I am a dog and cat rescuer and have been for about 30 years. Today I opened my e-mail to find a forwarded plea from another dog rescuer who takes in little dogs.
Like many, the plea is from a woman who desperately needs help in several ways. It makes me angry that nothing is being done to help those in foreclosure while we bail out companies with some CEOs being financially bettered in the process.
Some people are in desperate and dire need. Broke, homeless (and often with children), desperate and depressed their thoughts sometimes turn to dark alternatives as they fail to find help or find themselves in serious depression almost unable to address the difficult path before them.
Stay with me over the fold.
Here is the forwarded plea with personal information removed. I have sent this plea and a strongly worded letter to Obama, my two U.S. Senators (Boxer and Feinstein) and to my House Rep., Gary Miller. I am mad as hell. I asked them to do something for regular Americans.
The e-mail I received:
I have lost my house in foreclosure and am living in it illegally with my 8 year old dog. She is German Shepherd/husky mix and I need to find her a home immediately. I have had her since she was a pup and living without her seems unfullfilling and blank. I dont know whre I will go and am considering suicide but I must find her a home before the animal control comes back and seizes her and takes her to her death. I dont even want to live without her but the immportant thing is that someone TAKE HER NOw .......Can u help us? Txxxx (661)xxxxxxx anytime [sic]
Currently, the number of homeowners behind at least 30 days on their mortgage is one in ten. That number is expected to increase dramatically in 2009 unless something is done to stop it.
Like everyone that is involved with any kind of service involving humans (and animal rescues fall into this category), we find ourselves in constant emotional turmoil as we have to turn away person after person because we are full and adoptions are slow.
I cannot speak for any other rescue, but I don't think I have shed as many tears as I have in the last year. And it is getting worse.
As financial tensions mount within families, domestic violence also increases. Many women will not leave because they cannot take their animals to a domestic shelter with them and they refuse to leave them behind for fear of reprisal upon them by their spouses which, actually, often does occur.
These are emergency cases, just like the one posted here. When lives are threatened--which includes suicide--I feel required to help. That is part of animal rescue that most don't understand. It is often as much about the people as it is about the animals.
I am in communication with the woman who sent me the e-mail and have offered to help. My first step is to let her know I will HOLD the dog for her indefinitely explaining that this will not be productive if she is gone from this world. My next step is to get her to contact a suicide hot line and then to try to find her some help. Perhaps those of you here expert in this area can help me do this right. I am flying by the seat of my pants.
I received an initial reply reading, "If you could take her I would definitely have something to live for ..."[sic]
For those of you in California, the woman is located in the Palmdale area. I don't know that area well. Perhaps you can suggest proper contacts that I can pass on to her or help her with.
More and more, each of us is going to be called on to help others. I am currently providing grocery assistance to a neighbor woman with two sons whose father has stopped paying child support. I also give her all the food she needs for her cats. She is my little neighborhood "project". She is embarrassed, but grateful. It is our little secret.
The entire economic scenario is frightening and it will only get worse. Those of us that can help now may, ourselves, need help at some point. But in the meantime, we need to do what we can, wouldn't you agree?
We are in this mess together. It is a mess not of our making. As always, the burden falls on us to fix it.
I am mad as hell that greed and political malfeasance has left us in this position some in a far, far worse position than others. And I am mad as hell that nothing is being done to stop the foreclosure cycle. I know some companies are trying to work with homeowners now, but it is too late for the woman whose note reached me.
Despite the fact that I have serious issues with some of Obama's cabinet nominees--not to mention the Warren issue--I remain a somewhat disappointed optimist. It is the only hope I have and the only way I can get through this period somewhat emotionally intact. I am very clear about what the alternative to Obama would have meant for this country.
As a life-long democrat, Obama did and does give me hope like no other democratic presidential nominee since the early 70s. All the more reason to focus on the 2010 election to be sure he has the help he needs in the house and senate.
But in the meantime--and with every plea like this that reaches me--I see the light at the front of the train. Like many, I am nervous and fearful.
Nonetheless, my glass will remain half full until it isn't.
For advice on placing an animal in need right now, you might find this diary of mine helpful. I apologize for its length, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible.