Simple ways to help animals
A collection of suggestions for people who want to help animals in any way they can. Whether working from home or taking part in a hands-on rescue effort these ideas are simple and easily altered to fit the skill and comfort level of every animal lover.
#1 Go sale-ing
If you love to go to yard sales keep your eye out for items an animal rescue organization might be able to use. Some possibilities are: pet beds, leashes, bowls, food storage containers, towels, blankets and rugs for bedding, brooms, buckets, even “like new” items such as dog coats that might make good premiums at an adoption event. Check with your favorite rescues and carry a wish list in your garage sale fanny pack.
Three times a year we hold a yard sale for a local shelter. The merchandise comes entirely from items found in the trash room of our condo and the donations of a few people who know what we do. Last year we wrote a check to the shelter for $1,350. All from free stuff.
#2 Don’t shop—adopt!
Even though 25% of all animals in a shelters are pure bred many people still go to breeders for their pets. Many of these people fear that going to a shelter will be upsetting. That’s where online adoption sites can help.
Looking at available animals online can help make that process easier. These sites showcase hundreds of thousands of animals and provide a connection directly to local adoption organizations. And please note that cats and dogs aren’t the only animals available. Everything from horses to gerbils are out there looking for happy homes.
Take some time to check out the top three sites: www.petfinder.com , www.1-800-save-a-pet.com , and www.pets911.com .
#3 Collect the cash
We’ve all seen donation cans near cash registers at checkout counters. Each year millions of dollars are collected this way for a wide range of charities. Getting some of that money for an animal rescue organization is as easy as 1-2-3.
1. Create one or more donation containers. Decorate a coffee can, find an animal themed cookie jar or bank, or cut a hole in the lid of a plastic jar. Make a label that clearly identifies your organization and how that money will be used. Bright colors and photos of animals help, too. Make sure people can easily drop in money with one hand.
2. Contact area businesses and ask them to display your containers near their cash registers.
3. Visit the businesses regularly—and often—to remove the money and show your appreciation for their help.
#4 Pray
Anywhere. Anytime. In any way you wish. If you aren’t able to provide hands-on service to animals in need, take a minute and ask a Higher Power, in your own words, to help them in your place.
*The following is one version of the prayer used during The Blessing of the Pets, a special ceremony celebrated every October in honor of the patron saint of animals, St. Francis of Assisi.
Blessed are you, Lord God, maker of all living creatures. You called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air, and animals on the land. You inspired St. Francis to call all of them his brothers and sisters. We ask you to bless this pet. By the power of your love, and enable it to live according to your plan.
#5 Pick up the freebies
Rescued animals need clean bedding every day. Bags of shredded paper are tossed out by many businesses. Offer to take it off their hands and use it to create comfy sleeping quarters for cats, puppies, rabbits and other small critters.
Likewise, some thrift shops will put aside unsalable blankets, pillows, mattress covers, rugs, and towels if someone promises to stop by and pick them up periodically. These stores are pressed for space, too, so frequent, reliable pick-up means that the supply of usable bedding materials could continue indefinitely.
#6 Voice mail your message
Replace your voice mail message with one that reflects your mission to help animals: “You have reached the voice mailbox of Jim and Joanne Hubal. At the sound of the beep, please leave your message. Have a great day, and don’t forget to join us for the Walk for the Animals on May 2.”
It really doesn’t get any easier than that. Think how many lives were saved by the simple message Bob Barker delivered at the end of every installment of The Price is Right: “Please spay and neuter your pets.”
#7 Make a magic (cardboard) box
Hundreds of dollars worth of animal care supplies can be made from discarded cardboard boxes.
1. Cardboard flats make perfect disposable litter boxes. Flats are the cardboard trays with low sides used to separate bottles and cans in grocery, convenience and liquor stores. Stop by these stores and collect what you can. Store managers are usually happy to get rid of them. Using them at a shelter saves the staff time needed to clean traditional plastic litter boxes. Use the flat then toss, litter and all.
2. Ordinary cardboard boxes of any size can be used to make things like a cat bed ( cut low sides and line with a towel or fleece), a “hiding place” for a timid animal, or a carrier for small animals (many adopters forget to bring one with them). Even an upside down shoebox with a few strategically placed cutouts and a ping pong ball can provide hours of fun for a kitten. Making some of these items for a rescue or shelter would be a great project for a youth group.
