Charity Spotlight is a new monthly feature on twenty(or)something wherein a selected charity or non-profit organization is highlighted to bring awareness to its cause. The name of the charity and a quick-link to donation information is provided via the Hello Bar at the top of the website throughout the month, with a full-profile of the organization and/or testament to the cause being featured in its own post on the first of every month.

I may not be able to be the change I wish I could be, yet…but it’s my greatest hope that I can make a difference by building awareness with the currency I have readily available right now: Words. Knowledge. Passion.

How will you create change?

I know, I know. Two similar animal charities in two months means I’m cheating a bit. But the heat is on both literally and figuratively as summer kicks into gear and I ramp up personal and professional projects while getting ready for end-of-month events. So, I’m giving myself a little leeway here…And while all of the charities here are chosen for the spotlight because I advocate for and want to bring to light their causes, so many have a personal connection, the Humane League of Lancaster County notwithstanding.

I began volunteering at HLLC in winter of 2007. I had just lost the second of my three dogs and I think, subconsciously, I was trying to find something to prepare myself, protect myself, for the inevitable loss of the third, my beloved Sammy.

I can barely write those words without the pang of heartache tearing through me. I think I wanted to ease some of that pain, to give back the love and happiness that these dogs had spent their lifetime giving me. I wasn’t looking for a dog, knowing fully well that no animal could replace the loving dogs I’d grown up with and nothing could repair the void in my heart.

Nothing except for Riley.

They say that you save an animal when you adopt from a shelter.

I will always be convinced that
Riley saved me.

Walking down the halls, offering ear scratches, pepperoni treats, and silent prayers through the chain-linking on the kennel doors, I wondered whether or not I should walk another dog or if should just call it a day, wishing I could take all of them home with me, to offer them hugs and belly rubs and a couch to sleep on, my heart breaking at the knowledge that it was impossible.

And then, he caught my eye.

A tiny black, brown, and white Beagle/Basset with sad eyes and a wagging tail. I glanced at his intake sheet: 10 months old, his name was Rocky, and he’d been given up for adoption. I almost walked past, remembering the rule of walking the older dogs first. But something stopped me. Perhaps it was intuition that this was something. Perhaps it was a guiding hand, a voice in my heart that made me listen to the love that was waiting patiently here before me.

I couldn’t walk away. Instead, I hung a sign on the cage that read we were out for a walk.

A sign that inferred, this dog was taken.

We headed out into a small holding pen usually kept for the shelter goats and pigs; only, on this day, sticks and tennis balls were our only company as traces of snow littered the ground. The door secured behind me, I let him off his leash. He bounded; he romped; he howled that infamous beagle/basset bay. I couldn’t stop giggling, my eyes lighting up with joy as I watched him run towards me, then dart away.

“You’re all riled up!” I repeatedly exclaimed as I tossed a stick and watched him chase it with as much exuberance as his little body could muster.  “Look at you! You’re all riled up!”

In that instant, I knew his name would be Riley, and he was coming home with me.

Convincing my roommate and best friend to agree on the puppy when we already had two cats wasn’t as difficult as I expected it to be; I think she knew I wasn’t about to let him go. I couldn’t. Not when my heart was telling me to hold on. And when my parents questioned the responsibility of a new puppy, I remained adamant. I had found this dog…Or maybe he had found me, maybe we had found each other.

Either way, there was a bond here now, as if my heart recognized him in an instant as a special piece of it, a part of my life.

I had fallen in love with a four-legged, little brown-eyed boy.

The house. France. College. Riley. There are times when intuition guides you, when you just know something or someone is in your life for a reason. I was meant to love Riley, this much I’m sure. And though I may have “saved” him that day I signed the papers and took him home, this heartbeat at my feet is the one who has rescued me. I couldn’t know it then, but loving Riley has been my saving grace.

And while I haven’t really said these words out-loud, I’ll say them now:

When the darkness of depression threatened to overwhelm me all those months ago,  he was my light, my joy, my smile.

And when I cried and was scared and wanted to let go, he was what I held onto.

Because I had to.

Because I chose to.

Because I love him.

* * * * *

Love a dog and you’ll know love in one of the purest forms.

Be loved by a dog, and you’ll find your meaning.

* * * * *

ABOUT HLLC

The Humane League of Lancaster County is the leading non-profit, animal welfare organization in Lancaster County. Dedicated to the humane treatment of all animals, HLLC offers low-cost spay and neutering clinics, community outreach events, a foster care program, and more to give each animal a chance — a chance at life, a chance of adoption, a chance of finding their forever home.

