Voluntouring

Neal & Tosca at the kennel

OK. Most of the New Year's resolutions that I made in January have gone the way of the dinosaur.

You know. The promises to eat less sugar, get more sleep, stop procrastinating.

I find that's always the case. The resolutions that I make to help myself, are normally forgotten by mid-January, if not sooner. Sometimes I don't even make it to the end of January 1st without breaking them.

However, in past years, the deals that I make to help others are year long (if not longer) commitments.

This year, I've decided to Voluntour. No, it's not spelled wrong. It is a combination of two words. Volunteer and tour. Meaning: volunteer while on vacation.

When Neal & I decided to spend January in Palm Beach, Florida, I made up my mind then. I wanted to help at a Greyhound Kennel. So, every Thursday night for the month of January, we've been helping at the GPA Southeast Florida adoption kennel. What a great experience we've had.

The kennel crew and on site kennel keeper go above and beyond to make the stay for the hounds a happy one. Each dog spends very few hours locked in a crate. On Thursday nights for example each is turned out into the run individually for some one on one time. Then they have supper and a rest before being turned out for the evening. During that time, they play with the other Greyhounds and human helpers.

This upcoming Thursday is our last time to help out. We're already making plans to come back and do it again next year.

There is, however, one small problem with Voluntouring...

Vote!

Hi Greyhound Friends and Dog Lovers. I copied the following from the Greyhound-L. Wouldn't it be exciting to have a Greyhound Adoption Group win this!

Keep Voting!!!!!!!!

Greyhound Pets of America, Central Florida Chapter needs your help!
PLEASE copy and post this to your facebook pages, your websites, your
chapter's email list, etc. etc.!!

In August “People Magazine” featured our group in their “Hero’s Among
Us” section of the August 1st edition.

We have just been advised that we were selected as finalist for the
“PEOPLE Readers’ Choice Hero Campaign.”
There will be 8 other people that have been selected for this same contest.

****PEOPLE magazine will conduct a voting process starting today Friday
September 16, 2011 and ending on October 13, 2011.

THE WINNER WILL BE AWARDED a $10,000 donation to be applied to the
charity of choice and in our case it would be donated to GPA Central
Florida.

****PLEASE VOTE AT www.people.com/readerhero YOU CAN VOTE AS MANY TIMES
AS YOU LIKE!

How would GPA Central Florida spend this money if were to win this award?
If the $10,000 was used exclusively for repair (surgery) of broken leg
greyhounds 8 or 10 greyhound could be rehabilitated.
If the $10,000 was used exclusively for greyhound transportation to
other groups, we could transport over 150 greyhounds.
If the $10,000 was used for food, it would feed our kennels for about 5
months.
If the $10,000 was used to pay our kennel workers it would cover about 3
months of that cost.

It should be noted that none of the officers or members of GPA Central
Florida receive a salary and we are a NON PROFIT 501 © 3 organization

Alane Shultz
GPA Nat. Corr. Sec.

If you would like to know more about GPA Central Florida, please visit their website:

www.floridagreyhounds.com

After you're done voting, come back & join us in the Saturday Morning Blog Hop!

Happy National Volunteer Week!

I'm proud to be a Volunteer.  

Here are a few quick facts:

• Canada has 12 million volunteers
• They help more than 160,000 organizations in our country
• Their contributions generate $112 billion for the economy
• Over 2 billion hours are donated each year by volunteers
• Volunteers exist in virtually every industry (health care, disaster relief, animal welfare, education, sports, etc)
• Many volunteer to meet new people, develop skills,  & better their communities 
• Researchers have found that people who volunteer tend to have a lower rate of premature death, & a lower risk of heart disease.

Companies are recognizing the benefit of volunteering to the overall health of their employees & communities.  Many employers are starting volunteer involvement programs which will give staff time off of work to help charitable organizations.  

  

Source:  http://volunteer.ca