WANTED.

if you're doing any spring cleaning, let me know & i can get rid of your gently used stuff for you!

the blog that i write for is planning a pretty awesome charity rummage sale.

my work has already agreed to donate vacuums and other things. that, combined with the mass amounts of clothes i'm getting rid of is reason enough to come check it out!

please support this great local cause... it's for a wonderful foundation that helps pay for funeral expenses for families who lose children. that's a sad enough thing to go through without the financial burden!

red thread movement.

today i am proud to say that i became a member of the red thread movement!!

this is a really great cause that i think everyone should look into getting involved in.
the idea of this nonprofit is to raise awareness of sex trafficking worldwide, but focusing on the problem of sex trafficking in nepal. thousands of young women are kidnapped from nepal (where they are not "missed" because women in nepal are at the bottom of the food chain... & i mean beneath the cows, bottom) & sold into the sex trade in india & surrounding areas.

here's a video to show you what i mean:

so today i joined the WSU chapter of the Red Thread Movement & bought the 3 dollar bracelet, made by a young girl from Nepal who got a second chance.

i must say it goes quite well with my other assortment of bracelets!

yay! for more information about the cause, visit their website.

breaks my heart.

hearing about all the deaths and damage in japan this past week has been a real eye-opener. life is so precious! this article especially got to me...the fact that they are short on coffins is horrible. a disaster of this magnitude is hard to imagine; all i know is i feel so bad for the japanese population.

in instances like these it's hard to know how to help. when we're so far away it seems like maybe there isn't anything we can do.  however, donations are always accepted at places like your local red cross, and any type of donation would be sure to help the japanese people. i read this article for ideas on where to go to help. whether you donate a little or a lot, everything can help these poor people recover from what has been declared the worst national crisis since world war 2.

global village and books of yesterday.

two of my favorite places in logan are:

global village

and

books of yesterday!

they are both so great.

global village is a volunteer-run store that is heavy on fair trade and art from around the world.

there are bags, bracelets, headbands, crafts, wall hangings... from all over the world.

just yesterday i bought a bracelet from guatemala.

books of yesterday is a two-story antique book/movie shop.

you could probably find a book on just about anything here.

it's lovely.

truly sobering.

for my english class we are required to volunteer at a nonprofit organization here in logan. i already volunteer at the cache humane society weekly, so i knew this would be a great opportunity.
currently we're working on a "pamphlet of facts" about our chosen nonprofit... just research, statistics and such that we have found about something related to that nonprofit. i chose to research homeless animals in cache valley, because it's a HUGE problem.
here's what i found.

1. The typical shelter dog is more than 2, male, and sexually intact.
2. A survey of 186 shelters nationwide found that they had over 760,000 animals entering the shelter within a year. This is due to pet overpopulation.
3. 59% of animals entering shelters were euthanized last year.
4. Most of these animals are abandoned or come from homes where they were abused. However, there is hope: in New York City the ASPCA has an "animal police force" who can seize an animal from a suspected abuser. Any citizens caught abusing their animals or training them to fight face big fines and jail time.
5. Four Paws of Millville is a local nonprofit organization that has saved nearly 300 dogs and cats per year in the Valley.
6. UT's euthanasia rate is 57% lower than in 1999.
7. 4 million cats and dogs are put down per year. :[
8. Only 25% of dogs in shelters are purebred.
9. Only 18% of owned dogs were adopted from a shelter.
10. Average age of death in dogs is 10 years and ranged from Bernese Mountain Dogs (7 years on average) to Shetland Sheepdogs (12 years on average).


It is obvious to see that we as people NEED to get involved. Thanks to education about spaying/neutering and training, the problem of homeless puppies and kittens has gone down dramatically.
But there are still dogs and cats who need a home. And the fact that most people go out and breed their dogs to sell for large amounts of money is just ridiculous to me. (Even though my Mom does it, and we have 3 gorgeous, adorable Shelties). I just know that when I can afford a dog... I'm getting a border collie from the Humane Society!

more humane society fun.

i love volunteering.

i fell in love with this adorable border collie named riley.

love!!

so sad.

i just returned from volunteering at the cache humane society. i got to walk all the dogs and play with all the adorable cats.

this is jade. she has the best puppy face and the biggest brown eyes you'll ever see.
[i'm also very glad my rocket dogs made it into this picture.]

copper, the adorable basset hound.

she was my favorite.

there were so many adorable puppies. i just loved playing with them.

it's so sad to me that all of these great dogs and cats don't have homes! if i could [and if my roommates wouldn't kill me] i would take them all home with me. they are the sweetest little things!

i know everyone gets so busy sometimes, but if you ever have a spare moment and are bored,  volunteering at the humane society is one of the best things you can do! after all, it really pays off when you see how much every dog there loves you.