An advocate for animals rights? Find out how you can help in the fight against animal cruelty.

Want to learn more? Find out how spaying/neutering your pet can ease pet overpopulation, giving more animals a chance.

Looking to speak up? Find out how to become a volunteer at the Humane League or with your own community shelter.

* * * * *

Disclaimer: I volunteer with and donate to the Humane League of Lancaster County; I am in no way affiliated with Pedigree.

Charity Spotlight is a new monthly feature on twenty(or)something wherein a selected charity or non-profit organization is highlighted to bring awareness to its cause. The name of the charity and a quick-link to donation information is provided via the Hello Bar at the top of the website throughout the month, with a full-profile of the organization and/or testament to the cause being featured in its own post on the first of every month.

I may not be able to be the change I wish I could be, yet…but it’s my greatest hope that I can make a difference by building awareness with the currency I have readily available right now: Words. Knowledge. Passion.

How will you create change?

Love a dog, I’ve written time and again, and you’ll experience love in one of the purest forms.

Love a dog, and you’ll be loved that much more in return.

Love a dog and you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll find peace, you’ll find joy.

Love a dog…Just love a dog.

* * * * *

He’s there with a wagging tail as I walk through the front door after a rough day at work; he’s kissing away tears as I sob through heartache, curling up next to me at night to remind me that he’s here — he’s here and he needs me just as much as I need him.

He happily digs at the dirt in the yard, chases after the cat trying to entice him to play, and throws a pull toy in the air to remind me it’s his time and not bedtime.

There are times I think I wouldn’t understand the pure joy and beauty of love if it weren’t for them.
And every day, I think my home wouldn’t be a home without him here, my heart wouldn’t be as full without him to fill it up.

I don’t know where I would be without Riley. I could say that I saved him when I adopted him from the Humane League of Lancaster County, when I took him outside to play on one of my volunteer days, immediately knowing that I loved this dog, that he would be coming home with me, that he would be a part of my life…

But, truth be told…

Riley has saved me.

They have a way of making you feel alive, as if you’re living for a purpose, and that purpose is simply to love them back. They are the best friend that you never forget, the family you can’t live without, the very essence of what love and forever means…

Just looking for a forever home. Just looking for their home.

Just waiting for you.

* * * * *

Founded in 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was the first humane organization in North America and has been a voice for injured, abused, and homeless animals for 145 years. The ASPCA is the leading provider of animal welfare and includes programs such as: animal behavior, poison-control, legislative research and services to protect animals under law, counseling services for bereaved pet-parents, anti-animal cruelty and humane education, and shelter outreach.

According to their website, the ASPCA “is the first humane organization to be granted legal authority to investigate and make arrests for crimes against animals. [This] organization provides local and national leadership in three key areas: caring for pet parents and pets, providing positive outcomes for at-risk animals and serving victims of animal cruelty.”

Just the Facts: Animal Shelters
(source: Humane Society of the United States)

• There are an estimated 6 – 8 million dogs and cats entering United States animal shelters each year, with half of those being euthanized due to lack of space and financial resources.

• Less than 2 percent of lost cats and 15-20 % of lost dogs are returned to their owners and homes, with micro-chips and tags being credited for their identification.

• Nearly 25% of the dogs who enter local shelters are purebred.

• Ten percent of the animals received at shelters are spayed or neutered, and it’s estimated that 75% of all owned pets are neutered.

• Every five in ten dogs and every seven in ten cats are euthanized because of over-crowding in shelters, as there is no one to adopt them.

Just the Facts: Animal Cruelty
(source: ASPCA.org)

• It’s estimated that 4 million dogs are bred in puppy mills across the United States each year, with Lancaster County having the highest concentration of puppy mills in the nation (Living in Lancaster? Join United Against Puppy Mills in the fight against puppy mills).

• There are approximately 900 – 2000 cases of animal hoarding each year with a quarter-million animals being affected and neglected, wherein the owners are unable to provide even minimal standards of nutrition, shelter, sanitation, and veterinary care for their pets. (Learn more about animal hoarding here.)

• Dating back to the 1750s, dog-fighting has recently reached the mainstream media with high-profile cases; however, while the number of people involved can’t be determined for its underground nature, it’s estimated that this number reaches into the ten of thousands, with that many more animals being killed for senseless “sport.” (Read more about the fight against dog fighting here.)

• Equine and farm animals, animals in the entertainment industry, and exotic pets are others who have faced cruelty at the hands of humans — find the facts here.

The first step is awareness and education, but that is never enough when it comes to protecting these animals who are naturally ingrained to protect, love, and trust us, just as we should consider ourselves blessed enough to have them to protect and love in return.

