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1/18/12 6:27 P

As long as you are happy with what you send, you will be fine. But do tell those people a bit about your wonderful experiences and your kind hearts - you will feel better for it IMHO!

Good luck to you and your DH - we have rescue dogs as well as a retired champion pedigree OES. We have rescue other things too, all adored with passion, so I totally know what you are going through with your dilemma.

Pats to all...

Jo

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1/18/12 12:47 P

I did tell DH last night that it was a general consensus with SP dog lovers that our letter is too long. he agrees. so, we will work on making it 2 paragraphs at the most. thank you. your assistance has been GREATLY appreciated.

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1/17/12 8:52 P

Yes, I agree with the statement that animal lovers deal with a lot of guilt. Here in Mexico we met an American woman who has rescued 4 dogs, one of which has only 3 legs. She is a doll. She told me that financially her business is in hard times and she cannot rescue any more. I felt her pain as there are so many dogs and so little resources. We have one big rescue dog and our friend has one which we foster when she is out of the country. It is all we can handle.

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1/17/12 7:06 P

Emotions for animal lovers come tied up with lots of guilt - and we know how important it is to be able to deal with those feelings of letting others down, even though it's usually completely unwarranted and most certainly is in this case. I hope the compromise idea will be taken up as I think it may deal with everything simultaneously.

xxx

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1/17/12 6:55 P

Jo, that sounds like a great idea to me, too.

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1/17/12 6:41 P

How about a change of order here? Whilst I agree that it's a lengthy story in order to reach the main purpose of the letter, I sense that there is also a need to release feelings - a very important element when coming to terms with the probable feelings of guilt which come when kind people become overwhelmed. Indeed, no-one should feel guilty about not being able to continue volunteering, but this is too easy to say and darned hard to do because, if you are like me, you want to help every single animal you can, and coming to terms with the fact that you can't is incredibly hard.

So, why not turn things around a bit? Why not start off by telling the organisation that, very regrettably, you can't continue to volunteer. Maybe you could offer to circulate advertising leaflets in your area, or knit blankets or coats for the animals in need - something which you could fit in but without the travelling? It's not essential, you've done so much already - but it's a thought.

Having written your resignation, why not then go on to tell them about your Missy and how much she means to you? I think that that would be a lovely story about Missy and everything you have done since she came into your lives. It would make you feel as if you had given yourself permission to leave all the travelling and volunteering behind whilst showing that you care and have done a lot already. You could even write it on a separate page if you wanted to, as a sort of annex to your resignation. It would be a perfect compromise and the bonus would be that you would be able to settle things in your minds; the stress would be relieved.

I do hope that you don't beat yourselves up for backing out of all that you've been doing. We can't perform miracles and we can't cure the ails of the world. It's as simple as that. You have been marvellous and Missy is a lucky dog indeed.

Good Luck. Do let us know what you chose to do.

Jo

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1/17/12 4:27 P

but at the same time, houndlover1, the others are right. we don't need to go into THAT much detail or experience to that point. we just need to let the owner know, as politely as possible, why we can't volunteer anymore.

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1/17/12 4:16 P

Ha,ha, now that changes the picture.
If your husband feels better about leaving the message as is I would consider leaving it like that. The message is clear either way, and it might help him to express his thoughts as he did.

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1/17/12 3:45 P

thank you everyone. just so you know, DH is the one that originally wrote this. so, i was just putting my couple of thoughts in. i will let him know it needs to be shortened to 2 paragraphs at the most.

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1/17/12 3:35 P

thank you everyone. just so you know, DH is the one that originally wrote this. so, i was just putting my couple of thoughts in. i will let him know it needs to be shortened to 2 paragraphs at the most.

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1/17/12 2:48 P

My opinion also is that it is too long. Short and sweet and to the point is what you need. And DO NOT FEEL GUILTY about having to stop volunteering there.

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1/17/12 2:44 P

I agree that it's a little long. If your only issue was the length of the commute and showing up at adoption events is essential then just say that briefly and add that you won't be able to volunteer any more and thank them for the work they have done and are still doing to help needy animals. Every volunteer needs to define clearly what they are and are not able to do and there should be no hard feelings if you can't do what's required. I ran a rescue for many years and I understood that people's situation changes (time, money, health etc.) and never held it against them if they stopped volunteering. If you want to help on an occasional basis you can always do that but define clearly when you can be contacted.

Birgit

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1/17/12 2:32 P

I agree.

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1/17/12 2:05 P

In my opinon it is way too long. Narrow it down to about one paragraph. State although you have enjoyed helping, it is too much for you. Lorraine

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1/17/12 1:30 P

Please read the following letter and tell me if it sounds good. DH and I need to let the animal rescue agency we are volunteering with that we no longer can handle the commute.

Dear Kate,

Just over a year ago, we were introduced to "Missy" by a neighbor, who we learned was a foster dog who was
recently rescued by Rosa's Rescue. We were thinking about adopting a second dog for some time
and the idea of fostering sounded safer than adopting a dog outright. We saw fostering as a
tentative adoption that would give us time to see if the fostered dog would be a good fit for us
in the long run. So, when we learned Missy was available to foster, we decided to take the
plunge.

We soon understood that for Missy's sake, we needed to keep open the possibility that someone
else might want to adopt her before we made up our minds about her. So, we began to driver her
to the adoption events at the Florence Petsmart twice a month. It was an interesting experience
for us. We had volunteered at an animal shelter before, but the idea of taking the pets to the
people was new to us. We could see that we were carrying out an important service for Missy
and the other rescused animals. Nevertheless, the commitment had its challenges.

First off, Missy was very bit boisterous during her visits to Petsmart. She would bark loudly, as
beagles have a tendency to do, at almost every dog within her sight. We tried putting her in a
crate and covering it, but that kept prospective adopters from seeing what a really great dog she
was. Needless to say, our early efforts at getting Missy adopted were a bit stressful. We got a lot
of great advice on how to work with her to get her to behave better. We worked at our own slow
pace. Her behavior at our home improved gradually, but the commotion at the Petsmart store
proved to be too distracting for us and Missy. We eventually came to the conclusion that no
prospective adopter would ever get to know her the way we already did at our home and with
our dog, Kirby, and we were not going to let her get away from us. So, we adopted her.

Another challenge for us was commuting. We didn't question it too much when we were driving
Missy back and forth from our home in Anderson Township to Florence. it was where the
adoption events took place. That was her best chance at getting adopted. After we adopted her,
we transported other rescued cats and dogs out to Petsmart. This added even
more to our commute, especially when also picking up and returning the cats/dogs to their foster homes. But we came to understand that, as with Missy, this was our best chance
at getting these pets adopted. It makes sense to take them where the most people are going to see
them. People who most likely already have cats and/or dogs, or people who have been working
up the gumption to take the plunge like we did with Missy. Since there are no big Petsmart-like
stores in southern Campbell County, Florence seemed like the best option.

We came to realize that the commute in and of itself was becoming very difficult for us, because
it became a full day of traveling. Even once a month was a lot for us. So, we had tried to figure
out different ways to make the commute easier, including trying to only have to transport one
way. We readily volunteered at K&M, since that was less commuting for us and we normally didn't have to transport cats/dogs to and from there.

We have come to the conclusion that as much as we want to help the dogs and cats find
forever homes, we are not able to handle all the commuting that is required. Therefore, we
regretfully must terminate our volunteering with Rosa's Rescue.

Sincerely,

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