It's been five weeks of shoveling and shivering and shoveling and shoveling some more. The end of 2010 saw fewer holiday donations coming into the rescue, and 2011 saw us swimming upstream before it even started.
And now this.
On Thursday night, the roof on Cindy's and William's quonsett hut collapsed, resulting in the probable loss of everything that was stored in there -- personal items and a large inventory of rescue supplies. The latter includes (but is not limited to) extra C&C cages, carriers, hay, and $300 in cage bedding that Cindy bought two weeks ago.
(Rest assured, no animals or humans were hurt in the collapse.)
Some things may be salvagable, but Cindy and William aren't yet certain how safe it is to go in and try to retrieve anything. The sides and the front door are still standing, but the whole center collapsed. With the threat of another storm next week that's big enough to dump another foot of snow on Connecticut, they'll have to move quickly if they have a chance of saving anything. Much as they're trying to be optimistic, the reality of the scene in their backyard tells them that only pessimism is in order.
The need to replace $300 worth of bedding is a huge burden. If all the rescue supplies have to be replaced, the cost will be financially devastating to the rescue.
Our regular readers know that things have to be bad -- really bad -- before we put fundraising appeals on the blog. But dire circumstances force a direct appeal.
At this point, we're asking for monetary donations (only) so that Cindy can restock as soon as new storage space becomes available. You can donate by
- PayPal (the donation button appears on the right side of every page on the blog, our main Web site, and our Petfinder site)
- check (mail to The Critter Connection, P.O. Box 371, Durham, CT 06422)
Donations of all sizes will be gratefully accepted, and acknowledged with a mailed receipt (to help with tax-deduction documentation). Some folks feel awkward about making donations of even $5 or $10, thinking them too small to be helpful but forgetting that everything collectively adds up to big help.
We thank you in advance for all your help!
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