I’m highlighting the ASPCA this month — as I have and will continue to advocate for all animal welfare causes — because this is the one that stirs my soul, the one that sheds tears, the one that turns those tears into fuel for a fire that any innocence can be so mistreated…

…and that this mistreatment can possibly come from our hand.

How You Can Help

As a society, we tend to look the other way, turning the channel or closing newspaper and pleading willful ignorance, lamenting and sympathizing after the fact, wherein compassion follows the crime rather than working to prevent it.

Action can happen now.

Visit ASPCA.org or the Humane League of the United States (HSUS.org) to find further information on how to help shelter animals or fight animal cruelty on a national level. If you so choose, donations are accepted for these non-profit (501(c)3) organizations directly through their websites or, for the ASPCA, via the widget on this site’s sidebar.

Your local SPCA or humane league always welcomes volunteers to help with fundraising, legislation, community development and awareness, and direct animal care.

Start a donation drive for your local organizations at work or school: gifts-in-kind (anything from food and treats to toys to blankets, sheets, and old towels) can provide the animals with that little piece of comfort as they wait for their forever family.

And when you’re ready for that forever friend to come home to you, consider adopting from your local shelter.

Educate yourself. Help raise awareness in your community.

Take a stand. Be their voice.

“Shelter dogs aren’t broken — they’ve simply experienced more life. If they were human, we would call them wise. They would be the ones with tales to tell, stories to write, the ones dealt a bad hand and responded with courage. Do not pity a shelter dog.

Adopt one.”

- Pedigree Adoption Drive -

Disclaimer: I am not professionally affiliated with the ASPCA, HSUS, HLLC, or Pedigree.

We can bridge the distance
Only we can make the difference
Don’t ya know that tears are not enough
- Bryan Adams, “Tears Are Not Enough”

Let me break it down for a minute
If there’s enough room here for you and me
There’s plenty of room for some humanity…

Everybody thinks we’re wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Together we can all be strong
- All-Star Tribute, “What’s Going On” -

This past Friday, I had a Twitter exchange with a fellow blogging friend regarding this website’s new feature of highlighting a charity and the cause for which it stands. Its intent is to build awareness and is less about promoting the charity itself but more to facilitate an understanding and a knowledge where perhaps both were lacking. It’s my personal belief that awareness is the first step towards activism, the first step towards creating a change, because without those facts and personal experiences, without that knowledge, you have willful ignorance. And how can things change for the better if people don’t know enough to make that change, if they remain in their comfort zone of the same?

My intent was to build awareness via the only gift I have — through words, through the story, through connecting the cause to life.

Now I wonder how it could ever be enough.

I respect and admire the ever-love out of Akhila, a woman who’s heart is as caring as they come, with a profound desire to see positive change manifest in this world. She is incredibly smart and sympathetic, and her purpose spills forth in everything she does, particularly on her blog about social justice: Justice For All.

So, as someone I admire when it comes to philanthropy, when she mentioned the website Good Intentions (dot) org and respectfully inferred that even the best intentions have their fallback, I was a little more than crestfallen…

To realize that good intentions are never enough.

To realize that enough is never enough.

To realize that any ripple I create will never be the wave of change I wish to see.

The exchange has haunted me since, making me wonder if I shouldn’t be doing more, wondering how I could do more…

…wondering if the small steps matter at all.

There’s so much in this world that touches my heart, so much that conversely disgusts me. There’s so much in this world that I wish I could change, so much that I know I can’t do on my own: I wish the wars would end in the Middle East; I wish the bloodshed would end at home. I wish all animals had a place to call home; I wish the homeless had a home to turn to. I wish children kept their innocence, I wish women had a voice; I wish education was a right and not a privilege; I wish equality meant more than its definition.

I wish…I wish.

The list could go on and on and on and I don’t know where it would stop.

I wish for these things. As a humanitarian at the core, no, wait, as a human being, I believe in these things. I long to see peace; I long to see an end to suffering. The cruelty in this world, cruelty at the hands of another human being, one of our own — our brother, our sister, our mother, our father, our children — is so overwhelming. Day after day we read of the horrors  — so much tragedy and trauma inflicted by our own hands that it feels like we can suffocate from it all, drown in it all.

Day in and day out we’re so bombarded with the negative that we forget about the good…

The good that rests in these charities, in people like Akhila who have their causes and ceaselessly fight for them.

And maybe it even rests in people with good intentions. People who know they can’t change the whole world, but who begin by changing their own corner of it. People who understand that there are problems in every nation, but also tragedies that hit closer to home, becoming personal.

