sadness

freebird wrote:

rldbailey wrote: Thanks for expanding more on this situation CreatureKeeper. I was wondering when you would chime in and I'm glad you did!

For the record, I'm the other staff member that helped during that outbreak in 2007. As your Assistant Shelter Manager during that time, I didn't always agree with the shelter operations and decisions, but I did my best, as did you, to see it through. I am still supportive of the organization and will continue to do so in the future.

I can only hope that people in this community will step up and help by donating and bringing positive solutions instead of trying to rip the current shelter management apart. Believe it or not, this is one of the hardest jobs you will ever do and still be one of the most rewarding!!!!

BTW - I still have Ruthie the cat and Emily the dog!!!!

I moved here after 2007 so never knew the details of that outbreak until now. I just want to thank you both for your hard work, time and effort during that difficult time. I am certain the end result of seeing almost all of the cats recovered and ready for their adoptive families was very rewarding. Thank you!

I agree with every sentiment shared above and just want to add that "bringing positive solutions" is so important. Supporting a loved one or an organization doesn't mean you agree with every action they take. It takes courage to try to effect positive change when you encounter a belief or policy you don't agree with.

Some put much too much emphasis on monetary contributions as being the best form of support...often thinking of the control that is associated with it. I think the form of support that makes the bigger difference is individual participation. If nothing else, maybe the events of last week coupled with CK's sharing of her experiences and perspective of the past will help motivate more of us to participate and make a difference.

As a volunteer at the IMHS Thrift store, I am in total agreement with Freebird,"it takes
courage to try to effect positive change when you encounter a belief or policy you don't agree with". I am the merchandiser/display
coordinator for the store and have been a part of the store since it's genesis. In my experience over the last year and 3 months volunteering,this is what I have observed. The staffing (or lack of) is over-worked,underpaid and spread way too thin. Things fall
thru the cracks because communication on all levels is ineffective. THAT is directly related to the amount of work/responsibility/lack
of funding that the shelter is up against. It is the same at the Thrift store,people's intentions are well meant, BUT volunteers' lives
are full to overflowing and unfortunately the FIRST thing to get axed is volunteering. The downturn of the economy over the last
several years has taken a DRASTIC toll on the monetary donations to the point that the shelter NEEDS the revenue from the thrift
store to attend to day to day business. There are NO reserves and what this organization needs is a RESERVE FUND to purchase
acquire a down payment for ANOTHER facility. It is my belief that will be the ONLY thing that will turn this around. The community
has to step up to the plate, with monetary donations AND their time to assist the shelter and the animals. (PLEASE understand that
when I cap words, it is my way of providing an inflection in my "voice"since the words are flat when they float across the screen.)HOW can we make things better? By becoming more involved......these are just my thoughts on a very tender and sore
subject.

rldbailey wrote: As a former volunteer and employee of IMHS, I will put in my two cents. It breaks my heart to know that these cats had to be euthanized and I don't believe for one minute that this decision was made lightly.

It's easy to judge and make unfounded comments when you have no idea what you're talking about. To insinuate that the staff and the Veterinarian treating these cats lacks ethics is a big stretch. When I worked at the shelter, I never saw a more dedicated staff, volunteers and veterinarian when we treated this disease a few years ago. In order to treat this disease successfully, you must have the available space, staff and funds to do so. It's not as easy as you might think.

People in a community should support our shelter every day and not just when a tragedy occurs. We can all start by spaying and neutering our pets. Also, when you take a pet into your life, it doesn't mean until you have a baby, or until you bring a new girlfriend/boyfriend into your life, or then you decide to move where they don't allow pets or until that pet gets old and sick and you can no longer be bothered. I can assure you, I heard every deplorable story and/or excuse you can imagine when people surrendered their pets. And yet, I read new postings almost every day with people looking to re-home their pets and or wanting to breed more. My cat/dog is too old to take care of, so will you take it and provide all of the necessay food and medical care!?! If not, I guess I will euthanize it. Then, they go out and get another kitten/puppy and start all over again. Dogs and cats are disposable creatures to some people and unfortunately, they suffer the consequences of that attitude in shelters across our country every day!!!

It's interesting how many people use the shelter as a dumping ground for unwanted pets and then they feel they have the right to judge the very people that are busting their butts every day trying to take care of their unwanted responsibilities.

