What I Did Yesterday, Please Read.

If you want to see what the point of this post is, without reading it, scroll to the bottom above all of the photos…but I hope you read it before scrolling down.

Last week I put a post on Facebook asking if anyone would want to come do something that would make them feel good inside on Sunday.  Like I expected, nobody volunteered, one person who liked it and said they would have isn’t local, so the post sat there abandoned and alone (I used abandoned and alone for a reason).  Then my friend Chuy jumped out of nowhere with a private message and said I’d like to join.  He also asked, “What are we doing?”.  Unfortunately I didn’t tell him and refused to let him know, until yesterday.

Of course he canceled on me Saturday so I was alone again, but yesterday morning when I was leaving my apartment, I got a text asking if it was too late to join me.  It is never to late to do something good for someone, and I could have and did need the help, so I had him meet me at my apartment.  That brought a huge smile to my face and I was ready to kick butt.

I got up and went to PetSmart right as they were opening.  It was raining so I took the picture from my car, ran into PetSmart and filled a basket with as many toys and treats as I could.  I also ended up buying something for my cat Frost which you can see above.  I know he hates the outfit and the hat, but he looks cute for the picture so it is worth it.  He also got new toys and treats so he’s happy.

I bought a ton of toys and treats and quickly posted the two pictures above to Facebook.  A few people assumed I got another animal to hang out with Frost, but why would I have 20 tennis balls, 20 squeaky balls, around 75 to 100 dog cookies and treats, 300 – 500 cat treats, 100 cat toys and about 20 or 30 more dog toys for one new animal.  It would be a lucky animal if that was true.  No one remembered (which I didn’t expect) that I was doing something nice for someone else today.

I headed home to go meet Chuy at my apartment where he was waiting and a bit confused.  He wasn’t sure what I was doing at PetSmart and why there were no bags in the car.  He thought I bought something for Frost. which would definitely be a good guess.  He then asked where we were going and I told him not to worry about it, but it is in a bad neighborhood so he needed to put his backpack in the trunk of my car.  He looked a bit worried, but got in the car and went a long with it.

We pull up and Chuy looks confused, so I told him we’re about to help a couple hundred dogs and cats have an awesome holiday.  His eyes lit up so we threw his backpack into the trunk of my car and tried to find the door for the DC Humane Society and Animal Rescue League on New York Avenue in DC.  If you ever go there, the door is actually on New York Avenue and not the grey metal one.  It took us a while to find it.

Once we were inside the DC animal rescue league we were greeted by a ton of really nice happy people, but none of them looked surprised, shocked or thankful.  Instead, one girl said to please place them in the donations box, thanked us and expected us to leave.  Unfortunately that isn’t good enough for me.  Call me a pain (which most of you already do), but I wanted to make sure every animal got at least one and was told how handsome or pretty they were and to make sure everyone (that was allowed one) got a treat for the holidays.  Then all of the sudden a few more volunteers came out because the DC animal rescue league and adoption shelter was finally opened and I got the welcome I was hoping for.  They lit up when they saw the toys and were thankful and invited us back to meet the animals.

While we were unwrapping all of the packages, one girl came running over and said, can I have one for (I can’t remember the dogs name) and lit up when I said of course.

The dog was friendly, smiling and wagging it’s tale.  It’s eyes catch your attention almost instantly and it doesn’t have a bad bone in it’s body.  The friendly smile and wagging tale made me not even realize that it was a skeleton.  It was starved and left alone before they found it.  The dog couldn’t have any treats, but the minute it got it’s squeaky stuffed animal, it went to town.  This dog was the most friendly and grateful dog I have seen and needs a good home.  I really hope it finds one that will treat it amazingly well.  It gave kisses, smiled and was the sweetest and most friendly best friend someone could ever want.

The minute we walked up to the gate, the dog was smiling, trying to give us kisses and was full of love.  It was horrible to think of how someone could starve it.  Watching an already happy dog be given love and attention, not to mention a new toy that it instantly played with was the perfect start to the day.

Now it was time to walk through the rest of the animal shelter in DC.  Below are some videos of the DC Humane Society animal shelter where we walked through and gave everyone treats and toys.  The first video is before they got anything and the second is when we hand them out and you can see how excited they are and how much they appreciate it.  I didn’t take any videos of them getting their treats because it’s rude to take a photo of someone eating lol.

I almost brought Twilight home and Chuy really wanted Precious, but unfortunately neither of us have the time for a dog.  If you’re looking for a best friend, these guys are awesome.  The other one that was very grateful, well mannered and very sweet was Moose.  The grey one with the spotted snout.  He was awesome and you’ll fall in love with him when you see his eyes.   If you don’t watch the videos, please scroll to the bottom to find out why I am posting this.

I realized that I didn’t really do anything worthwhile for others this year, with the exceptions of friends and people I already knew.  Because of that I wanted to do something nice for no reason at all.  You don’t need a reason to do good thing and you don’t have to spend money to do something good for someone else.  You only need to give away part of a day or a few hours and you can make a difference in a lot of lives.

Going to the animal shelter and giving the dogs and cats a new toy and a treat was very rewarding for me as a person.  I watched a bunch of animals that need help and have no one to care for them (except the people at the DC animal shelter and rescue league) light up when they got something as simple as a toy and a treat.  Instead of going and handing out food or dropping canned food off at a homeless shelter, I decided to help the homeless animals in DC.

There are two weeks and one weekend left in 2013.  I am writing this post to encourage you to go and volunteer somewhere this weekend or do something good for someone else.  It’s amazing how not sleeping in or skipping brunch can really make you feel good about yourself and let someone or a large group of other people and animals know someone cares.  Click here if you want to donate money to the DC Humane Society, and if you aren’t a fan of animals, you can click here to donate to my breast cancer walk in May.  Anything from $1 to $100 helps and I believe both are tax deductible which makes tax time a bit easier.  Below are some more pictures of the animals at the DC animal rescue league and please share this post or leave a comment if you are inspired and you are going to go out and do something to help someone else this weekend.  Thank you again for reading.