by Cathy Davis
Houlton Humane has had an ongoing fundraising program for a number of years that I just love because it doesn’t cost you a thing to help us out, it benefits the shelter financially and it benefits the environment. You can’t get any better than that – free, clean, and easy.
It has, however, been a rather confusing program, with constant questions about what we take and don’t take, and I’ve struggled with a way to explain this and I finally had an “aha” moment this morning.
In order to remember what we will take in this program, I want you to remember this: “BENEFIT OUR DOGS”.
B stands for bathroom items – all containers that are left over from your bathroom routine, your shampoo and conditioner bottles, your make up containers from lipstick to moisturizer to foundation, and men, your shaving cream and aftershave, your body wash, all of those empty containers that end up in the bathroom trash can, please save them for the animal shelter.
O stands for office. Used ink cartridges and cell phones – please save those for the shelter.
D stands for dairy. This is a new part of the program and this is where it was a tad confusing but not any more. If it’s cheese, yogurt, ice cream, pudding, or whipped topping containers, in plastic, no matter what number plastic, please wash them out and save them for us. No milk containers please. And I’m serious about rinsing them out. You have no idea how fast these turn sour and smell really bad if they’re not rinsed.
Easy enough, “Benefit Our Dogs” “B.O.D.” is bathroom, office and dairy. You do not have to separate them, doesn’t matter what number plastic they are.
On this list there is no “L” so no, we don’t take laundry detergent bottles.
So that’s the first part of the project, identifying what we will take. The next part of the project is getting these items to the shelter and I have a couple of suggestions. See if these work:
If you work in an office or factory or store, ask your employer if all the employees can bring these items to work until you have a box full of them and then if you want to, call me and I’ll come get them, 532-2345. I can’t travel to Patten but on any given lunch hour I could run to your Houlton place of business and pick up a box or bag of recyclables.
If you own a business and are extremely excited about this project, maybe you could designate your place of business as a drop off point for other donors. My office is a drop off point, maybe you could do the same, and then when you get enough that they’re in your way, call me (or call the shelter) and we’ll come get them. If you’d like to do that, please let me know so I can announce your location.
I know a number of people who run their containers to the shelter on a weekly or monthly basis. You can do that too, or as I mentioned, drop them off to me at 99 Katahdin Lane (across from Tim Horton’s) in the Varney building.
Many thanks to Cara and Jonathan Maples, Chuck and Christine Loucka, for all the hard work they put into organizing these containers and shipping them out. This program has brought in a steady stream of income but it can do so much better if we all just work a little harder to remember the shelter every time we go to throw away beauty products, office ink cartridges, phones or Dairy containers.
B.O.D. – Benefit Our Dogs – post that on your refrigerator, save it on your phone, make it your screen saver on your computer, help reduce the waste stream and increase the shelter income. Think of how noble you’ll feel to be such a good steward of the earth and such a strong supporter of the shelter!
OK, I know, it’s getting a little deep in here, we’re just talking about trash, but your trash is our cash and we really would appreciate any help you can give us with this program. These funds will help us continue our work to take care of the animals and we thank you for taking the time to do this.
Cathy Davis is a longtime volunteer for the Houlton Humane Society. She can be reached at houltonanimalshelter@gmail.com or 532-2345.