If people want to help - then start being responsible pet owners and stop breeding for profit! Wow, what a concept!!!

This indeed - very well said.

While I cannot donate time to the thrift store right now, I'm hoping by summer to be able to remedy that. I can, however, as I go through things, donate things to store. You are now first on my list of dnation sites. Could you outlay the donation process for your store, or is it an "any time we're open" dropoff policy?

Hi Local......THANKS for the query. The store is VERY small and space is limited and for that reason we ask that you call first and let us
know what you have to donate. The donation schedule has to be refined,eventually,because we do NOT have enough staff/volunteers
to work all the donations when they come in. This summer people were driving up with TRUCKLOADS of items to give to us. What that
meant was this (trying to be politically sagacious here) we were overloaded with items that could not be sold/used. We ask that you
donate during the times we are open (Tues.-Sun 10-430PM winter hours) AND that you come up stairs to ask if we have the room. PLEASE remember that the donations should be of GOOD quality/condition,that they could be sold for profit and the buyer would be
PROUD to take it home.....we are in dire need of volunteers to accept donations and work them into inventory.

Why isn't IMHS posting responses here?

Becky wrote: Why isn't IMHS posting responses here?

I'm sure it's because they have far more pressing matters to deal with right now than to respond to people on this website. I'm sure most of you don't want to hear this, but they have responded on Pinecam today with regards to the many offers of help and have posted a schedule, (subject to weather related changes), for the assistance they will need to get the shelter back in operation. It's also my understanding that they are not set up with 285Bound at this time and hopefully when they get more settled, they can work on that.

As a former volunteer/employee of IMHS, I can assure you and everyone else that there are NEVER enough people and even less hours in a day to accomplish the NEVER ending work that has to be done to properly run an animal shelter on a daily basis. It's not just taking care of the animals, but the never ending administrative duties, the constant flow of people that come and go, the meetings, the transporting of animals for medical care and foster homes, overseeing the volunteers, the numerous phone calls that come in for varied reasons, the daily calls that need to be made for the care of the animals, etc.... I could go on and on, and I still wouldn't be able to list all of the daily, weekly and/or monthly duties that all of the people involved with IMHS have to do.

It might help also if people were a little kinder and nicer - if I were a part of IMHS, I would be scared to post here...........why is everyone so nasty to them?

rldbailey wrote:

Becky wrote: Why isn't IMHS posting responses here?

I'm sure it's because they have far more pressing matters to deal with right now than to respond to people on this website. I'm sure most of you don't want to hear this, but they have responded on Pinecam today with regards to the many offers of help and have posted a schedule, (subject to weather related changes), for the assistance they will need to get the shelter back in operation. It's also my understanding that they are not set up with 285Bound at this time and hopefully when they get more settled, they can work on that.

As a former volunteer/employee of IMHS, I can assure you and everyone else that there are NEVER enough people and even less hours in a day to accomplish the NEVER ending work that has to be done to properly run an animal shelter on a daily basis. It's not just taking care of the animals, but the never ending administrative duties, the constant flow of people that come and go, the meetings, the transporting of animals for medical care and foster homes, overseeing the volunteers, the numerous phone calls that come in for varied reasons, the daily calls that need to be made for the care of the animals, etc.... I could go on and on, and I still wouldn't be able to list all of the daily, weekly and/or monthly duties that all of the people involved with IMHS have to do.

We know they are busy but how can an organization that depends on the community for support ignore it to this degree, sorry I am busy too, does that allow me to not contribute?
Sorry RB but a pretty pathetic answer to legitimate questions being raised. We , who have supported IMHS, deserve the courtesy of a response. If they emailed supporters or mailed , ok but they did not. More excuses no answers to anything.Recipe for failure.

Lucky wrote:

rldbailey wrote:

Becky wrote: Why isn't IMHS posting responses here?

I'm sure it's because they have far more pressing matters to deal with right now than to respond to people on this website. I'm sure most of you don't want to hear this, but they have responded on Pinecam today with regards to the many offers of help and have posted a schedule, (subject to weather related changes), for the assistance they will need to get the shelter back in operation. It's also my understanding that they are not set up with 285Bound at this time and hopefully when they get more settled, they can work on that.

