By Adriane Cooper

THIS MONTH AT THE RESCUE:

Along with all the 'usual' going on at the rescue: animals getting taken in, medically cared for, spayed/neutered, moved to foster homes, and adopted, Sid's dad has been in the hospital in ICU. Sid is spending as much time as possible with her dad. The picture above is Sid with her dad's cat Ruckus. Ruckus was rescued by her dad when he was a stray and is missing his person terribly. Sid is caring for her dad's 3 cats for the time being.

If you have been following the rescue's Facebook page this month you know about Peep - the emergency intake kitten who has come a long way in healing from a pretty serious injury. Sid has also taken in some litters of kittens (ok, some are older than kittens!!) that have been on the waiting list to get into the shelter. Just getting them vaccinated, spay/neuter appointments, microchipped, etc. has been a full-time job in the past couple of weeks for Sid - and it will be into the new year as well.

THANK YOU to all our donors who have contributed towards all of these animals: Peep, the new litters, Sid's dad's cats - it IS the difference between being able to bring cats/kittens out of the cold or NOT being able to do that. You are SAVING LIVES - especially this time of year.

DOG BUILDING

As you know if you have followed the rescue even a teeny bit the past couple of months you know we are intensely focused on getting a dog facility built to be ready by May 2023. We do still need a total of $15,000 to order the shell of the building by January 15th, or the opening date for the building will need to be pushed back. We are very worried that pushing back the opening date would mean adoptable dogs will be euthanized. So far, we have $5,740 raised towards that $15,000. Meaning we still need about 9,260 by Jan 15th to reach that goal!

Initially we estimated a $50,000 TOTAL cost for the dog building. However, Jordan Olson has come forward to do the interior/finishing construction on a volunteer basis. That will mean a VERY busy spring for him, but he knows how critical it is that there is space for dogs as soon as possible. THANK YOU JORDAN!!!! Since we will no longer have to hire out the construction work, the cost of the dog facility has gone down from $50,000 to around $26,000!!!! This also means if you'd like to sponsor one of the kennels inside the building - they just got a lot cheaper! Contact us if you would like to know more about that!

However, we will still need to meet some other fundraising goals to be able to open that dog facility on time: including a fund for the first dogs for their food and medical care, and a fund to be able to reimburse Sid for her millage. (At present, Sid is NOT reimbursed for any fuel or millage related to the rescue, or anything else related to the rescue for that matter! She is donating her time as well as a significant amount of money every month to get these animals the care they need.)

100% Volunteer Run

From the start, I have been an advocate of getting Sid's Director position to be a paid position, and I still think it should be. But. At this point we do not have the funds for it, and even if we did, Sid wouldn't take it anyway because any funds we have are going directly to animal care OR to get that dog building built.

As long as we are able to fund raise to off-set the cost of transportation to vet care, Sid will be able to provide the daily care needed for all the cats in the current facility AND all the dogs in the dog facility which is not yet built. All on a 100% volunteer basis.

So for the foreseeable future, Smiley's Rescues will continue to be run completely by volunteers - of course that is almost completely Sid!! You can donate knowing that 100% of your gift goes directly to animal care.

Thank You Donors!

The rescue is set for cat supplies for about the next 6-7 weeks! Even with all these new kitties! Thank you for donating via Amazon and Chewy. We couldn't help these animals without your generous donations.