Rescue Journal

looks like the volunteers were all as bagged as i was yesterday, and probably went to bed early too.

Carol · Jun 20, 2010

the highlites for me were...

we met the mayor...really nice man. he came by for a tour, congratulated us the good work we do and said the city of mission was proud to have us as part of the community...(i hope he doesn't ever look to see how many bylaws we have stretched around here.) i have to say of all of the places i have lived from coast to coast and on each side of the border too...i like mission best...there is a lot of community and team spirit here..lot's of diversity and a very strong community web that brings the people who live here together.

my other high point was little mushroom merry. she had horned on on a very small group i was touring and when we were at the final point of the riding ring and ready to head out to the memorial garden...merry got the zoomies. that little old and crippled and homely dog can fly. there was no way she was going to cooperate in my catching her so i could pop her back over the fence and move on. she zipped and she zoomed and she threw herself into many play bows...the pure happiness of her just exploded into this wild and joyous mushroom dog dancing just out of reach in high speed....it was beautiful...but i did finally catch her and extinguish that happy light when i tossed her back over the dog yard fence to colleen....sorry merry...all good things must come to an end...temporarily anyway.

bow, shake ... begin!

my other high point was the foster and past saints dogs...shrek, fiona, sandy, carly, emmy, chance, and gracie were all here. oh yeah i remember, they and the saints still living here are the reason that we all are here.
i had forgotten how beautiful they all are.

Comments

Carol

colleen is one of the volunteers. she not only works here but she volunteers many hours in her off-time too. mj volunteered all weekend to keep track of the donations and issue on the spot tax receipts (plus she dragged her son up here to fix my van window which was stuck wide open.) angelina set up, broke down, cleaned up and toured today and renee has volunteered for other special events and popped up to check on the animals for me when i get tied up at work. we are one of the few places blessed with both staff and volunteers who care about the animals first.
ha ha..i have horse shoes up my ass for attracting the very best of animals and the very best of people too!

Kim

...and what about you, Colleen? I see you every day, in sludge, or sun in the farm fields, doing your thing, with your ever faithful comrade, Ticket. Your job does not look easy, yet whenever I've asked you how you're doing, it's always "Great!" And, I love it out here. Too bad there weren't more like you, people happy in their job. You are an inspiring lady.

Colleen Donnelly

Sitting here thinking about the open house at Saints this weekend. What made my heart smile the most was watching the best core group of dedicated volunteers EVER! They truly truly care deeply about each of the 124 now? animals here.

I work with the outdoor animals and so don't really know a lot of the cats or their histories nor a few of the newer dogs so I wanted to gain some insight and went on a couple of tours. Wow, VERY impressed. They knew each and every animals previous background and medical needs.

I asked Dave today ( my friend Kathy's husband ) at the end of their tour that I also went on what he thought of the place. He said ( paraphrasing ) that he could tell that every animals needs were catered to. He loved all the nooks and crannies and outdoor runs for the cats. Well planned.

Back to the volunteers...if not for them...this place would not exist. They are the reason Saints can be here. (((((hugging you ladies))))))

Mushroom dog song? I gotta' hear this!

Colleen Bridges

p.s. He owns four properties now, you know. Although I think he may be subletting one to his mini-me, Sammy.

Colleen Bridges

Carol - you should post your mushroom dog song!

It really was a wonderful two days with everyone on their best behavior! Griffin even politely allowed all sorts of people to mess with his real estate.

Dee

Congrats to Carol, the staff and all the wonderful, dedicated volunteers at SAINTS for a successful and remarkable Open House. I'm sure every first time visitor to SAINTS was as impressed as I was. What a delight and honor it was to finally meet some of you. . . . both the caring humans and of course all the amazing furry, feathered and pig-skinned critters. How you manage to pull off the huge undertaking of caring for all these blessed animals boggles my mind. You guys are truly an inspiration. I could see that each one of the animals felt loved and cared for. It was as if some of the dogs and cats I encountered somehow understood that it was a big day (weekend), and were on their best behavior. The bigger dogs, walked around with puffed-out chests, and the little dogs, not to be outdone, strutted along side of the tour group (not a limp in sight, not a whimper to be heard. . .you'd never know they were sick or elderly - what a hoot! Such great actors and little show-offs. Ha!) And when given a scrap of attention most of the dogs would reward you by looking up at you with "bedroom eyes" or offering you a "butt" to scratch. Soooo friendly and happy. I happened to be on the same tour group as the Mayor, and I can tell you, he was genuinely impressed! He's an extremely nice man. Near the end of the tour, he told me that he loved your philosophy and attitude. I'm paraphrasing of course, but he said something like, it reminded him of the philosophy at the "Christine Morrison Wing" which is a Hospice at our local hospital. I thought that was an amazing compliment to you at SAINTS because I know what a good reputation they have for being compassionate and caring. . . so I just thought I'd pass that along to you. Keep up the great work guys. A lot of us are cheering you on. Warm regards.

xine

Thank you so much! I got to meet Frodo today. I think my stepdaughter scared Suzie, stepping too close to the side where her bad eye is. Poor little one. And I rubbed Ellie's belly. Fun!

Larraine

Thanks for opening your home to us. This is the 3rd Open House that I have attended and it gets better every year. I brought my grandson my neighbor and her grankids and my daughter & son inlaw also came. My daughter commented on how organized it is since the first one. My neighbor was so impressed she wants to bring a friend of hers out to visit. Thanks for a great day!!

amy

Thank you for opening your house this weekend. I attended today with one of my daughters and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit and meeting all of the Saints and some of their volunteers. We lucked out and the sweet Angelina gave us our tour which was so very interesting and informative.

What a wonderful sanctuary for those who need it in such a perfect setting. I was sorry to leave, I wanted to hunker down and spend some time patting some dogs :)

You should be so very proud of yourself Carol for all that you do for so many. Truly inspiring :)

Amy

marie bellemare

Thanks Jen for the news of yesterday, I was there in thoughts and today as well... so sorry for suzie, those things happen and we hate when they happen... my oldest dog got "hit" by a bigger dog today "and he got hurt" and I felt really bad I did not see this coming, he's fine now but was looking at me "a certain way" that I let this happen... oh la la - not easy to see everything before it happens... we only have 2 eyes - it must have been something to see merry mushroom go wild with happiness, hope suzie is fine and recuperates well, sending lots of resting vibes to all, everyone must be so so so tired now... hopefully, the mayor visit will bring lots of good for SAINTS ! bless you all !

Hillevi

I wish I could have been there! It sounds like an absolutely wonderful time. Thanks everyone.