My heartfelt congratulations and thanks to all of you new senior citizen animal rescue VOLUNTEERS who began in 2014! Many of you have contacted me about how you might get started VOLUNTEERING with animal rescues in your immediate areas, while many have mentioned you became involved due to reading the various links to resources about VOLUNTEERING within this BLOG as well as the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/SeniorsHelpingAnimalRescuesEverywhere
Kudos especially to those of you who have been VOLUNTEERING for many years with animal rescues in your own communities and elsewhere. As you know it all starts with one step, which leads to another, and then another until you are well on your journey. The secret is not stopping for one moment.
Is it not so amazing as to just how many different ways there are to be VOLUNTEERS with your local animal rescue? The more you get involved, the more you find yet another way you can help to make a difference for these animals in need. Not only are there so many different ways to VOLUNTEER as there are different types of animal rescues for all species and breeds imaginable. So there is no way anyone can say they could not find an animal rescue to VOLUNTEER with. YOU are the VOLUNTEER, so choose or create a position that best suits you and the animals. Make it a WIN WIN.
Folks have asked me what do you do as a VOLUNTEER with animal rescue, which in fact is a very fair question, especially since I repeatedly "HINT" to you about doing it. I have covered that in earlier BLOGS you can read here in the archives, however for now I can give you an update in this one.
We first became involved with animal rescue in Las Vegas, Nevada. All you have to do is visit a Petsmart on any Saturday and there will be a local animal rescue showing off their adoptables. So we started fostering with Heaven Can Wait Animal Society, when it was just getting started. Best Friends Animal Society came to our attention during Hurricane Katrina, when we made donations. We gave forever homes to 2 labs, "Bubba' & "Mocha", before relocating back to Hawaii, once we heard about the pet quarantine rules being changed. Juanilla did all her homework and paperwork so we walked right off the plane and picked up the 2 pups and took them home with us to their next forever home.
During our time there we became involved with Best Friends Animal Society as Hawaii Team Leader and Ambassadors while managing a virtual website for them and the state of Hawaii. We manned booths at local animal oriented events, and even our home to get the word out about BFAS. I even had the opportunity to attend their 25th Anniversary in Kanab, Utah, where I learned so much more about this wonderful organization. Promoted BFAS at Petco when it arrived in paradise to promote Science Diets pet food donations program.
We also volunteered with Hawaii Wild Bird Rescue taking in and rehoming birds as needed. For awhile we housed a myna named Spike before releasing "her".
I took photos for of adoptables for Oahu SPCA also for them to use on their website. They graciously allowed me to set up a table and literature promoting BFAS.
There was also a time when many of the local animal rescues in Hawaii were attempting to band together into a sort of cohesive initiative in order to gain strength and hopefully one day to have just one animal rescue location. I also partook in that.
While in Hawaii our youngest lab "Mocha", succumbed to lymphnode cancer. Before she passed over we adopted a poi pup, "Ku'Ipo" from Hawaii Humane Society to keep her active, which worked out splendidly. Poi means a mixed breed, as she is lab and basenji mix. Shortly afterwards we adopted another lab, a black pup named "Onyx".
As the economic attack came we relocated back to Las Vegas where we volunteered with Las Vegas Labrador Rescue. With them we fostered more labs. I kept photographing adoptables for local rescues.
Seizing another opportunity to photograph in Kanab, Utah, we relocated there. Kanab is the home of BFAS. It allowed us ample time to Volunteer with BFAS and help with other local animal rescues. Our time in Kanab was cut short due to my 90 year old Dad's health issues, so we left for Florida on the advice of his doctors. We became caregivers for him in Tampa Florida area. We still kept active with local animal rescues and even fostered some lost dogs and cats where we lived before finding their owners.
While residing in all these places I managed to created FREE Facebook pages for many of them to help the animals in need there 24/7. Many of you are fans of these pages and LIKE them and have wondered what is it that I do to VOLUNTEER, since I am always asking and showing others how it is done. Well now you know. I have found it easier for me to create and manage the Facebook pages which allowed me to continue to be proactive with local and distant animal rescue while still caregiving for my Dad.
Sadly my Dad passed over this past December, so most likely we will be headed West once again. Back to California seems the best bet for now.
I wanted to give those of you who asked a bit of bio about me and why I do what it is I do to get as many others interested in VOLUNTEERING with local animal rescues as possible.
My latest venture and FREE FACEBOOK page is SENIORS HELPING ANIMAL RESCUES EVERYWHERE, which is the ultimate WIN WIN in my book. Imagine with over 1 billion senior citizens throughout the world how many could become VOLUNTEERS with local animal rescues. So if you are a senior citizen or know some, please consider bookmarking that Facebook page and one day very soon, becoming a VOLUNTEER with your local animal rescue?
So as you can see, I was new to all of this and managed to get where I am today, with so many memorable animal rescue experiences to cherish, with even more to come. BTW it all started with " That First Step ".
Hopefully the majority of you will be overly inspired by this and become VOLUNTEERS, and/or inform others so they can.
In closing I am going to list in link form the Facebook pages I have created so you can visit, bookmark, LIKE, post comments and photos, and more important, get inspired to create your own! Thank you for spending your time here with me. Again, I thank you for all you do to help animals in need everywhere. All you have to do is get started, and never stop!
Dennis Lubrano
HELPING ANIMALS IN HAWAII
HELPING ANIMALS IN LAS VEGAS
HELPING ANIMALS IN NEVADA
HARLEY DAVIDSON RIDERS HELPING ANIMALS
SENIORS HELPING ANIMAL RESCUES EVERYWHERE "SHARE"
BTW if any of you want to create your own Facebook pages for helping animals in any way in your areas please email me if you need any help. dennislubrano@gmail.com Please be sure to submit your email at the top of this page so you are notified when each new BLOG is posted.
Also please be sure to post your comments about this BLOG. We respect your input immensely.
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