed away, I was specifically looking for adoptable rescue dogs from North Carolina. While our state of South Carolina is not a kill state (which is wonderful), North Carolina is a kill state.  Thankfully, Sunny (previous Hubert) was pulled from an overcrowded shelter thanks to Meghan, who fosters dogs from Animal Care and Control and volunteers at the Charlotte Humane Society. Because Sunny was from a shelter, the application process was very quick and simple. Thanks to Meghan, she was able to give us a better understanding of Sunny's personality, likes and dislikes. His adoption fee was only $103 - which included neuturing. We opted to get Sunny neutured at our local vet because we wanted to reduce the overall stress by keeping Sunny close to home before and after his surgery. I applied for over a dozen different rescue dogs from various rescues but we fell in love with 'Hubert' after he spent a few days with us as part of the shelter stay-cation program - it was meant to be. I'll be sharing Sunny's story on a future blog post. 

I'm incredibly grateful for Meghan because she gave Sunny a chance for him to find a good home versus staying in the shelter in a kennel. Many dogs are not adopted (and are at higher risk for euthanasia) due to behavior issues, medical issues or old age but sadly, these dogs were never given a chance to experience what safety, routine, trust and love feel like. 

This is why shelters need your help and why rescues really need donations. 

Because of the incredible support of so many people purchasing a fundraiser shirt (or multiple shirts) and providing a donation, we were able to raise $2964.80!!! 
Thank you so much for your support and generosity. 

This money will be going to the following rescues which were affected by Hurricane Helene and Milton. True & Faithful Pet Rescue Mission, Inc - $900

A 501(c)(3) senior dog rescue organization located in South Florida.
We are proud to have a team of dedicated volunteers who work tirelessly to provide love and care to senior dogs that have been abandoned, neglected or abused. Our mission is to rescue these dogs and provide them with a better life filled with love, compassion and comfort. We are donation-based, and every dollar counts towards the care and well-being of our furry friends. We believe that every dog deserves a chance at a happy, healthy life, no matter their age or background.

Furry Friends Clinic & Ranch - $900

Furry Friends Adoption, Clinic & Ranch is the Humane Society of Greater Jupiter/Tequesta, a 501c3 not-for-profit, no-kill rescue organization headquartered in Jupiter Florida. We work every day to support the human-animal bond by addressing needs at both ends of the leash. As the needs of our community and region evolve, we are refocusing to improve our care for pets while also addressing the root causes of pet overpopulation. Our vision is to transform our facilities into nation-leading campuses for lifesaving programs, address disparities in the supply of and access to adoptable pets, provide access to Veterinary Services to all, and build a culture of care and achievement.

Brother Wolf Animal Rescue - $900

Founded in 2007, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue enhances the lives of companion animals and the people who love them. We work across county lines with the goal of saving the greatest number of lives possible through strategic, creative, and impactful programming. Through adoption and pet retention programs, a low-cost mobile spay and neuter clinic, lifesaving shelter transfer partnerships and extensive volunteer and foster networks, Brother Wolf Animal Rescue impacts the lives of thousands of animals each year in the Western North Carolina region.
After the catastrophic loss of our shelter and all physical assets, we are working around the clock to rebuild – find out more about Phase One and how you can be a part of our life-saving work here. We are a community-based organization and rely on the generosity of our donors to continue our impactful work for animals as we receive no government funding. We know that together we can create a kinder world.

Esther Neonatal Kitten Alliance - $264.80

Located in Arden, NC. Esther Neonatal Kitten Alliance is committed to saving every animal in our care who can be saved. Esther Neonatal Kitten Alliance provides care and rescue to newborn and medically-challenged kittens through loving foster homes, strategic partnerships, and community education. We only euthanize an animal if a veterinarian has assessed that there is no chance of recovering an acceptable quality of life or it would be clearly inhumane or unsafe to not do so immediately. You'll see from our data that we often fall below the 90% benchmark that typically demonstrates a "no-kill" save rate even though our policies align with the no-kill philosophy. That's because neonatal kittens have fragile immune systems and often arrive as orphans with compromised health. Most of the kittens we welcome into our care are too young to be weaned yet and many of the animals we help each year are severely sick or injured when they arrive. Despite specialized around-the-clock care and our very best efforts, some animals don't make it. In those cases, our job is to provide as much love, comfort, and compassion as we can during their brief lives. Each year, we help hundreds of the most vulnerable kittens throughout our region.
(This donation will help vaccinate 25 kittens)

Also, be sure to check out Best Friends Animal Society.