3. Don’t forget the tiny critters like hamsters. Cardboard tubes of all sizes make great hiding places and tunnels.
#8 Take pictures
Today cameras are everywhere and the pictures they take can be a huge asset to animal adoption efforts. Here’s few simple ways to use photos to help:
1. Take pictures to use on online adoption sites. Thousands of animal organizations are using Petfinder.com and other free adoption listing services. People want to see the animals offered on the site. The major listing services have simple directions for adding photos to your organization’s write ups.
2. Take photos on the adoption floor of a shelter and email them to potential adopters. Sometimes the shelter visitor needs to send a photo to another person who has a say in the process. Help them out.
3. Use photos of animals on posters or bulletin boards at a shelter, or at an office or business site that wants to be supportive.
4. Hanging photos of newly adopted animals and their person from an “adoption tree” in a shelter lobby provides a feel-good moment for incoming visitors.
5. Newspaper adoption ads are much more effective with photos of specific adoptable animals and a write-up. They are more eye catching to adopters, and to potential sponsors of the feature.
#9 Leave a legacy
Everyone wants to feel they made a difference during their life. Animal lovers are no different. Leaving a legacy might mean you decide to leave a sum of money to a favorite animal organization or program, but it could also mean helping your shelter or organization make it possible for others to donate by making your shelter or sanctuary the beneficiary of an IRA, life insurance policy, retirement plan or will.
To see a sample bequest notification form visit www.humanesociety.org/bequests For additional information contact the National Committee on Planned Giving at www.ncpg.org or the Association of Fundraising Professionals at www.afpnet.org
One amazing example, Maddie’s Fund , was started as memorial to a beloved Miniature Schnauzer and inspired her caregivers to start a charitable animal foundation with a $300 million endowment. Read more at www.maddiesfund.org
Other memorial fundraising ideas include: Charging a fee to run a photo and write up of a pet in your newsletter, or printing a pet’s name on a plaque, brick, bench—any item you choose—in exchange for a donation. Relationships started through these simpler efforts may mean substantial donations in the future.
#10 Talk to the animals
A friendly, relaxed, socialized dog, cat, gerbil—any critter-- is more likely to be adopted. So visit a shelter or sanctuary and talk to the animals. Carry on a conversation from outside the cage, or open things up and add petting and scratchies. Help a nervous animal enjoy human contact and experience the benefits of gentle holding or being brushed.
For any animal in an unfamiliar place, but especially for kittens and puppies, a few minutes of soft talk and reassuring touch can make the difference between cowering in the back corner of a cage, or wagging, purring or rubbing their way into a great new home.
#11 Spread the word
We all stop at dozens of places every day—restaurants, stores, coffee shops and service providers like dry cleaners. Carry a supply of flyers or information sheets in your car and ask if you can tack them up wherever you see a bulletin board. The information might include directions to a local shelter and its hours; announcement of adoption events; spay and neuter van schedules; or photos and information about adoptable pets. Keep a supply of thumb tacks, a stapler, and masking tape in your car as well.
#12 Make room
The three things all shelters, sanctuaries and rescue groups need are money, volunteers, and space. While it may not be possible for you to provide the first two, you may have some wasted space that could be put to good use. Maybe you could provide clean, dry storage for dog food, hay or feed, blankets, crates, future garage sale items, cages, or larger pieces of equipment? Sometimes rescue group have to turn down donations because there’s no place to keep it. You can help.
How about your basement? Attic? Spare bedroom? Backyard storage shed or out building? Maybe you have an extra large lot or land where a vehicle, trailer or maintenance equipment could be parked.
If you’re willing to clean or repair some of things you’re storing, that will be doubly appreciated.
#13 Help the troops
Almost everyone knows someone in the military. When people are deployed, especially to combat zones, stress levels are high and families scramble to handle all the details. If military personnel have to give up their pets it makes matters even worse.
Offer to care for pets of a deployed solider while he or she is away. It could be a family friend, someone in your neighborhood, or someone you have never met. You don’t need to be part of an animal shelter or rescue organization to provide this assistance and give a soldier one less thing to worry about while protecting all of us back home.
