17 May 10K Lives Saved: Annual Service Trip
The following blog post was written by Last Hope K9 Rescue Assistant Director and Service Trip Coordinator, Steph P.
While 2020 was hard in many ways, for me, one of the toughest parts was cancelling our annual service trip (originally scheduled to take place at the end of April 2020.) When COVID started in the US, the rescue’s Leadership Team began meeting weekly to discuss process changes to keep our fosters and community safe. At first, we thought we could postpone the service trip by a couple of weeks, or maybe push it from the spring to the fall. But as weeks turned to months, and now more than a year, the pandemic has forced us to skip not only one, but two service trips (both 2020 and 2021.)
To understand how big of a loss this is to our rescue and our partners, you must understand the impact of trips past. The first trip was in 2013 with just a handful of volunteers and small plans, but those volunteers were able to see the need in Arkansas firsthand, and bring that message to the Northeast to be a driving force for our rescue. Since that first year the trip has grown exponentially with some impressive numbers for the most recent trip. In May 2019, 62 volunteers traveled on their own dime, stayed in the homes of 18 generous hosts, raised more than $78,000, and worked in 13 different locations over only 6 days. Over the years, our volunteers have repaired fences, installed drywall, painted, shoveled gravel, knocked on doors to talk about the importance of spay and neuter, washed dogs, heartworm tested, cleaned kennels, and so much more. They do all of this in any weather; heat waves and storms won’t stop them.
They work without complaint, even when they get bug bites or sunburns or ruin their clothes with
bleach. They end the day exhausted, only to get up early and do it all again.
This work makes a difference in each of the Arkansas shelters where we volunteer, providing safer spaces for the dogs in the shelters and a fun day for all the dogs. Some of the dogs we meet will never leave the shelter. A bath and some love or playtime may not sound like much, but for those dogs it means everything.
The service trip also provides the unique opportunity for our Northern and Southern volunteers to work side by side in-person. Southern fosters put their foster dogs on a transport vehicle and send them to Northern fosters waiting with open arms. It takes an incredible amount of trust to do this, and our rescue wants to help strengthen those relationships as much as we can.
After missing two years we can’t wait to get back in the spring of 2022. I imagine the next trip will be bigger and better than all that came before, and hopefully, we can do some catch-up not only in the shelters but also with our amazing Southern partners and friends.
Please be sure to check out our “$10k for 10k” fundraiser and support our mission, here.
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