People like Sam, who walks for Alzheimer’s Awareness in memory of her grandmother, so that she can honor a loved one whose own memory was stolen by a disease for which there is not yet a cure…or understanding. A disease that robs loved ones of their own loved ones, of everything that makes up their life, so that they become a shell of who they once were, unaware of what is happening while those who hold their hand, those they can’t remember, are all too aware.

People like Ken, who has devoted his social media and marketing business to working primarily with non-profits and small businesses, whose outreach in the local community has helped those all over the world through the promotion and organization of fundraising events and awareness via the “Others First” series on his own blog.

Or people like Brenda, who organizes the annual Keepin’ It Kevin: Team Sarcoma fundraiser in honor of her late husband, who talks about grief and widowhood and is a constant inspiration to others to not let their own grief and loss overcome them. When grief and loss is so personal, when loss is a tragedy in its own right…

There are thousands of causes that touch our hearts for one reason or another; thousands of changes we wish to see in the world and thousands of wishes we could make to see them come true.

Thousands of curses to scream when anger and disgust at these realities make our blood boil; thousands of tears to shed when we cry for an end to the cruelty and  pain, cry for those who could never shed a tear themselves…

When we cry for peace — for world peace, for individual peace.

How do we choose just one cause? How do we discount all others? How do we survive, for ourselves, when we’re fighting for so many?

Are any of these causes less worthwhile? Is one greater than another; are we somehow less of a human being for choosing one cause to fight for — one cause that becomes so personal that it moves us to activism in its wake — over the other? Do we fight against the problems of the world and ignore those that reside in our own homes, sometimes in our very selves?

I don’t believe our heart aches any less for a homeless dog or a homeless person; I can’t believe that our heart bleeds any more over news of genocide in Africa or the murders in a hometown. I just can’t justify the belief that it’s an either/or equation.

It just is.

It all has to change, and why can’t we be the change for it.

For all of it.

One person can’t fix the world. Not on their own, no matter who they are, not without breaking or drowning themselves in the process.

Maybe that’s why we all have our own causes, the ones that touch our hearts, the ones we shed our tears over, the ones that become so personal that we can’t believe others don’t feel the same way, the ones that make us want to build that awareness so that others can understand not only why it touches you so, but to encourage their participation, their own efforts for change.

Maybe that’s why I’ve started this feature. I learned a long time ago that I can’t be the activist — the person — I wish I could be…not yet. And I can’t tell you how much that follows me every day.

And I  may not be able to contribute to every cause I wish to in the way I long to…

But that doesn’t mean you’re not doing your part…the parts that add up to a whole.

Maybe it all counts, maybe it all matters.

Maybe it’s that first ripple that creates the wave.

Maybe it’s the many small steps that add up to the biggest footprint.

Maybe having good intentions really isn’t good enough…

…maybe enough is never enough.

But maybe it’s a start.

And maybe that start is the start of something.

Charity Spotlight is a new monthly feature on twenty(or)something wherein a selected charity or non-profit organization will be highlighted to bring awareness to its cause. The name of the charity and a quick-link to donation information will be provided via the Hello Bar at the top of the website throughout the month, with a full-profile of the organization and/or testament to the cause being featured in its own post on the first of every month.

I may not be able to be the change I wish I could be, yet…but it’s my greatest hope that I can make a difference by building awareness with the currency I have readily available right now: Words. Knowledge. Passion.

How will you create change?

On March 11, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake shook the northeast coast of Japan, triggering a devastating tsunami that travelled as far as 6 miles inland. Lives have been lost or otherwise irrevocably changed, land has been destroyed, and animals have been injured…and subsequently rescued.

As thousands try to piece their lives back together in the wake of this natural disaster, the crisis continues with a nuclear radiation leak, which experts are comparing to Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island. Three Mile Island alone cost $975 million in recovery funds and took 14 years, according to Forbes; Japan’s estimates reach $300 billion.

What does this all mean?

Japan needs help. While it’s difficult to imagine the level of destruction and devastation that has occurred, while it’s easy to sympathize and then return to our daily lives, the fact remains that thousands are missing loved ones and are without their homes and in need of even the basic necessities of food, clothing, and viable drinking water.

The Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, a 501(c)3 organization, has initiated the Japan Disaster Relief Fund in conjunction with the Japanese Red Cross Society to facilitate donations for those wishing to aid in the relief effort. (Updated: Please note that the JASGP are unable to accept goods at this time).

