Awesome Birthday.... Or THE AWESOMEST Birthday?

So this is not a new thing I'm doing here. Last year, I asked my friends and family (and random people I don't really know but am "friends" with on Facebook, or twitter, or any other social media you can think of) to do something different for my birthday. I asked them to do something good for someone else, in lieu of birthday cards, or going for dinner or drinks, or gifts, or expensive long-distance phone calls.

I'm proud to say that my "peeps" came through with some amazing stories - everything from helping people carry their groceries to paying for someone else's lunch, and a bazillion other little awesome deeds. In fact, I was so proud of how stellar my friends can be that I decided to do it again.

This year, I'll be donating blood for the very first time the weekend before my birthday, here in Calgary. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to spend my birthday and the week following it in Madrid, "helping my little sister find a place to live while she does her Master's program at the IE."

... in other words, being as touristy as possible, hiding behind my camera, and experiencing as much of the culture as possible in that week. My hope is that there will be opportunities to do little awesome things whilst I'm there, but as I don't speak the language and am brutally shy, I wanted to be sure to get my good thing in beforehand. Hence the blood donation. (Also, I had wanted to donate earlier this year, but my travel last year precluded me from doing it before summer, and my latest tattoo in spring made it so that I couldn't go before September anyways, so the timing worked out nicely...)

If you've ever wanted, or needed, an excuse to do something outrageously awesome for someone else - or an excuse to do something quietly amazing - here's your chance. My birthday is September 18, and I'm looking forward to hearing the stories that my friends, family, and random acquaintances are willing to share with me. If you want, you can join the event on Facebook (http://on.fb.me/oM3aY8).

Here are some ideas if you want to participate but are stuck as to where to start (your local shelters, soup kitchens, and animal rescue groups may have websites as well):

Habitat for Humanity (http://www.habitat.org/)
Jacob's "Adopt a Soldier" Program (http://www.jacobsprogram.org/)
World Concern (http://www.worldconcern.org/)
American Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.org/)
American Diabetes Foundation (http://www.diabetes.org/)
International Red Cross (http://www.icrc.org/)
Mental Health America (http://www.nmha.org/)
Little Warriors (http://www.littlewarriors.ca/)
Salvation Army (http://www.salvationarmy.org/)
Autism Society of America (http://www.autism-society.org/)
ALS Society of Canada (http://www.als.ca/)
Canadian Blood Services (http://www.blood.ca/)


So. Brighten the corner where you are. That's my wish for my 28th birthday.

... Well. That, or Chris Evans. But if you're only able to do one or the other, please do something good for someone else. ;)

An Open Letter to Animal Rescue Groups

Dear Well-Intentioned and Respectable Animal Rescue Groups:

Please communicate.

I recognize and respect the fact that the vast majority of you are fully staffed by volunteers, and a good number of you do not have main facilities of your own. You operate out of the homes of foster families and the clinics of veterinarians. But if you have a website, and if that website indicates a telephone number and an e-mail address as contact information, these should be checked - at the very least - once a day. But it's not enough to check them, please have someone respond to them. Because if not, you have a situation like the one my sister suffered through recently before being chosen by a dog at the Humane Society.

My sister who, like me (unsurprisingly similar childhoods), grew up with pets - everything from dogs to budgies, cats, fish, and newts. My sister who, like me, has lifelong experience with medium-to-large-sized dogs (minimum about 50lbs) and having dogs who live with cats. We own our home. We are three houses up from a massive off leash area. We have a good-sized, private back yard that offers some shade. In short, we're fairly good candidates for animal adoption.

We thought. The timeline:

• On June 11, my sister submitted an application for a dog on an animal rescue group website. We'll call the dog "J". The resultant e-mail stated that someone would be in touch with her within a few days. 
• On the evening of June 12, my sister went through the telephone interview. She was told that there was a lot of interest in J and that the fact that we had not yet completed our fence would stop the application right there. Fair enough. 
• On June 13, the website was updated to show that J had been adopted. On this day, also, my sister received an e-mail stating that "it was felt she was not a match for an animalrescuegroup dog." 
• On June 14, I sent an e-mail to the general info address from the website, requesting some clarifications about the e-mail and the procedure. I have not yet received a reply. 
• On June 22, I telephoned the phone number requesting some sort of follow-up either to my e-mail or to my telephone call. I have not yet received a reply. 
• In the meantime, we completed our fences/gates. 
• Between June 4 and June 25, we attended two of the "meet the dogs of the rescue organization" days - both times meeting the dog my sister would apply for on June 30. 
• On June 30, my sister submitted an application for another dog on the website - "R." The resultant e-mail stated that someone would be in touch with her within a few days. 
• There was no indication on the website that the group would not be conducting interviews or looking at applications on the long weekend... In fact, the "meet the dogs of the rescue organization" was still continuing on its regular weekend day.
• On July 4, my sister went through the telephone interview. The interviewer stated that she did not see any reason why the application could not go further. Someone would be in touch with us "soon." 
• My sister received no further communication from the animal rescue group. 
• On July 7, the website had been updated to show that R had been adopted. 
• Also on July 7, my sister and I (separately) sent e-mails to the animal rescue group stating our disappointment and frustration. Neither of us have received a response of any sort. 

"H"

• On July 8, on a whim, my sister and I went to the Humane Society in an outlying town and my sister was found by a pup there, we'll call him H. 
• On July 9, H came home with us.

Before we went to the Humane Society, I had been in touch via e-mail with another rescue group about a few of their available pups. And you know what? The lovely lady there got back to me not once, not twice, but three times within a 24-hour period. With actual information about the dogs, and suggestions, and clarifications on policy and everything. Had my sister not been chosen by H at the Humane Society, we'd have been dealing with this second rescue group in a heartbeat.

When someone is applying to adopt an animal, it is a safe bet to assume that they have some emotions invested in the process. It is extremely difficult to not be angry with an organization that does not have the professionalism - or, forget professionalism... doesn't have the decency - to let an applicant know that the dog they were in love with has gone to another home.

Animal rescue groups: You love animals. You want to find the best homes for the animals. Your work is admirable.

However, your work does rely somewhat on people being able to adopt the animals. It relies on people - people who preferably have experience looking after animals, but at the very least, people who are willing to put in the effort of looking after an animal and caring for it, and providing it with a loving, safe home - being able to bring these animals home so that you have room to rescue more.

It is beyond distressing to be told one day that your application looks good and someone will be in touch "soon" and, without hearing anything from anyone while you're waiting by the phone every evening so as not to miss the call, to find out via the website that someone else has adopted the dog that you had prepared for, that you had met, played with, and fallen in love with. Purchased the kennel, collars, leashes, harness, treats, toys, pee training aids, barriers for in the car, etc... Watched other pups you were half-interested in, but not too invested in because this one you loved, being adopted and no longer available while you waited...

Please, just communicate. Don't leave your applicants hanging, and if you say someone will be in touch, please try to ensure that someone gets in touch. Otherwise it feels like being led on and then having the rug yanked out from under you.

It has been a month now since the first e-mail I sent to this group, and still no response to anything. The e-mail I sent last week even had (almost word-for-word) the bulleted list up there, to explain the situation. No response. I would be happy, at this point, with a brief apology for the lack of response and a promise to consider the points we raised in our e-mails. And even that's a passive response that means that nothing is really going to be done. It's better than silence, though.

Though I respect the work you do, I'm finding it incredibly difficult to respect the way some of you do it.

Thank you,

~Me