26
– one year past a quarter of a century. It’s not my golden birthday. It’s not
my 21st birthday. It’s just a birthday where I am one year older than
before. Some may say it’s ‘just my 26th birthday’ but this year it
wasn’t just my 26th birthday – it was a day that nearly saved my
organization.
March
hit Grey Face Rescue hard, and by hard I mean we nearly tripled our average
monthly vetting expense. March alone off-set our vetting to nearly $4,000.00 which
included 3 emergency surgeries. This hardship left me extremely stressed and so
incredibly heartbroken as I felt as though my organization was crumbling before
my eyes. I felt as though I was letting my team down and it broke my heart to
think I let our dogs down. There’s nothing worse than feeling defeated and
feeling as though you let something so defenseless down. These senior dogs
count on Grey Face Rescue to give them a new life and there’s nothing in this
world that I strive for more than giving them a second chance at happiness and
the feeling of love and acceptance before their final days.
In
late March, I spent endless hours trying to figure out how in the world I was
going to raise enough money to help outweigh these vetting costs when in the
midst of the madness I remembered my birthday was approaching. I reached out to
my rescue friend, Emily Randolph with Furr-Ever Home Rescue who recently
launched a fundraiser in honor of her birthday to assist with the outstanding
vetting expenses they had for a few senior cats they had recently taken in. I
messaged Emily asking if I could steal her idea and like the big-hearted, kind
person she is – she said of course. I then launched ‘Bethie’s Birthday Wish’ in
hopes of raising money for our seniors. I was looking for 100 people to donate
$26 for my 26th birthday. At first, I figured ANY amount would be
wonderful and I had convinced myself that there weren’t very many people out
there that give a damn about my birthday but let’s give it a try!
Boy
– was I wrong! After 2 weeks of promoting my birthday wish, we have 50+ people
donate $26 (10+ donating MORE). We were able to raise $1,927.00 on behalf of my
birthday wish for our seniors. Day after day, it was absolutely amazing to see
the donations come in and the notes that were included,
“Happy
Happy Birthday, girl!! LOVE what you guys are doing with Grey Face Rescue and
am SO inspired by your selflessness! You guys are doing so many AMAZING things
and I am so blessed to be a small part of it. Thank you for ALL that you do!!”
“Happy Happy Happy Birthday!!! I
love what your organization does for the senior dogs!! My dream is to one day
walk in an adopt the oldest dog available - Thank you for what you do!”
“You, your
family and the GF organization are all doing GREAT things! The love you have
for these animals shows in your work. I will be sharing your post! Happy
Birthday!”
It was
truly an amazing day because of all those who believe in our organization,
believe in our mission and believe that our seniors deserve a second chance.
These seniors’ dogs can steal our hearts, nearly give us heart attacks, make us
shake our heads and bring tears to our eyes but never for a second have I told
myself it wasn’t worth it.
No one
told me that opening a rescue would be easy – actually, my friend Azure who is
the Executive Director of Ruff Start Rescue actually told me it’s really hard
and a lot of work. She told me that having a social life was nearly impossible,
there will be stress and hard times, and that she had to sacrifice a lot. Of
course, I didn’t think she was lying but I did perhaps think she was being a
bit drastic. Well, I was wrong. She was being completely honest and upfront.
Since the
rescue has opened, I have sacrificed my relationships with friends. It was put
a toll on my relationship with my family and mostly it’s put a toll on my body,
mentally and physically. My Friday and Saturday nights consists of sitting on
the couch with my computer on my lap (and maybe a glass of wine besides me)
coming up with new processes and procedures to better our organization,
reaching out to businesses for donations and sponsorship opportunities,
catching up on the 20+ emails, 10+ Facebook messages and 50+ Facebook notifications
that I receive daily. There is ALWAYS work to be done with the rescue.
One thing
is for sure though, I absolutely LOVE this rescue. There is nothing in this
world that I would rather be doing then dedicating my life to helping these
senior dogs live their remaining years in forever loving homes. I’ve learned so
much since this rescue has opened. I’ve learned a lot about myself, my
relationships with friends and family. I’ve learned a LOT about dogs,
especially seniors. Most importantly, I learned that there are a lot of people
just like me out there who have the same passion for these senior dogs as I do.
I am so
grateful for the extraordinary team that is behind me every step of the way. To
think there are individuals out there that love dogs as much as me, want to
dedicate endless amount of hours to these dogs and share my passion for the
seniors in need of a second chance. My family has recently endured some
hardships and without a question, these amazing people have been there for me.
I cannot thank them enough for their hard work, determination and endless
amount of effort to make this organization the best ever but I can’t thank
those individuals who have helped me overcome the last couple days.
Last but
not least, I can’t thank the community, my friends, my family and those I have never
encountered in my life for your generous donation that has helped save the dogs
we have dedicated our life to. Your donation has help overcome and outweigh the
enormous vetting expense that has left me frantic. Because of you, I can
finally sleep without worry and can be relieved from the feeling of defeat as
Grey Face Rescue can move forward and continue to save seniors but giving them
a second chance at life and a place to call home. Thank you.
