06/16/2024
Good evening people of the pack - well I am happy to announce that by a miracle I SURVIVED yesterdays event, but boy was it a LOT of work.
FIRST I want to shout a TREMENDOUS SHOUT OUT to Kate from Cat Life Maine Inc. , she was also attending the event and although was supposed to be close by, they relocated her to the other side of the event. She knew I was on my own, and so came over a few times when she was able to get away from her own stand to make sure I was ok, to give me chance to go p*e, or get a drink / bite to eat or anything else. I cannot say how thankful I am - I left the rescue at 12.30pm and left the Waterfront at gone 10.30pm.
Also a BIG shout out to Brianna, who stopped by to say hello and ended up holding the fort for me as I needed to get to the bus to grab a charger, or something I have no idea what it was now - but not only was it great to see her, but putting her to work for a few minutes was extremely helpful lol.
Then a MEGA Shout out to all our FORMER adopters who stopped by to tell me about the dogs, show me pictures, tell me funny stories and to continue to support the rescue - I wish I had more time to talk to everyone, but it was so heartwarming to see so many people and feel their love for the rescue.
Then of course to the MANY, MANY, MANY people who supported the rescue by donating, purchasing something from our fundraising items, for chatting, for being interested in the work we do and just for being so friendly and amazing. There was so many dogs out and about which was beautiful to see all these well-cared for, loved pets, enjoying the weather, being social and well-behaved. It's strange how heartwarming it was - I think because I don't get out much (that is CHANGING lol) and I only see or hear the down side to pet ownership - the daily pleas from shelters and rescues throughout the south, the ridiculous amount of emails I am now getting from people in Maine wanting to surrender their pets and most always have the "if I don't' help they will have to euthanize" sentence, which I will no longer let anyone transfer their guilt onto me so that doesn't work, but seeing all these happy, loved pets was just really nice - of course the backdrop of the river made it even nicer.
Then one final shout out to the AMAZING, hard working, dedicated people from Maine Micro Artisans for doing some a tremendous job with such a mammoth task, there was thousands of people attended, in the riverwalk where I was it was literally a constant stream of people - pretty much until around 9pm when things really died off with the odd people walking past. Putting an event together like that is so much work - it's not just organizing the vendors, its working with the town to secure the location, the food trucks, the toilets, the bins (trash cans to Americans lol) the parking, any issues that arise because there is always a million of them, my hat is off to them and double kudos sent their way.
So - how did it go - setting up went better than I thought, although we did get quite a bit of wind, more so with being on the river and wind and canopies are never fun - well unless you are watching someone else, then you may sneak in a giggle - I kept telling people if they saw me floating down the river inside the upside down canopy, don't try and save me, just throw me a beer lol.
So, the wind was a problem and I kept having to take position on a canopy corner holding it down whilst shouting to people who were at the front lol - I did buy canopy weights a few years ago - I really need to find them, heaven knows where they are.
As I say it was a constant flow of people, we almost sold out of all the fundraising Freeze Dried Candy, when people knew all monies supported the rescue and our community programs they felt really good and as I said any guilt of eating, yummy food can be wiped out with the good it is creating lol.
Some of our other fundraising items, some bowls, self warming mats, some dog jackets and other bits and a handful of t-shirts, then just people donating to the cause and meeting and talking to people, meeting all those beautiful dogs made it a great day, however, I was so ready to break everything down and get the bus loaded - of course everything was literally thrown in the back of the bus, I didn't bother trying to get the canopy back in the case, I just wanted to get home and get into bed, but not before sorting all the dogs out.
So, even though I was totally on my own, with no offer to help in anyway -I did it, I achieved the goal - which I knew I would and it was a SUCCESS and at the end of the day, I feel like the man on top of the mountain.
The rescue creates more obstacles than I would ever even of imagined and most of them I have to deal with on my own and as much as I HATE is when people say stupid things like - oh difficult times make you stronger or things like that - no they don't, they make you more tired, more angry and it highlights how alone you really are - but when you are passionate about something - HELPING OTHERS, four legged, two legged, three legged, wings, fins, or whatever - you do what ever you can to succeed, because you KNOW there is a NEED and you KNOW that you can HELP and make a DIFFERENCE.
If only more people, gave up a few hours of their time to help an organization who is doing good work, so much more would be achieved, so many more humans and animals could be helped and so many more people would have a feeling of accomplishment.
So - again, THANK YOU to Kate, Brianna, all former adopters, all people who supported the fundraiser and the Maine Micro Artisans - you all made it possible for me after battling the obstacles of the day - achieve SUCCESS for the Rescue and the COMMUNITY PROGRAMS where we help, both HUMANS and their PETS and that MATTERS.
