A day of giving back

Originally published in November 2013 on another blog of mine ... I have decided to consolidate the blog sites.


Giving back in many ways is just about noticing others. A couple months ago I noticed that there were a lot of things happening around me that I couldn't always do much about during my short walk to and from meetings downtown, or in my small amount of spare time. That's when I decided to dedicate a day to helping others.

On Friday, November 16, I took a day off of work and made everything I did that day about others.

What sounds like an exhausting day, was truly one of the most exhilarating days I've ever had. So here's a glimpse into my day giving back to people who needed it, some who didn't, and some who didn't even know I did anything at all.

• Donated platelets and plasma at Bonfils Blood Center.
• Bought the orders for the two cars behind me in the Starbucks drive-thru.
• Delivered a dozen donuts to Animal Healthcare Specialists (they aren't a well-off office, but they will never refuse service to an animal because a client can't pay).
• Bought mashed potatoes, vegetables and stuffing and delivered it to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless' Stout Street Clinic, so families could have their first Thanksgiving.
• Delivered a dozen donuts to the Bo Matthews Center for Excellence, which provides job training and housing to veterans.
• Delivered donuts and new socks to Sox Place, an organization to help the homeless youth of Denver.
• Took household items to the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless West End Flats to help families coming out of homelessness furnish their new homes.
• Picked up my Colorado Youth at Risk mentee for her lunch break and we went to SAME Cafe for lunch, a place that allows everyone to eat and only accepts donations for food - if people cannot pay, they can eat and then just work an hour in the restaurant.
• Took my mentee to a cupcake shop and let her pick out a cupcake for everyone in her family.
• Took left over Halloween candy, $20 in single bills, and four $10 McDonald's gift cards downtown, and gave the items out to Denver Voice newspaper vendors making their living by selling the papers.
• Fed two expired parking meters so people didn't get tickets.
• Donated to the Salvation Army bell ringer for the Holiday campaign.
• Since I ended up with multiple Denver Voice papers, I gave each one to someone so they could learn about the program.
• Drove to Fort Collins and volunteered at the Matthews House Thanksgiving Dinner by playing games in the gym with the kids who attended.

A couple of the things on this list I had made plans to do, but many came to me along the way. It seemed like the more I did for others, the more I thought about how I could help people out. As I spoke to friends about my actions, they all had ideas, too ... which makes me think that there might be some more amazing days of giving back to come.

My day of giving back wasn't an expensive day, but it certainly turned out to be one of the richest days I have ever had.

Why you need to know about PetFinder.com

Lately I've had a lot of friends reach out to me and ask me how they can find the animal they are looking for in a shelter.

True, with hundreds of shelters, breed rescues and foster programs in Colorado (and most communities), it can be hard to know where to start. And certainly, no one expects that you visit dozens of places on your own time.

Enter PetFinder.com! This is probably one of my favorite partnership ideas of all time because this is a website that does only good.

PetFinder.com pulls all of the animals on rescue websites across the country into one place, and makes the information searchable by location, type of animal, animal behavior and age, human preferences, and more.

Let's say you're looking for a young or new born Belgian Shepherd Laekenois (although I had never heard of the breed, they are gorgeous dogs). In searching for this exotic and rare breed, you also want this Belgian Shepard Laekenois to be a female, to be a dog that will like your kids, and to get along with your family cats.

On PetFinder.com, you can narrow your search on any or all of these criteria, and if you do so, you'll find Sissy just might be the perfect pup for you!

PetFinder.com pulls together more than 13,700 rescue organizations across the country and is a bank of more than 315,000 animals in search of forever homes. That number of homeless animals is a staggering number, and while it doesn't even come close to accounting for all of the homeless animals in our country, it is so indicative of the importance of adopting animals.

In fact, you truly can find any type of dog up for adoption and this site is proof. Plus, not only is rescuing an animal good karma, but another perk of adoption is that you can get a great dog and spend much, much, much less than you would if you purchased that animal from a breeder or store.

Case and point:
- The most expensive dog ever sold was a Tibetan Mastiff, sold for %1.5 million in March 2011 ... there are nine Tibetan Mastiffs listed on PetFinder.com that are available for adoption, ranging from $100-200 in adoption fees.
- Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are the second most expensive dog breed, and range from $1,000 to $14,000 from breeders ... there are 189 Cavalier King Charles Spaniels available for adoption on PetFinder.com.
- Samoyed are the third most expensive breed, ranging from $4,000-$11,000 per dog ... there are 87 purebred and mixed breed Samoyed dogs on PetFinder.com.

What I love most about this site is truly the awareness it creates.

On PetFinder.com alone, there are 175,000 dogs to search through - dogs of all breeds, ages, and temperaments. The site also educates visitors, providing information about all dog breeds on the site and sharing resources and articles to help prepare people for being pet owners, making it a great place to send people in your life that aren't sure what they are looking for in a pet.

So, next time someone mentions they are looking for a new pet, encourage them to adopt and to use PetFinder.com as a research tool.

And, if you're like me, you'll enjoy just checking out the amazing animals in your area and maybe try to find them a good home or two.

Senior Pets Need You!

I volunteer at one shelter in a city with dozens, in a state with hundreds and a country with thousands.

Still, at just this shelter, Cleopatra, an eight year old German Shepard mix has been looking for her forever home for more than a year. She lays on her very own mattress and patiently waits for anyone to glance her way when they walk into the big dog area. Most of the time it doesn’t happen.

Many people come through her hallway and don’t even notice Cleo. I could tell you dozens of sad stories about pets that just need a place to live out their last years in dignity and comfort.

The fact that people come into the shelter for their pets is a beautiful thing, so I’m not judging – I love that more and more people are realizing that they can get absolutely wonderful dogs from shelters and that they make a conscious decision to rescue animals rather than buy them. After all, each rescued animal gets us closer to a point where our country won’t kill animals in shelters.

Old dogs aren’t what many are looking for, but let me make a case for them, so maybe you or someone you know might consider adopting a senior pet.

In fact, there are definitely many reasons that senior dogs make great companions.

1.       They are past the chewing and puppy-like habits – they know their manners by now!

2.       They are calm and often comfortable with many kinds of animals and people

3.       They are the perfect snuggle companions and just love your company

4.       Although they will always love walks, they don’t require as much activity as other dogs

5.       Just like other rescued animals, they will appreciate you for saving them and will give you unending love!

6.       They still have a lot of life left in them – regardless of how old they are

You can feel good knowing that you were that person who stepped up and gave them a wonderful life. You can know you put their needs before your own desire to have them for their full life – plus, you never know how long they will live with the right amount of love and kindness from you!

Senior animals often have a difficult time getting adopted, but they deserve the same chance as every other. Cleo and the thousands of others deserve to go home.

My mom always told me to live by the Golden Rule, to do unto others as you would have done unto you.

We all hope that when we get old, we’ll be considered just as good as we are now and won’t be put away somewhere to age by ourselves. Let’s offer senior pets that same chance.