The past weekend was one of a kind for me and my fellow volunteers. We received two loads of donations on Saturday and one load on Monday. On Saturday, when we opened the truck trailers, we saw them filled with dog crates, playpens, beds, and Hamster Cages. We always handled small loads of Pet supplies. We didn’t know how to give them to the community and clear warehouse space to receive another load on Sunday. It was 5 pm on Saturday. We were stumped. Our problem-solving mind kicked in. We reached out to community members through social media. We hoped at least 30+ community members would show up Sunday morning. We didn’t know how these donations would impact our community’s pets and pet owners. Our giveaway post was reshared 260 times. Wow.
As we arrived on Sunday morning, the rain poured, and the cars lined up. Our volunteers didn’t mind the downpour and began serving pets and pet owners in our community. Within 3 hours, 200+ cars lined up. Some drove more than 2 hours to receive these donations. This week, we may have served 350+ families and their pets. They came from four states (DE, MD, NJ, and PA). The giveaway events were a huge hit. We gave out two truckloads of donations in just three days.
One of the pet-owner shared the photo of her pet and this message with us. The pet’s name is Daizi (see her photo attached). The owner rescued her from an abusive home a year ago. Daizi is enjoying the crate that we donated. Community members are sharing their pet photos. Seeing those photos warms my heart.
They would have landed in a landfill if we had not taken these loads.
