Oh Hi !! You caught me just
having a snack !!
Welcome to November on Planet Earth !!! Isn’t the earth really pretty this time of year? It gets all orangy, just like me !!! The trees look like me ! The sun looks like me ! And mostest of all ... the pumpkins look
like me !!!
I was so scared the cows might think I was a pumpkin and gobble me
up. I’m orange and kind a round and
sort look like a pumpkin. But if they
saw my tail and ears maybe they’d know I was a kitty and not a pumpkin. I must be pretty awful to get eaten ...
don’t you think?
Uhh scary thinking bout it ...
all chewed up and mushed up in somebody’s tummy and then pooped out in a
litterbox ... ickk .... I’m glad you
hauled in those pumpkins so the cows didn’t eat me. Please don’t eat me !!!
Ever ... and please, this
holiday season ... don’t eat my friends ...
And so .... all these trucks and
... all these vans .... and all these suvs .... and even all kinds of little
cars ... kept rolling in, more and more and more.... and they all had pumpkins
for the critters !!!!!
It makes all the animals so happy to get pumpkins. Well everybody but me and Duke and our
kind. We’re not so much on the
pumpkins. But look .....
Rikki’s now
has Official Poster Cat for Pumpkins !!!!
Lots and lots of our critters are very happy today numming away on
pumpkins !!!
And that’s all cus of YOU !!!!!
Thank
you my HEROES !!!!!!
Now I want to tell you a cool story
about pumpkins and a guy named Rob.
If you were with Rikki’s before 2007 I’m sure you remember Rob. He went to be with our friends at Rainbow
Bridge just a months after the 2006 pumpkin run. He was a big pumpkin hauler of the best kind. Rob had a great big truck and a great big
trailer and he and Joe would do run after run, bringing in pumpkins to the
animals.
Well this year friends of his family helped haul pumpkins in his honor
.... and while they were doing that his
sister Carole was putting up No Hunting /Trespassing signs around the family’s
property. Since she’d had a couple
encounters with hunters she went to put on Rob’s bright reflective slicker so
she’d be safe. She reached into the
pocket and found a folded up packet of papers.
It was the minutes for a Rikki’s Refuge Board of Directors meeting -
including a report on Pumpkin Picking Oct. 31, 2006 with Rob having his trailer
to get pumpkins from Richmond. The
report was about Rob and Joe working on the nature trails in the woods and
color coding them with stencils to paint.
Rob’s mom wrote last night, “How crazy is that? Here my friends are...at Rikki's doing
pumpkins...and Carole is in the woods in his jacket marking property. It was one of those 'moments'!”
And as sure as I know I’m orange, I know it was Rob letting us know that
our friends at the Bridge are watching out for us !!!
Waves to Rob ..... we love you
dude !!!
Donation
Dynamo Award !!!
Has to go to Bill Isen this week.
Did you know that every Saturday from noon till 2 pm Rikki’s Life Center
is open for Donation Drop off. The
gates are open and you can just walk - or ride - on in and drop off any needed
supplies for the refuge or for Re-Tail the store.
We especially need bleach, laundry detergent and paper towels right
now.
Keeping every last nook and cranny at Rikki’s sanitized for the
critter’s protection is a huge job. It
takes a lot of supplies and a lot of labor.
A whole lot !!! You should see
the mess 1300 animals creatively make every day !!
We’ve been working hard to get Rikki’s finances back in the black before
winter. Expenses go up in winter, more
feed, straw, hay, propane .... it all adds
up. If we don’t start with a clean
slate, we’ll never get thru the winter.
If you’d like to help .. you can stop in at Donation Drop off and drop a
donation off in the nice big donation box ...
checks, cash, and even instructions for making a donation from your
credit card will fit in that box !!
And you can bring bleach and cleaning things and food ... yes FOOD ... I
love it when you bring FOOD ....!!!!
And so my Uncle Bill dropped in and guess what !!!! He made a really nice, really big donation
to help us keep Rikki’s Sanitized !!!!
Isn’t that nice !!! I think he
wins the Donation Dynamo Award for this week for his great big huge help !!
Thank you Bill !!!!
WHO sill be the Donation Dynamo next Saturday ..... will it be YOUR picture here ???
Did you know you could be a docent?
Do you know what a docent does?
A docent is there during Donation Drop off to greet folks, to let them
meet me and which ever kitties are at the Life Center that day -- this week it
was me and Timmy and Hairy Toes and Yetti and Rose and Calvin .... and Raleigh
.. but you’re not allowed to meet her unless you sign the extra long heavy duty
liability waiver about kitties who are sometimes a bit psycho ....
This is me and
Timmy talkin to Lolly who’s our docent lots of times !!!
and Calvin too
Just ask me how you can join us on Saturday and be a Docent !!!
Maybe YOU can drop off some much needed supplies ... or money to pay the bills NEXT Saturday and
YOU can be the Donation Dynamo of the week !!!!
Or if you can’t, you can help me right here ... just click ... www.RikkisRefuge.org/Donate
Though pumpkin hauling isn’t officially Donation Drop Off .... it is really good donations ... So I just have to include Fred Friedman and
Nora Eldridge who did the coordinating this year. And that’s not an easy job.
