Helping Forever Friends
Ghandi, John Kennedy and St. Francis all shared that a measure of a society is how it treats the most vulnerable including its animals.
For some that observation is to live a life doing good for the least, the helpless among us. When I apply this philosophical stance to our companion animals, I am truly humbled by the mission of Forever Friends and the woman who makes it all happen.
Casey Newton has dedicated her life to the rescue of cat and dogs.
She and her right hand, Melissa McLaren, are the sole proprietors, which in this case means they do everything, of Forever Friends.
Perhaps you heard of them recently when they responded to the need to rescue a crate of kittens and cats abandoned on the roadside in Solvay.
Casey was at my home this week to help me capture a mother cat and her four kittens who have made a home in our yard.
Forever Friends is a story of real, right now, authentic actual kindness which deserves our attention in a world where kindness takes a back seat to the bottom line, where the rewards are not monetary but inherent in the idea that kindness and caring make the world a better place.
“I’ve been at this for 20 years,” she says as she demonstrated how to use the have a heart traps to me. “I found a mother cat and her kittens in desperate circumstances. I took them home, brought them to the vet and cared for them until I found homes for them all. That’s how it all started.”
She smiled as she recounted all of the animals that have been saved by Forever Friends.
“I’ve placed more than 7,000 animals over those years,” she said.
Forever Friends is a private animal rescue which is a bit different from similar organizations.
Casey and her partner actually rescue and pick up stray and abandoned animals. These two dedicated women pick up animals in need, help trap them when necessary, take them to their facility, have them assessed by a veterinarian and care for them until they can be placed.
My head spins when I think of the work that this takes. They have accumulated a lot of expertise but the effort can be exhausting.
“My day begins by letting the dogs out for their morning bathroom break. I return to the basement to clean out the litter boxes and the cages of the cats, medicate those that need it, feed everyone and, coffee in hand, I check my emails and phone messages. Then I go to work. I answer more emails and phone messages on my lunch breaks. I repeat the process after work, every day. It’s a busy life. Melissa is there when I’m not. She and I are the team that makes all of this happen.”
Casey works two jobs.
On the weekends she works for EMS and during the week she is a server at a local restaurant.
“One job pays for my needs, the other pays for the animals’ needs,” she says off handedly. “Its always been that way. I have one day ‘off’ which is the day that I use to implement rescues and take animals to Cornell for spaying and neutering and all of the attendant shots, etc. Of course there are times when I have to make other arrangements. Once I was called to a field where someone had disposed of 54 kittens, some as young as a day old. I used my vacation time to take care of them, bottle feeding the youngest ones every two hours. We saved all but one.”
Spaying, neutering, rabies shots, heart worm shots, and other vet procedures mount up even at discount prices. It costs Forever Friends approximately $140 per cat and $250 per dog.
The only part of that which is ever recouped is the $75 which is the fee for adoption.
“That covers the spaying, neutering and rabies shots,” she said.
By the way Casey and Melissa use their own vehicles for rescues, transport to Ithaca, etc.
Casey is busier than ever since the publicity surrounding Forever Friends and the Solvay cats hit the internet and TV.
Forever Friends has been inundated with requests for help with strays and abandoned dogs and cats.
“It’s very difficult to respond to the heart rending requests with the resources that we currently have. There are only the two of us and we depend on my salary and donations not only of money but of supplies such as cat litter, cat and dog food, towels, blankets, paper towels, bleach and other supplies necessary to keep the cages and kennels clean. We depend on the kindness too of the foster homes that transition our rescues to permanent homes,” she said.
Forever Friends needs more people willing and capable of fostering cats and dogs and…here is a hard one, people to socialize and get kittens ready for adoption.
Help with paper work, etc. would be welcome. You can contact Casey through the Facebook page Forever Friends Animal Rescue or by calling 315-399-2780.
Casey asks that we please be patient for a response because there are only so many hours in a day and so many sick and abandoned animals to care for.
Ask Casey if you can help her raise some money. Hold a garage sale with all proceeds going to Forever Friends. Invite 10 people over for coffee and cake and ask each to donate what they would have paid for the coffee and cake at a restaurant.
Make a donation in honor of the unconditional love you have received from a pet in your life. Ask 10 friends to purchase a bag of dog or cat food or a box of kitty litter and bring it to your house. I’ll bet you could find a way to get it to Forever Friends. (These are my ideas for whatever they are worth.)
Forever Friends is in the process of getting a not for profit 501 C 3 designation.
Until then any donations are not tax deductible. But from my point of view, any donation whether monetary, material or time is given in the spirit of our humanity, our love for the animals that have brought so much love into our lives and recognizing the impact we can have on the absolute desolation, fear and sadness that an abandoned animal must feel.
Casey and co. are walking the walk and providing us with an easy opportunity to join them in a pursuit of which Ghandi, JFK and St. Francis would approve.