Best Friends Animal Society runs the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the United States. The sanctuary is located in Utah and is home to a variety of animals, including dogs, cats, birds, bunnies, horses, and pigs. Visitors can take free tours of the sanctuary or volunteer to spend time with the animals. Best Friends Animal Society works with a network of animal welfare and shelter partners to achieve its mission. Best Friends' emergency response teams are actively supporting the needs of impacted animal shelters and rescue groups in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

Thank you again for your support!   

Animal Rescue Fundraiser - Hurricane Helene and Milton

Furry Friends Jupiter - Jupiter, FL.             Brother Wolf Rescue - Asheville, NC.
Hurricane Milton                                         Hurricane Helene

When a disaster strikes, it doesn’t just impact people, homes, buildings and roads. It affects our most vulnerable members of our communities - animals.

The devastation of Hurricane Helene and Milton impacted many animal rescues across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee. Thankfully, animals at most shelters were evacuated early and placed in emergency shelters and fosters ahead of the hurricanes making landfall.

With shelters, sanctuaries and farms struggling due to loss of power and water, hundreds of animals have been evacuated from destroyed areas and relocated to various animal shelters across the east coast - or placed in foster homes.

Shelters like Brother Wolf and Furry Friends Jupiter were completely devastated by the hurricane whereas many other shelters have to undergo extensive cleanup and construction. Esther Neonatal Kitten Alliance (in Asheville, North Carolina), was hit extremely hard and left without power, water, and essential kittens supplies.

Although it sounds fun (and rewarding) to be around animals all day, working/volunteering at an animal rescue is hard - mentally, emotionally and physically. Staff and volunteers see the abused, neglected, and abandoned. Rescues are always in need of supplies to keep their animals safe, healthy and happy. And behind the scenes, rescues spend a lot of money providing care (and safe living conditions) for the homeless animal population. When an animal is abandoned, surrendered, or found, the rescue takes full responsibility for caring for that animal - which means paying for vaccines, neuter/spay, dental, emergency surgeries, transportation (ex. to another shelter), grooming, etc. to get/keep that animal in good health. Roughly 6.5 million animals enter shelters each year but only 3.2 million are adopted. (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

Monetary donations are the lifeblood of rescues.

The ultimate goal for every rescue is to find a loving forever home for these deserving animals but without the generous and ongoing support of the public, rescues can not function. Shelters require monetary support for veterinary care, maintenance of facilities, food, vaccines, emergency surgeries, transport and so much more.

Now, more than ever before, pet adoptions and fosters are urgently needed to help free up space and resources for animals displaced from Hurricane-ravaged areas. Many shelters are at max capacity, which means turning away homeless pets with nowhere to go or having to euthanize adoptable animals to create space.

To help the animal rescues impacted by Hurricane Helene and Milton, you can show your love for the mountains or ocean, coffee and animals by purchasing a one-of-a- kind long sleeve shirt. And with every purchase, our small business will donate 100% of the net proceeds to rescues, sanctuaries and shelters impacted by Hurricane Helene and Milton.

You can also make a monetary donation (with or without a shirt) and 100% of your donation will go to rescues, sanctuaries and shelters impacted by Hurricane Helene and Milton.

• Shirts are designed by the incredible artistic mind, Heidi Hogan at Creative Mile.
• Shirts are produced by Graphic Cow, a custom apparel screen printing company in our town of Greenville, SC.
• Orders will be accepted until October 18th, 2024 at 12pm. Estimated shipping is the week of November 4th, 2024.
• Monetary donations will be accepted until November 4th, 2024.

In late November, a social media/blog post (and in our weekly newsletter) will share how much money was raised, how many shirts were ordered and which rescues received the donations (and how much). Currently there are many rescues that are struggling after the Hurricane. Our goal is to provide donations to those who need it the most.

Thank you for your support and for helping animal rescues!
-Marni

Mountains Shirt

Ocean Shirt

Donation

Helene's Devestation

    

Unity Park next to downtown Greenville
Video of Unity Park after the storm.

As you may have noticed, we did not send out our weekly newsletter last week. We were without power for 8 days due to the aftermath of Helene. Currently we are still without internet/cable.

Being without power was a minor inconvenience when we think about the thousands of people who lost their homes and businesses, as well as the confirmed 220+ deaths that occurred because of the carnage and destruction by Hurricane Helene. We consider ourselves very lucky that we had no damage to our home and our six animals are healthy and our fish survived. Our wooden fence broke when a tree fell on it but that is the worst of it (a minor and easy-to-fix issue).

We live in Greenville, SC – just outside of Traveler’s Rest. We bought our house in 2015, a year after moving to Greenville from Florida. We chose this location because of its proximity to the mountains. Like most people who trade the beach for the mountains, we fell in love with this area because of the beauty of nature, a variety of outdoor activities, amazing cycling on bike-friendly roads and a strong sense of community.