To read about one organized effort called “Canine Corps” go to www.pawprintsdogsanctuary.org
#14 Invite a butterfly to lunch
Create a backyard garden that attracts birds and butterflies. Put up a bird feeder, fill a bird bath or plant flowers that attract and even feed our fluttering friends. The Internet and your local library has loads of information that will help you create a sanctuary no matter how large or small your space.
You might also want to work with others to add bird and butterfly friendly areas to a neighborhood park or school yard. It’s a wonderful project for scouts and other youth organizations.
And one last note: Keeping your cat indoors is the best way to protect all the living creatures who might want to visit your sanctuary—including kitty.
#15 Organize a (Blank)-a-Thon
Walk, run, swim, eat pies, stand on your head—do anything to create a fund-raising event for animals. You can mike it as simple or complicated as you wish.
All “thons” involve the same four things;
1. People who promise to do something such as run, walk, eat pies or jump in an icy lake.
2. People who pledge money (and hopefully pay in advance) to encourage them do it.
3. People to get the word out via flyers, press releases, celebrity endorsements, or posters.
4. People to collect the money and use it to help animals.
Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley, Minnesota, runs the largest animal walk in
the country and collected nearly $1 million dollars last year for the event. You may want to contact them for ways to help make this happen for your animal organization. www.animalhumanesociety.org
#16 Create a web site
Every day web sites connect millions of animal lovers with information about animal organizations of every kind. Whether it’s a rescue effort, sanctuary or shelter, potential donors and adopters are looking for ways to connect with animals in need. Petfinder.com, for example, showcases over 250,000 adoptable animals every day. While an organization does not need to have a web site to list on adoption sites, it is an effective way to link potential adopters with additional information about your efforts.
If you have the technical skills to create or maintain a website you might offer your services to an animal organization. If not, you might be able to pay for someone else to do it.
You can also take digital photographs of adoptable animals or write brief descriptions of each one’s vital statistics (age, sex, temperament, health, special needs). Don’t worry if your writing or photography skills aren’t at a professional level. Seeing photographs of adoptable animals is important for potential online adopters.
#17 Give a pet a ride
The Internet is connecting homeless animals to interested adopters all over the country. Sometime animals need rides to their new homes many miles away. Rescue group have formed “railroads” of people willing to take animals part way, then give them to the next driver, eventually transporting them to their new homes.
Some organizations will even fly rescued animals to their new homes and more than one cross-country trucker is adding a furry passengers to their load. Michael Dougherty created “Puppy Pipeline” and regularly brings puppies from overcrowded shelters in Georgia to shelters in the Midwest.
Closer to home you can use your car to transport shelter animals to the vet, helping out elderly pet owners without transportation, or bringing animals to and from foster homes or adoption events. Check with your local rescue organizations to see how a few hours of driving time could make difference in the future of a needy animal.
#18 Fix things
Shelters and sanctuaries spend loads of money on basic plumbing, electrical, carpentry, and painting projects. Volunteer your handyman (or handywoman) skills to help keep things running smoothly.
No skills? No matter. You can help by doing the legwork to find necessary parts and supplies like a new gate latch or washing machine hose. When equipment breaks at a shelter, things (and not very pleasant ones) pile up fast. If you can pay for supplies, or a few hours of time from a qualified repair person, it will be appreciated by people and animals alike.
#19 Search for good
Did you know there is way to make money for your favorite animal organizations every time you search the Internet? GoodSearch.com is a new search engine powered by Yahoo that donates half its advertising revenue to the organizations designated by its users.
All you have to do is choose the name of the organization you want to support from a list of thousands on their homepage (or add your own) before doing your search. Search the Internet just like you normally would . Even though it sounds too good to be true, GoodSearch is endorsed by many animal charities. Check it out at www.GoodSearch.com
#20 Spay and neuter your pets
And encourage every other pet owner to do the same. This single act will do more to stop animal homelessness than
anything else.
Get information about low cost spay/neuter programs in your community and get the word out. Talk to people offering “free” kittens or puppies and encourage them to sterilize their animals. Share some of the staggering statistics about pet overpopulation such as two cats and their offspring can produce over 400,000 kittens in their lifetime. And remind them it only takes six months for that cute puppy to turn into a full grown, active “adult.”
Check out www.spayusa.org It is a nationwide network of affordable spay and neuter programs with over 7,000 cooperating veterinarians.