Today I was in one of the neighborhoods we serve and encountered not one, but three strays. If you don't live in St. Louis, it is wicked cold today and a rough day to be homeless. It really was a downer. I know how the families I serve through the agency struggle and consequently I know dogs and cats are often on their own in these neighborhoods. It is heartbreaking for both the two-legged and four legged beings. Poverty doesn't just affect people, it coats entire communities like a thick, heavy scum and after prolonged exposure can really make your future look pretty bleak. I know that the work I do is valuable, but it is truly just a drop, a mere drip in the ocean in poverty. Everyday, I make a plan to swoop out of my car and rescue animals. But then reality sets in and I acknowledge that I don't have the right vehicle to pick up strays safely and then what do I do with them? I would rack up vet bills that would rival Missouri's economic woes and I would be sleeping in the garage while they all slept in beds and on nice leather furniture. It makes me think about what my friend John Foote used to say: "Charmaine, just think happy thoughts." Denial doesn't make the truth less painful.
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I so remember DS coming home and telling me of your night walk, and a momma cat and her very small babies running into the basement of a home nearby you. So for the next three months, I came by that house, everyday that I could I had a fifty lb. bag of food and water. Everyday for three months I babied those babies and mama. Soon, they grew, up and out. I never touched any off them, and would see them scurry around the neighborhood. I knew I had done my mitzvah.
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