One of the perks of living in Greenville is our ability to “play” outside throughout the year. We are rarely impacted by bad weather, yet we get to experience all four seasons. It’s rare to experience snow or ice and we are too far inland to be at risk of hurricanes.

That is, until Hurricane Helene showed up and barreled her way up through the panhandle of Florida, through Georgia and slowed down and stalled over upstate South Carolina, Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee.

From what I read as to why this was the worst storm to hit the Carolinas in a generation, due to previous rain fall in the week before the hurricane, the ground was saturated and the rivers, ponds and streams were elevated. The storm dropped an estimated 40 trillion gallons of rain (enough to fill 60 million Olympic-sized swimming pools or 619 days of water flowing over Niagara Falls). Because of the geography of where the rain fell, the southeastern and northwestern slopes acted as funnels that directed all this water downhill and it collected into streams and rivers running into valleys. When you drop trillions of gallons of water on a mountain, it must go down. And the interaction between the mountains and the storm systems wrings more moisture out of the air. Massive rain overflows and mudslides made for extreme flooding. And flooding isn’t limited to a lot of water, it also means all the things water carries with it (large trees, buildings, roofs, cars, etc.). Roads fell apart and bridges broke. This isolated places and people because rescue efforts could not take place. As I mentioned before, we don’t expect weather like this where we live. Sure, we get wind and rain. But no one near or in the mountains worries about a hurricane. It’s like asking a Floridian if they are prepared for the chance of a blizzard.

Due to climate change, storms are wetter and warmer. Air holds nearly 4% more moisture for every degree Fahrenheit warmer and the world has warmed more than 2 degrees since pre-industrial times.

Many people are still without power and water, have lost their hours or are trapped in/near their homes. Rescue missions are difficult in the mountains because houses (and cabins) are spread out over miles of land, often in very remote locations - typically reached via bridge or small country road. Several of our friends have had their homes demolished or their houses are filled with water, mud and debris.

Although we are struggling with the devastation and grieving the loss of so many small businesses, lake towns, mountain villages and several of our favorite cycling roads and hiking paths, this hurricane brings with it some very powerful lessons.


  
Left Photo: Emily Ruth
Right Photo: Denise Knight


Community – We were in Chattanooga while the storm rolled through as I was registered to participate in the Ironman (Sunday). We hired a pet sitter to take care of our cats and fish but we were not prepared to be without power while we were away. Our incredible neighbors went out of their way to take care of our house (empty the food from the refrigerator, clean up the water that accumulated under the fridge from ice melting) as well as look after our animals and fish when our pet sitter wasn’t there. Our biggest worry was our fish because they need an air pump (which requires electricity) to get good water circulation and oxygen to breathe. Thankfully Karel has a battery-operated bubble maker, which kept our fish alive. They weren’t able to eat for four days because the filtration system wasn’t turned on but they are doing fine now. Sadly, our generator wasn’t working because there was old gas left inside from the last time we lost power (over a year ago). My mom’s partner Allen went out of his way to find someone in another town to fix our generator (which is what we used for the week without power). We have had so many people offer help (internet, laundry, shower, etc.) which shows the compassion by people in our community who want to go out of their way to help others. Our Greenville community has really come together to help one another.

Preparation – You can never be too prepared. This hurricane taught us a lot about being prepared for a “what if” situation. Because we travel a lot (often internationally), we are going to do a much better job of having a plan (and equipment) in the case another disaster happens at our house (or prevents us from getting to our house). As an example, we have five cats. We only have two cat carriers. If for some reason we couldn’t get into our car and needed to rescue our cats, we would need at least one more big carrier. We will also get together all of our important documents in the case we need to quickly escape our house in an emergency (or someone needs to collect our most important documents). Water, food, batteries, headlamps, flashlights, chargers, and non-perishable food are also needed in the case of an emergency.

Priorities in life – Natural disasters force you to realize how fragile life is. When you are put in a situation where you could lose everything, you have to quickly decide what’s most important to you. You see things differently. For example, is it important to be able to see your abs in the mirror when you are wondering how you will find clean drinking water? Is cellulite on your legs a big deal when you are trying to take care of your friends and family who have lost everything? How much of your house is filled with “stuff” that you don’t need or use? Are you living out your best life or waiting for the perfect time to start living?

Control – For seven days, we waited for our power to return. We couldn’t control the situation so we didn’t stress about the situation. We focused on what we could control and let go of expectations. Being without power for several days forces you to live life differently. You have to be creative with your time and decisions. You also quickly realize how much is taken for granted on a daily basis.

Donate – If you have the means to donate, many organizations are in need. Here’s a list that can get you started. Don’t forget about the animal shelters and vets who need our help. If you are able to foster an animal, the shelters are overflowing as dogs and cats are being transported out of Asheville and to other shelters (which are already overcrowded).