Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Good Morning Good News !!!! December 24, 2013



I've been a very very good kitty, Santa. 
              Really I have.  
                     I've been working really hard 

to raise enough green things to turn into 
special nums for all my friends at 
Rikki's Refuge on Christmas day ..... 

My bag is half full now. 
        And I"ve been very good. 
                 I did just like mom said and 

I first collected for others .... before me and my kind. 

I now have enough to give a special Christmas Meal
               to the guinea pigs, the rabbits, the pigeons, 
               the swans, the geese, the chickens, 
               the sheep and the baby lambs and 
               the goats and the cows and the horses 
               and even the iguana ....

enough for everybody but the dogs and us cats and ME ..... 

Do YOU think YOU can SHARE and
               HELP me raise nuf for the dogs? 

Then I can start on the cats !!!!  

Thank you so much,
     Love, Opie   
         www.RikkisRefuge.org/donate


Timmy and me love listening to the stories about all of YOU who made Rikki’s Refuge possible !!!    Thank you so much for creating this wonderful home for us to come to !!!  If you hadn’t done that .... I think bad things would a happened to both of us ....


I’m sharing my scratches about Rikki’s Refuge .... 15 Years in the Making with you as much as I can paw in at one sitting .....  if you missed Part I or II or III or IV ....  you can catch up here http://rikkisrefuge.blogspot.com/2013/12/rikkis-refuge-15-years-in-making.html and read from the beginning.

We ended yesterday hearing mom talk about, “...How thru Rikki’s Refuge, we save animals all over the planet.“

Rikki’s Refuge ....  15 Years in the Making    ....    Part V

Rikki’s family is HUGE and it takes ALL of us to make it happen.  Some of us in the pastures, the runs, the pens, the houses right there with the animals all day long. 

Somebody always sleeps on the porch ... 
and poops on the porch ... 
and every speck of poop must be cleaned up each and every day

Some of us working hands on for the animals, building and repairing their homes, mowing their grass, hauling out their trash. 

Someone is always leaving something in the 
litterbox and calling for the clean up crew!

Some of us working to deliver their food, driving near and far, bringing in food, produce, pumpkins.  

The residents look on, wondering where all that poop goes everyday ....

Some of us working off site, at events, doing yard sales, bake sales, spreading the word. 

Hospital patients and those with special 
needs get extra TLC everyday

Some of us working hard jobs with long hours, reaching into their paychecks to help, some reaching in to share retirement funds, or your limited pensions or drawing from your saving accounts; all to write the checks that make it possible for the animals to have medical care, utilities, and all the necessities that aren’t donated. 

There’s lots of pill poppin going on around here !

Comfy Cozy Cats

Each and every one of you is an important part of what makes Rikki’s Refuge work.  You merge your dream with our dream and we all dream as one, with one goal, one thought  ....  to save another life. 

It’s a fast pace ... from one animal area to the next, 
making sure everything is clean and everyone cared for.

Much today reminds me of the hard work and the continuous effort in 1998 to tune out the discouraged souls, the ones who said, you’ll never make it work, you’ll never get anywhere, you’ll never be able to save lives here, you’ll never get rid of all the poison ivy.  To tune them out and to get on with building the dream.  Nobody said it was easy.  They just said you have to stick with it !

Sanitized for your protection, every day, every pool, 
drinking bowl, trough, plate, litterpan ...

Today I hear, you can’t make it in this economy, look at all the other animal places closing, you’re going to be next, you can’t keep up the necessary donations, people have less money so they’ll give you less, people are scared so they’ll give you less, people have their minds on other things so they won’t give to you, people are leaving volunteer work for paid jobs, nobody is going to help you, new rules and regulations are costing more and it’s going to sink you, and on and on and on.  

We wash enough dishes in a DAY to fill this tub three times ...

And yes, if we listened, and if we focused our dreams on that .....  we’d be the next to lose out, the next to “go under”, the next to be faced with euthanizing all our animals and closing our gates.

Many heavy sacks must be lugged 
to the guys with BIG appetites




Yet we won’t listen to that and we won’t stop saving lives.  No matter how hard it is, how many hours we work every day, with YOUR help we will make it and we will continue to save lives.  It might be slower, we might not be able to take in many new residents, but we won’t give up on the ones we have cuz the going has gotten tougher. 

Scrubbing, mopping, sweeping, vacuuming ....

We’ll tune out the negative and we’ll plunge forward reaching out to YOU positive people who want to keep the dream alive, who want to see Rikki’s Refuge not only continue, but to thrive and to go on. 

No matter how cold, even in the freezing rain, 
everything is cleaned and scrubbed

It’s been quite a difficult summer and fall.  Scraping the bottom of that proverbial barrel.  Finding one more meal down there. 

Every surface must be sanitized, everyday

These times have been hard.  Not just Rikki's, but many organizations that derive their funding from contributions have had to make do with decreased income.  Rikki's is very fortunate to have a dedicated core of donors and volunteers, many of whom consistently help out with weekly or monthly donations or volunteer work. 

Taking care of the animals means, clean, clean, clean

So Rikki's has kept going. 

The laundry goes in  ...













as fast as it goes out to give somebody a clean bed.
 












But it's getting tougher and tougher. 

One bag at a time ....



every day ....  this much trash is hauled out ... EVERYDAY ..


NOW is the time ... if you’ve been sitting on the fence ... if you’ve been thinking “Rikki’s is really great ... I’m gonna have to help them someday” ... if you’ve been thinking “Thank God for others out there who help” ... now is the time ... for YOU to be one of our heroes ... for you to finally make that donation that you’ve been meaning to, but just never got around to ... to spend some fun and quality time helping out ... make new friends ... feel like you’re making a difference. 


It doesn’t have to be a lot of money ... a dollar or a hundred or a thousand or a hundred thousand ... it all helps the animals. 






And it doesn’t have to be a lot of time ... making your facebook friends aware of us can have as much impact as a major construction project. 




The important thing is to do it NOW ... while you’re thinking of it ... don’t let this one slip away ... our animals need your help!  













Ask your Friends to become Friends of Rikki’s for Christmas !!!


Ask everyone you know to line up now and help save the animals !!!



THANK YOU FOR HELPING ME TO SAVE SO MANY LIVES
... with your support we’re able to help so many into their new furrever happy homes ....  and to give that life long home to those not quite so fortunate ...  Thank you for your support
Without YOU none of us would be looking forward to Christmas this year  !!

Love you bunches,
    Timmy and Opie