Fred did the Northern Virginia area and Nora our Southern Tier around
Spotsylvania. It’s lots and lots of
phone calls and emails rounding up the places that will give us pumpkins and
then more begging and scheduling and begging and phone calling and begging and
emailing and begging to get people to show up at scheduled times with vehicles
and to load and to drive to Rikki’s !!!
When you see the trucks full of pumpkins rolling thru the gate -- you
think it’s an easy simple thing ... but
when you know what goes on behind the scenes ... it’s a whole lot of work.
A special THANK YOU to Cindy Wright who flew all the way from Colorado
and rented a truck for the weekend to haul pumpkins !!! Way to go ... now if that don’t show
dedication !!!!
I don’t think a Rikki’s soul thinks of hualing pumpkins without thinking
of our Pumpkin Princess Candy. Candy
always brought out the first load of the year !!! And many many loads there after.
For several years she coordinated the pumpkin runs as well and helped to
load and to haul. She’d borrow her
friends big blue pick up truck, named Blue Dog, fill it full, and drive it down
... then head back for more.
Candy left us to go to Rainbow Bridge in October of 2011. I know she’s up there giving a push to folks
to load up just one more truck full !!!
We miss you Candy ... we’ll always love you !!!
I
haven’t heard a report in on our run yet .....
I wanted to go scoot along with GGP at Rikki’s 5K Run/Walk/Scoot
yesterday ..... I so sorry we missed getting there ...
Thank you Dennis and Crystal Bane for working hard for many months to
put Rikki’s 5K Run/Wal together !! I
can’t wait to hear about it and see the photos !!
Pumpkins are showing up EVERY WHERE
even at Re-Tail
our thrift shop.
If you haven’t checked out this fabulous shop yet -- then get on down to
Fredericksburg. Re-Tail is located at
3503 Lafayette Blvd, on the Spotsylvania side.
It’s a HUGE building and there is SO much really cool stuff. It’s a thrift shop, but you won’t believe
the quality of so many donations. Even
some stores give us things !!! So check
it out !!!
The Christmas section is OPEN.
AND we are now selling GIFT CARDS to Re-Tail ... what a fabulous stocking stuffer for all
your friends !!
Don’t miss Claudia and her friends in our adoption room at Re-Tail too
!!!!
Claudia’s colors will match anyone’s holiday decor !!
You can drop off donations at the shop or at the Life Center during
Donation Drop Off ..... it’s TIME to
clean out and make room for your Christmas Gifts NOW .... been planning on re-gifting that
what-ch-ma-call it ?? Now’s the time to
do it! Watch our store manager Melissa
magically turn your donations of gently used items into needed nums and
supplies for the animals ...
POOF
... just like that !!!!
Would
you take a moment to vote in the shelter challenge ?
It’s free, it’s easy, and we need your vote every day. The prize is $1,000 to the winning
shelter. Prize money has become an
important part of Rikki’s funding ... and we need YOU to make that happen !!!
So please take a
second to VOTE for
Click on Opie’s
nose and enter
Rikki’s Refuge,
VA, USA
or click right
here on this link: http://www.shelterchallenge.com/web/charityusa/nomineehome?userId=53331&nomineeId=17448
THANK YOU
FOR HELPING ME TO
SAVE SO
MANY LIVES
... with your support we’ve
been able to save so many animals ... it’s only with your continued support
that we can continue to care for them each and every day .... Thank you for your kind and generous support
for food, medicine, doctors, cleaning supplies ... and love !!
Without
YOU
none
of us would be here
watchin
the pumpkins come in !!
THANK YOU !!!!!!
Your donations saved every
one of us and will keep us all alive as we stock our pantries for another
winter at Rikki’s Refuge !!!! Take the Opie Pledge and promise to work
each and every day to make the planet just a little bit better. If the pictures of the animals you have
saved in this issue have made you smile, please take a few moments to make a
donation so we can keep them smiling!!!
www.RikkisRefuge.org/FeedMe
Love,
Opie
Join us on
Facebook: www.facebook.com/RikkisRefuge\
Rikki’s Web Site: www.rikkisrefuge.org
Help the Animals: www.rikkisrefuge.org/FeedMe
Re-Tail: www.facebook.com/ReTail.org
our thrift store
Web Site:
www.rikkisrefuge.org/?page_id=6330
Location:
3503 Lafayette Blvd, Fredericksburg VA 22408
Phone:
540-891-5300
Hours:
10 am - 6 pm Monday - Saturday
noon - 5 pm - Sunday
1 comment:
Rikkis is magic - but then magic is make believe and Rikkis is real. It is real love mixed with real work that makes real miracles happen every day. You see discarded animals stop looking down and begin to look upward and allow the touch of a human hand. You read that one person cannot make a difference. One person's dream that leads others to action can change the world. Kerry's dream and that active, creative mind and boundless energy inspires us all to do more and not look away. Thank you Kerry and our beloved Vincent.
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