For more information and to donate, please visit the JASGP relief-fund website or visit the Japanese Red Cross Society directly.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with the JASGP, the Philadelphia-Japan Disaster Relief Fund,  or the Japanese Red Cross.

Note: It has come to my attention that some are concerned about the intentions and/or credibility of this feature, and I completely understand the double-edged sword that comes with positive intentions, especially considering topics of such a sensitive nature. My purpose for this feature is less to spotlight the charity itself, but more to highlight the causes they stand behind; my intent is to attempt to bring that information to the forefront, as it’s my personal belief that awareness is that stepping stone to activism. If you would like to discuss this feature further, I welcome your respectful opinions at twentyorsomething[at]gmail.com.

It was also brought to my attention that there is a great resource out there related to this very issue of good intentions versus responsibility. I don’t expect nor require anyone to make donations to any of the charities I feature; the reason they will be featured are, again, for the causes they stand behind, and the purpose is to build awareness with information and personal testaments as applicable.  As such, I do invite everyone to check out Good Intentions (dot) org, an excellent resource in making sure you are fully informed when making your decisions to donate. (Thanks, Akhila!)

They say that a hero can save us,
I’m not gonna stand here and wait…
Chad Kroeger, feat. Josey Scott, “Hero”

I spent the majority of last weekend engrossed in a world that author Suzanne Collins imagined and turned into a three-book series. The Hunger Games trilogy, a recommendation from fellow blogger Monica, is a dystopian young adult series of novels from which I couldn’t break away, that had me forgetting the outside world, so gripped by this imaginative one that left me wondering and questioning our own reality.

Briefly: The story is set in the post-apocalyptic country of Panem, formerly North America, wherein control of the twelve districts in which the country is divided is placed in the hands of the Capitol. To remind the country of the Capitol’s authority and to stave off future thoughts of rebellion, every year one girl and one boy from each of the districts are selected via lottery to participate in the Hunger Games –  a brutal fight to the death that’s televised live, revered in the Capitol as entertainment and  loathed in most of the outlying districts for its immorality.

I won’t go further into the plot or the themes and meaning of the books. You can find that here and here and here. But books about dystopias and a post-apocalyptic world have always fascinated me for the questions they raise, and The Hunger Games is certainly no exception.

Readers and writers of fiction are always wondering the generic “what if” in regards to life and humanity, looking for meaning and answers to sometimes unanswerable questions, imagining the impossible as becoming possible (ironically, what seemed impossible in the science fiction genre is now far more than possible, it’s a reality). However, in asking “what if,” they must also look at “what is” — what is happening now that could alter the world? How do we sustain this way of living and, if we can’t, how does that change our future?

What does it take for a society to falter, for a utopia to become a dystopia? Is it outside influences (as in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude — arguably one of my favorite books for such similar questions it provokes)? Or is it our own neglect and indifference that creates such powerful destruction?

But most importantly, and perhaps more terrifyingly, the question I kept asking myself throughout these books — and why this genre fascinates me so much — is how vulnerable are we?

Collins describes in an interview that the idea for the trilogy came to mind while she was flipping through television channels in which one displayed images of war and another a reality TV show, the two images merging together into her very own “what if” scenario. If it can be imagined, can it then become possible? In today’s world where violence escalates and such horrors don’t seem so unlikely, where children are handed weapons and taught hatred and harm at the onset, where voices are suppressed, is her imagined world really so far-fetched? Could those older works such as 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 really be such wild ideas after all?

Just what, exactly, are we capable of?

There are heroes and heroines in every story, those protagonists who stand up and fight for freedom and truth and justice. I can only imagine that’s what has prevented our world from shifting to these extremes, why those books remain, still, works of fiction: we have those people. Those who use their voice to make a difference, who look back on past mistakes, learn from them, and move forward with the sole intent of creating a better future.

Those who refuse to let humanity become inhumane.

Heroes and heroines right here, right now, shaping our own story so that we may always wonder “what if” instead of fearing “what is.”

For now, fiction will always be fiction, but there always rests a bit of truth in every story spun. Writers strive to understand the workings of the world and our place in it, transforming what they see and experience — what they know — by asking how and why…or why not. The page is a place for them to work out problems, to dissect the motivations behind actions, to understand human nature — who we are and why we are.

And who we could be.

Perhaps in that moment between channels, Collins saw some of humanity’s darkest moments, saw what we could be capable of if we let power corrupt us, if we stood divided. Perhaps, too, she understood how that could change if we maintained that common goal of freedom and truth and justice, if we continued to stand together.

If we were our own heroes in our everyday lives.

If we kept thinking, kept questioning, kept wondering…

What if?