By Norma MiltonSpecial to the Aroostook Republican
Our writers are on vacation this week, so we are reprinting this column that originally appeared in January, 2007.
We have many different people with different skills who volunteer. The majority of these have lots of life skills and tons of compassion—exactly what we treasure at Caribou Pet Rescue (CPR). “I want to help, but I can’t do much.” the lady said. “All I ever did is stay home and raise kids and clean house.” I was literally itching to get her to fill out a volunteer application. She could become one of our most valuable volunteers. She’d raised kids and cleaned up after a family. She thinks she has no job skills. I see someone who can patiently and cheerfully clean a room full of playful kittens as they sit in their food dish, climb up her legs, balance on her head and shoulders and, just as she sets down a clean litter box, two kittens will jump in and promptly fill it back up again.
If the telephone rings, she will answer it without being out of breath and will still be able to use her other hand to direct a class of school kids on a shelter tour.
If you think this is something, wait for her white-glove inspection of a unit of eight pooping, yelping puppies while she counsels a pit bull on the importance of playing fairly. I want this volunteer! She has a master’s degree in every skill we need at CPR and what’s more she wants to help us for FREE. This will only get better if she tells me her identical twin is also available.
I get excited when people tell me they can only help with some laundry duty or come in and merely sit, brush, love and talk to the animals. Most of what we all do each day is a huge amount of boring cleaning and lots of laundry. We worry if this pet or that one is doing okay. The fun part, the amazingly wonderful part of CPR, is the love we share. We really do want to make our animals happy during this enforced confinement. We know the confinement is for their safety and health, but they do not understand we are protecting them.
This brings us to the subject of our Caribou Pet Rescue Comfort Care Volunteer. These people are wonderfully warm, compassionate volunteers who come in to play, walk, and brush the dogs and puppies and to brush, hold, and play with the cats and kittens. I have great respect for these beautiful people who take the time to practice the basic CPR philosophy of cherishing and respecting the life these animals have a right to.
“Talk to me, Baby.” How I adore those words followed by more gentle phrases of concern directed at an individual animal. Our employees give a lot of attention, but they are also called upon to complete many job tasks in each and every day. Much of my own time now is spent trying to raise funds to keep the roof over their heads and now, especially, to pay for fuel costs.
The Comfort Care Volunteer is priceless, a cherished gift to our animals that nothing else can replace. I see the worried eyes of young kittens quickly turn into mellow, trusting eyes within minutes of having individual attention from one of CPR’s Comfort Care Volunteers. A dog that has just been out for a nice run and a playful snowball fight comes back into the shelter with a wagging tail, a big “smile” on his face, and eyes sparkling with happiness.
If you are available to become a CPR Comfort Care Volunteer for a two- or three-hour span of time once a week or twice a month, call us.
CPR is currently experiencing a shortage of cat litter, Purina Kitten Chow, and laundry soap. We use plain litter for kittens and clumping litter for adult cats and economical store brand laundry soap. Please drop off your donations at the shelter during our public hours. For your convenience, you can also purchase items at Paradis Shop ’n Save and drop them in our donation cart by the front door of the store.
Our summer-long tent sale continues, but we need more donated items to keep it fresh and interesting! Please call Linda at 498-3767 for more information and to arrange your drop-off.
We are always happy to see returnable bottles dropped off at our shelter as this is a great help to our ongoing expenses. Thank you for all you do.
Please visit www.petfinder.com/shelters/ME67.html to see our adorable, adoptable pets. And our success stories!
Thank you for your support through donations and volunteerism. We are always grateful for your help through our returnable bottles and cans drive. Our shelter is located at 6 Richards Road in Caribou. Our mailing address is P.O. Box 488, Caribou, ME 04736. Our telephone number is 498-3800. Caribou Pet Rescue, Inc. is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible.
