Tail Talk

I received an email this week congratulating me on my internet blog, TailTalk.org, a compilation of my weekly musings about animal lovers and shelter dogs.  My articles are written for the benefit of the Randolph County Humane Society and published weekly in our local newspapers.  Along with the congratulations was an invitation to join the DogTime Blog Network as a DogTime Blog Star.  The offer came from DogTime.com, the largest online community of animal lovers with 8.2 million unique visitors each month and 180 member websites.  They picked my blog out of the hundreds they looked at because of my “enthusiasm and love of/for pets” and my “relevant and thorough pet content.”  They currently showcase approximately 50 other “blog stars” and I consider it quite an honor to be asked.  It is my most sincere hope that the more people that find out about the wonderful work that is being done at our local no-kill shelter, the more financial help will become available and ultimately that will take some of the stress out of their day to day operations.  Although what we are doing may seem to be on a small scale compared to the big city shelters, it is incredible to me that they are able to accomplish all they do considering the population of the county they serve and the economic status of the county that began its downturn long before the latest crisis affected the rest of the country.  My job is easy; I only have to get the word out.  The real stars are the folks that give up their time and energies cleaning kennels of all the tinkle and poo because there weren’t enough volunteers to take the animals out as often as an animal needs to get out, nursing the sick and injured back to health, planning and working fundraisers, and begging anyone and everyone for whatever they can spare in order to keep the shelter doors open.  They are the folks that deserve our admiration and the recognition that kind of sacrifice deserves but never receives.  They work in their thankless volunteer positions because their hearts are filled with so much love that they will do whatever it takes to get through the day, even to their own detriment.   If you think back to the shelter wish list published a couple of weeks ago in the Letter to the Editor column, everything on that list is something that could be picked up at your local store without it killing your budget.  Just think if everyone picked up one item on that list the next time you’re at the store.  It wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice and think of the help it would be to the shelter.  Just think if the churches of Randolph County held a special collection, asking each member to donate one quarter to the cause of helping the least of them among us.  Think of what could be accomplished with those quarters.  We could have new inside kennels built and outside runs besides.  Just think how nice it would be for all the visitors to the shelter to see a different church name on each kennel as its sponsor.  Can you imagine what they would think of Randolph County and the kindness of its residents?  If we join together as a community we can move mountains.  Individually this would be an insurmountable task; that is unless you are one of those volunteers I spoke of earlier that lives with a heart so full of love that you give till it hurts.  Soon we will be in a position to show 8.2 million people each month what makes Randolph County, Illinois, the most wonderful place on this earth.  Let’s continue our Christmas spirit throughout the New Year and show the world that a community as small as Randolph County can come together to help the least of them among us, saving lives, one by one.