TASP is a Judgement Free Zone
Thanks for clicking open the second issue of Outside The Box. TASP has been busier than a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs since our first issue was published in early May.
As most of you know, we spend at least three weekends each month shooting photos of pets for donations; we also host the mother of all tag sales each Memorial Day weekend (and Labor Day weekend, too). When we weren’t busy with these fund raising activities, we were collecting and distributing donated goods, transporting animals, trimming nails, talking with vets, mentoring pet owners, building homes for animals, trapping cats for TNR, fostering critters whose people are in jail, in the hospital, and temporarily homeless, helping staff the biggest farm animal emergency shelter in The ASPCA’s history, and just generally trying to bridge the financial, logistical and cultural gaps that exist between humans, so animals don’t drop through those gaps.
In my last message in edition #1 of OTB, I told you about some national animal welfare organizations (The ASPCA and HSUS) who have dedicated significant resources toward more programs to help companion animals remain with their families. Just wanted to add one more: Best Friends now is promoting this same cause. I recently came across a video from the 2016 Best Friends conference that illustrates the outreach concept TASP operates under, better than I can say it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL7hRNs_gx888tyGO9k9UoHqSJJFyR7aIZ&v=UmYX39TLS6c
When you have about an hour, please grab a snack and a cup of something, and watch this presentation on youtube; it’s another instance of the Nationals recognizing what you and TASP have known right along: keeping companion animals in loving homes is an efficient, humane way to protect at-risk pets. Consider this: your pet doesn’t care if your drapes match your sofa. They don’t care how much money you make. They don’t care who you voted for. They don’t even care if you’re a lousy housekeeper. What they care about is the love, attention and basic services they can count on you for. They TRUST you and they have FAITH in you. They renew your faith and respect in yourself (especially helpful at times when you aren’t getting a whole lot of that from anywhere else). And the poor as well as the affluent experience the desire to bond with and care for their animal companions.
Now consider this: pets aren’t homeless until they leave the home. With such a shortage of resources and places to put animals who may be loved but circumstantially at risk, why not, if it’s possible, improve those circumstances and make the animal’s own home their placement? It can actually cost a whole lot less than removing the animal from the home (The mean average of TASP expenditure per pet is typically under $200) and it is less traumatic for the pet. The owner becomes part of the solution and the animal remains where they are loved and content; everyone wins. This leaves shelters and traditional rescues with the space and resources necessary to better address the animals that truly need them.
As the presenters in the Best Friends video learned, animals can create bonds between people who would not normally connect. These volunteers were very honest about their expectations, their experiences working with people from a neighborhood they would normally avoid, and their feelings about how this all changed their own outlook on their fellow human. It’s clear these volunteers got as much from their outreach work as the people they served; both sides of the equation benefited. New relationships sprouted and people began honestly communicating and caring about each other when, under other circumstances, they might have been judging each other (inaccurately, I might add). TASP volunteers experience this alot and this edition’s featured project is one example of how, when we partner with pet owners and the community to save animals, everyone involved comes out a winner and the circle of friendship grows.
The Judgement Free Zone concept is one The Animal Support Project lives by and continues to encourage every day. I might not seem to have a single thing in common with another person, but if we both love and respect animals, then we have a point of agreement to launch from. And with THAT in common, the rest just falls into place. Have YOU had an Animal-People experience like this that changed your life? How about facebooking, twittering or instagramming TASP to tell us about your experience?
Thanks again for caring enough to opt into our newsletter. If you know someone else whom you think might enjoy this read, please use the link at the end of the newsletter to share it with them. Because we hate spam as much as you do, nobody can get this newsletter without a share or an opt-in. We at TASP wish all of you and those you love a very joyous holiday season and a healthy, productive 2017.
