Getting Ready for Remember Me Thursday

This is what we got from Remember the Rescue to help us help them
spread the word about Remember Me Thursday, on September 28, 2017.

When we were at the BlogPaws Conference in Myrtle Beach a few months ago (has it really been that long?), we met a really nice lady from the Helen Woodward Animal Center. She told us all about Remember the Rescue and Remember Me Thursday, which happens on September 28,  2017.  This year will be the fifth year for this event, which focuses on highlighting pet adoption and remembering all those terrific pets who are stuck in shelters. Unfortunately, many of those pets will die before they find a home.

Years ago, when old SoLT was in high school, she volunteered one summer at the local animal shelter. This was back before “no-kill” shelters were a thing. Every week at this shelter, animals—most of them beautiful, adoptable animals—were picked out to be euthanized because space needed to be made for incoming animals. Sometimes the rationale for euthanizing a cat was, “Well, you’ve been here a week and haven’t caught anyone’s eye. It’s time to give someone else a chance,” or “There’s another cat in intake that looks just like you. Let’s give him a chance.”

Heartbreaking does not begin to describe it.

We want to emphasize that this was not some horrible, dark place where animals weren’t well cared for. This was a shelter where the staff and volunteers really cared about the animals who ended up there. But the reality was, there was limited space and there was no rescue organization (at least so far as old SoLT knew) that would swoop in and take pets who were in danger of being euthanized simply because the shelter needed to make room.

That’s why we’re so proud to be participating in Remember Me Thursday this year. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that on most Tuesdays, we feature a mature adult or senior cat who needs a forever home. We do that in honor of the older cats we’ve known who have been so special to us. We do that because we know there are many older cats who lose their home and aren’t lucky enough to land in a no-kill shelter. Perhaps they were someone’s beloved pet for years and years, but when their person died or became unable to care for them, to the shelter they went. Too many of them will never know what it is to be loved again because, even though they may have years of life left in them, they will never make it out of that shelter. This is intolerable. No pet deserves to die because they have lost their home, or have never had one.

We want you to be ready to take a moment, or longer, to remember all those pets in shelters on Remember Me Thursday, so we’re announcing it today, to give you time to get ready. You can find out a lot more at remembermethursday.org. Plan to light a candle in honor of a rescue pet who has touched your life, and in honor of the shelter pets who are just waiting for a chance to touch someone’s life. Then commit to helping those pets in any way you can: financially, with your time—or by adopting one!

Save the date!

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Wherever you are, light a candle for a rescue pet & all those who are waiting!

*We received the box of items pictured above in exchange for agreeing to spread the word about Remember Me Thursday. We are solely responsible for the content of this post, and we only share information that we feel will be of interest to our readers.