In Search of Sanity

I have always loved going to the library.  What's not to love?  Good things to read?  New authors to 'meet'?  Different interests and ideas to explore?  Lovely Zen atmosphere?
Its just frosting on the cake that these delights are all free!   To be perfectly honest, that's also the thing I like best about the Net ... the ability to rummage around ... both to find what I'm looking for and to explore completely new things.  ( before the keyboards catch on fire, yes I do pay Eastlink a fee for the privilege .. but once again, if a person needed free access they could just go to their library :)
One of my favourite online places to explore is the Best Friends Resource library.  Its a treasure trove that runs the gamut from No Kill to pet care resources and every possible thing in between.
Now they have come up with something new called "action kits".  What an incredible idea!   Hands down, "Creating an Adoption Program to help Independent Rescuers .... An Action Kit for Organizations who want to help individuals find loving forever homes for pets they have rescued", has got to be one of the most brilliant ideas I have ever seen.
Why?  Take a look at the status quo in this province, which I suspect is pretty much the same everywhere.
A kind heart takes in a stray but cannot keep this pet.   If they live in a popular dumping area they likely already HAVE a houseful, but they still want to help.   What can they do?  Who takes in stray cats?
Call AC?   If they do take cats, which is rare, that is a double edged sword as there are seldom any happy tails resulting from that.   Call the SPCA?   While there are better outcomes (at least now) for the ones in their care, there is seldom any room at the inn and often a surrender fee is involved.   ( The subject of why it is appropriate to penalize the kind heart who DID NOT abandon the pet is a separate topic for a post of its own someday, eh? )
Call the local rescue?   Once again .. they'd all love to help but odds are there is a waiting list.  Nor do all rescues take in strays either.
That is why this action kit is such a great idea.  Its based on a pilot program that was done in Las Vegas as part of the Best Friend's First Home Forever Home Campaign.
How does it work?   Does the rescue start doing intake?  Not at all.  The whole concept is so beautifully simple ... the kit provides the tools and practical advice to help organizations set up adoption events to connect independent rescuers with potential adopters.
The action kit compiles a wealth of resources that can be used for this project ... everything from information on what to do if one finds a stray, to sample forms, flyers, adoption interview forms, adoption contracts, volunteer descriptions and forms .... you name it, with 43 pages it's in there.
The kit is chock full of practical bits that have obviously been based on lessons learned with their pilot project events.  What a great resource!  Its just frosting on the cake that its free!
Wouldn't a project like this be a marvelous way for the society to improve its public relations?   It would be much better for public relations to offer something practical instead of simply refusing the strays, eh?
What time is it?  It is always time to understand that anything that is good for the animals is also going to be pretty darned good for PR.
Insanity:  Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.   Albert Einstein