I have a relatively fatal flaw in that I find it incredibly difficult to ask for help. I want to figure out problems or issues on my own. I want to just get that task done by myself. I want to hang that picture all by my lonesome.
I’ve kind of been that way all my life and those who know me will often shake their heads because I will run myself ragged and sometimes into the ground before I utter four, simple letters: help.
In my 23 years with CVAS, I have learned a lot – some good, some inspiring, some amazing and some tough lessons.
One shining example that has continued to come through to me every year is that there are so many people out there who want to help.
When we have our fundraisers, from our Christmas Open House to our Dog Walk to our Cabin Fever Music Fest, we always have people who help us put them together and run them. We couldn’t do it by ourselves and it does my heart good to see the amount of people who work hard because they know the funds will help our animals.
We have school groups and Boy and Girl Scout troops who have donation drives for us and they are always so excited to bring the supplies to the shelter so they can see who their efforts have helped.
There are even children in this community who will forgo birthday presents and instead ask for donations to the shelter for our animals. Can you imagine this? We’ve had kids as young as kindergarten come in with a truck full of supplies that they gathered for us instead of getting birthday presents.
I’m not going to lie to you, I don’t know that I would have been that altruistic when I was 6. I mean we had Cabbage Patch Kids that we absolutely had to have.
It’s amazing how much good there truly is in this world if you look.
We have people who come in to walk dogs and socialize our cats. In fact, just today a volunteer walked by my office trying to walk a puppy on a leash. It was utterly adorable and she was just laughing because the puppy wasn’t getting it at all. She comes all the time to help our babies.
We have people who clean cages at Petsmart and Petco. I know between Petco and Petsmart, we have adopted out thousands of cats. Having our animals in those two stores has saved so many lives.
We have greeters who come in to help visitors to the shelter meet animals they may possibly adopt. Every one of these folks donates their time.
Something I’ve come to realize recently is that time is the one commodity every one of us has, but none of us can get back. We all have a finite amount of days, minutes and seconds on this planet and that’s why it is such a precious gift. We should never, ever spend time on anything that doesn’t matter to us or that isn’t important to us. Because in the grand scheme of things, we don’t really have a whole lot of it and we can never, ever get it back.
It’s so frightening to think about looking back on a life and asking, “Why didn’t I…” or “If only I would have done that sooner…”
That’s what makes it so poignant to me that we have so many people willing to give of themselves and their time to help this shelter and ultimately, the animals in our care.
When so many people really do come through for us in so many ways, it starts to make me realize that maybe help isn’t a negative four-letter word. Maybe help isn’t a weakness or an admission of not being able to do something.
Maybe help is something that can unite us all in a common goal and a common good and bring us together for a common cause.
Maybe when you find the right people, asking for help isn’t such a bad thing…
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Jennifer Vanderau is the Public Relations Coordinator for the Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter and can be reached at cvascomm@cvas-pets.org. The shelter accepts both monetary and pet supply donations. For more information, call the shelter at 263-5791 or visit the website www.cvas-pets.org. CVAS also operates a thrift store in Chambersburg. Help support the animals at the shelter by donating to or shopping at the store.
