APRIL 16, 2009 ISSUE
Friends For Life Seeks Your Help in Finding Homes for Pets
The recession has taken a toll on millions of Americans, and the overall stress level here in America has greatly increased.
Another group—animals—has paid a great price in these troubled times, and thousands have paid with their lives. You don’t see the statistics on the news, but the loss of life continues every day, unnoticed by most. Their best friends and families have abandoned them because there is no money to feed and care for them. Many times they have been left to die alone in abandoned houses, while thousands are turned in to shelters every day only to die there. These are America’s pets.
Friends For Life is a local organization that works with Animal Control and the Humane Society to save pets that are locked in cages and have no loved ones left. Volunteers lie awake at night wondering who will take Moose, or Billy, or little Molly home and allow them to be loved again. They would like to save them all, but they can’t do that without the help of loving people.
Following are descriptions of just a few of the animals that need a home:
Moose is rather intimidating when you first meet him. He’s a big brindle mix of who-knows-what. He barks and carries on at the adoptions, and people walk by and comment on what a bruiser he is, but no one has taken him home. Oh, it’s true that other canines are not on his top 10 list of most likeable things, but he loves people, and, in fact, is a couch potato at his foster home. He’s mellow and loving, and he deserves a chance to be part of a family again. If he could talk, he would ask you not to judge him by the way he acts at the pet adoptions—when he’s all stressed out. Just take him home and give him a chance.
Billy was an out-of-control, nine-month-old Lab mix when Friends For Life volunteers met him. He was so stressed from being locked up and having no room to play that the volunteer who boarded him actually called and begged to get him out of the kennel. After taking Billy home to the Muller Dog Farm, however, he never lifted his leg or used the lower level as a latrine. He loves the pack, and he runs and plays and licks you to show his thanks. He loves every minute of life. He needs a forever home with a yard, kids and good treats.
It takes a strong commitment to care for those who are so dependent on us. Friends For Life is a ministry of God’s love to these helpless animals. Great people work at Animal Control who care deeply for these precious souls. Friends for Life couldn’t do what they do without them.
Friends for Life needs your help. You can foster a pet and save a life. Friends For Life does not have a facility—the organization can only provide temporary foster homes for pets. You can also make a donation to Friends for Life to help volunteers and foster families pay for medical care, food and supplies.
The organization also needs volunteers to help at adoption events at Lowe’s Home Improvement on Saturdays and at the Boone Mall on Wednesdays. Additionally, the organization is in need of volunteers to get a website up and running.
If you have lost a pet, Friends for Life can help you post ads about your lost pet on websites. Contact Friends For Life and leave flyers with them as well as local veterinarians.
On www.goblueridge.net, Cindy Cafaro has a site called Pet Patrol for lost and found pets. The Watauga Humane Society also has a site for adoptable and lost and found pets at www.wataugahumanesociety.org. One other good site to check is www.petfinder.com.
To learn more about adopting a pet, volunteering or donating to Friends For Life, call 828-964-8828, email pennylea60@yahoo.com or write to Friends For Life, PO Box 3226, Boone, NC, 28607.
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