As a former volunteer/employee of IMHS, I can assure you and everyone else that there are NEVER enough people and even less hours in a day to accomplish the NEVER ending work that has to be done to properly run an animal shelter on a daily basis. It's not just taking care of the animals, but the never ending administrative duties, the constant flow of people that come and go, the meetings, the transporting of animals for medical care and foster homes, overseeing the volunteers, the numerous phone calls that come in for varied reasons, the daily calls that need to be made for the care of the animals, etc.... I could go on and on, and I still wouldn't be able to list all of the daily, weekly and/or monthly duties that all of the people involved with IMHS have to do.

We know they are busy but how can an organization that depends on the community for support ignore it to this degree, sorry I am busy too, does that allow me to not contribute?
Sorry RB but a pretty pathetic answer to legitimate questions being raised. We , who have supported IMHS, deserve the courtesy of a response. If they emailed supporters or mailed , ok but they did not. More excuses no answers to anything.Recipe for failure.

I was only trying to explain WHY they might not be responding at this time. They are in the middle of cleaning out and sanitizing EVERYTHING in the shelter, from the kennels down to the staplers. This does not allow for much spare time even on a good day. I personally don't feel as though they are intentionally ignoring the community, but they simply cannot respond to every inquiry about what is going on. Also, please keep in mind that their office has been completely dissassembled during this cleaning process and they probably don't even have the computers hooked up. If you recall, Rebecca from IMHS did respond on this thread via another registered 285Bounder, so I don't feel as though they have intentionally ignored the community.

If you choose to stop supporting the shelter, that is your choice. Since I have been through what they are currently going through right now, I have a different perspective than most. My only hope is that our community will pull together to help them recover from this tragedy and continue to be more supportive and less judgmental. Until you walk in their shoes........

freebird wrote: To all 285Bound users:

I'm Rebecca Young, Communications Manager for IMHS. I'm contacting you all courtesy of Freebird, one of our wonderful IMHS volunteers. Regretfully, I'm not set up on 285Bound, yet.

I just quickly want to clarify that IMHS' lack of presence on 285Bound is by no means intentional; rather, it's just a case of too much to do, too little time and limited resources.

I started work with IMHS in May of 2010, immediately assuming all responsibility for our marketing, communications and fundraising efforts. I had to catch up and get up to speed on running our Dog Walk and Silent Auction community awareness/fundraisers; as well, I had a learning to go through about maintaining our existing marketing/pr outlets, i.e., our website, blog, Facebook page and community advertising. And, while it may not be an excuse, I was called out-of-state to tend to a family emergency for six weeks in the Fall/Winter of 2010.

If requests from 285Bound were not acknowledged, it's my fault. I let them get buried on my to-do list. Ironically, I met last week with a new volunteer who has offered to provide assistance on maintaining our presence on our local community boards, including 285Bound.

As you know, the devastating developments in the past week have set us back temporarily on implementing this new plan -- but we will get there as soon as we can!

Finally, let me say how very grateful we are to our entire mountain community for their on-going support of animal welfare efforts -- not only the work of IMHS, but that of EAPL, Peke and Pom Rescue, etc., etc. With so many who need our help, in our business, there is no room or need for competition. Every bit of help, financially or otherwise, is critical to the success of all these worthy organizations.

Here's that post made by Rebecca @ IMHS.

I also want to add this to the equation.

Our country has been in the middle of an economic crises these last few years. During a crises such as we all have been experiencing, the first thing to go is usually the pets. It has been common knowledge to all that the shelters across our country have been inundated with dogs, cats and other discarded pets. Also, during times of financial crises, donations to charitable organizations decrease significantly. The more pets that end up in shelters, the more diseases that spread and the more euthanizations that take place. That is the sad reality for pets when they end up in shelters.

In my opinion, the biggest failures are the pet owners that don't take their responsibilites for the care of their pet seriously and look to the shelters to provide for these unwanted pets. Perhaps this will be an eye opener to many people in this community that support of a local shelter is every day and all day, not just when a tragedy such as this happens.

Do you know that the majority of people that surrender or dump a pet at a shelter usually NEVER offer money, supplies and/or time to help the shelter? Another sad truth for shelter pets!!!!

As I said, until you walk in their shoes.............