I believe in Miracles

There are so many different layers to the many struggles that COVID-19 has thrust upon all of us. Personally I miss my grandkids and wearing PPE as a nurse in the heat of the summer while providing patient care literally exhausts me. I get overheated under the best of circumstances but PPE has taken me to an all new level of suffering! But I shouldn't complain because I am COVID free.

Here at SAINTS tho we are starting to really feel the squeeze now. We have lost some of our best and greatly loved older volunteers as they isolate to protect themselves. We have lost several of our so necessary fundraisers due to social isolation protocols. No more pub nights, no more gala, no more open houses to just name a few. We have lost almost $100,000 from not having the ability to host public fundraisers with our supporters. It hurts.

So we look for ways that we can save money, stretch dollars even further than they were stretched before. But the animals still need vet care, they still need food, they still need shavings and litter box pellets, we still need to truck in water until the well fills again in the fall. Hydro, phone, mortgage payments and wages must be paid because the animals need a roof over their heads and people trained to care for them.

It all kind of sucks, 2020 has not been kind to any of us.

But here is the thing..we have great staff and volunteers here, we are so lucky in this. And trust me this is almost a miracle because even in the best times we can't afford to pay the wages our staff deserve so most people can't really afford to work here. It makes it hard to find and retain top quality staff. So far tho our guardian angels have been good to us and the staff we have are as valuable to us as gold even if we can't pay them well.

And then there are our volunteers who show up every weekend and plus when ever else that we need. They know the heavy load that the paid staff carry and so sometimes they come to lighten the load and sometimes they come when the load is too heavy like when the damn washing machine breaks down yet again! It was volunteers who built SAINTS originally and volunteers are still so integral to our work.

So yeah COVID sucks in so many ways, it makes it even harder to get thru some days and it frankly scares the crap out of me if we don't figure out how to make up for the lost funds. But the people we have, the staff, the volunteers, our army of supporters...how can we possibly fail when there are so many good folks helping us care for these animals.

It has to be a miracle that Cash survived to live a great life, he is growing so big! that Snowman found a new best friend to lean on, that Oscar the Grouch has actual fans who forgive him for being a biting ass. It has to be a miracle that ancient Tippy and Timmy found a safe and loving place to land. It has to be a miracle that 7 months into a global pandemic and major shut downs that we were still here to help them.

It hasn't been easy and it might get worse, but we are still here and I am grateful for that.