Week 35 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

What a Week!

Wednesday, May 1st

Special Feature: The Rescued Critters Food Drive: Making a Difference for Animals… One Door at a Time

The Tucson Dog Magazine published a comprehensive article by Emily Dieckman on our Rescued Critters Food Drive. Click on the link above to see the full-page feature.

Thursday. May 2nd

Had a display table at the two-hour PACC Teacher Appreciation Night event and talked to teachers about Rescued Critters Food Drive in addition to our One Penny for One Minute of Community Service program. Lots of interest and handed out lots of flyers explaining our program.

Friday, May 3rd

The four roll-offs showed up early Friday and when they left early Monday morning they were stuffed to the brim. On Sunday, folks expressed how glad they were that we have such a free program in the Miles Neighborhood. 

Saturday, May 4th

Wore my birthday gift tee shirt to Safeway and lost my invisibility. Several folks, young and a little older, stopped and complimented me on my attire. “Shame you can only ware it once a year,” a helpful clerk lamented.

 Sunday, May, 5th ... A Twofer Day

Early in the morning, the ArizonaStar published Gloria Knott’s wonderful article which was almost four months in the making. I even thought the photo was quite good. Run your mouse over they copy and click on the link in the story to read Gloria’s full account. 

This week we donated 43.9 lbs. of pet food and $166.48 in cash and four checks. The dollars were significant so I decided to check out were our tallies stood.

Another Big Surprise! Our annual goal is 4,333 lbs. of pet food. As of Monday, we have donated exactly 4,296.9 lbs. Next week, which is Week 36, we only need—interestingly enough—36.1 pounds to attain our goal. And that is going to be a piece of cake since I already have a 30 lb. bag of cat food donated by Steven, my friend and neighbor.

And based on a 35-week average of 122.8 lbs., we can now project an annual total of 6,385.6 lbs. Instead of 2.2 tons, we are projected to donate a whopping 3.2 tons to PACC. The best part is, I couldn’t have done it without my generous Miles neighbors.

Now that we have a new goal in our future, let’s see how we destroy that one, too.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 34 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Much More Than a Food Drive

Gina Hansen, PACC’s Volunteer Coordinator asked me to present the Rescued Critters Food Drive program to a couple of classes at Amphi Middle School last Thursday, April 25^th. As I approached the front of the first class, Gina said I have 10 or 15 minutes to talk.

Twenty-five minutes later I was hurrying to end the presentation. What piqued everyone’s interest was the comment I made about Rescued Critter Food Drive being a community service program in addition to a pet food drive. Of course, I collect PACC donations on Sunday, but I also arranged for the city to fix 50-plus potholes recently and for TEP to fix six broken street lights around the neighborhood and then clean three very messy alleys with the help of Pat Tapia, Deputy Director of the Environmental & General Services Department.

In between classes, the teacher, Mrs. Coleman took me aside and asked how I did all those things because she was trying to clean up her neighborhood, too, but with little success. The first thing I asked her was, did she know her Ward Council Member? “No.” she replied. Interesting, because that person is the key to any successful neighborhood clean-up program.

You do all the paperwork and fill out all the forms and follow up dutifully with city contacts, but when things go too slowly or not at all, your Ward Council Member can move mountains. For years, I have worked very closely with Vice Mayor and Ward 5 Council Member Richard Fimbres, Mark Kerr, his Chief of Staff and Mary Fimbres, Richard’s wife. They make me an effective project manager without my having to get into a power struggle with the process.

Mrs. Coleman’s reaction to my comment about the Rescued Critters Food Drive being just one aspect of a comprehensive neighborhood management program gave me an idea. In the next few weeks, I am creating a how-to-handbook, if you will, on how to clean up and maintain a neighborhood. Names, numbers, request forms, city web links and the rationale behind filling potholes, picking up trash and speaking to folks without giving into frustration. There are 146 neighborhoods in Tucson that need help and the city is stepping up, so we’ve got to do the same.

Oh, and you’ll be happy to learn that Mrs. Coleman is talking to her people to implement the Rescued Critters Food Drive program at Amphi Middle School

This week we donated 113.3 lbs. of pet food and $126.73 in cash and two checks.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 33 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

With 17,000 pets to care for, PACC has the right manager in the right place at the right time.

Shari Mollencopf, a volunteer, restocks bins with donated dog food at the Pima Animal Care Center. PACC staff members and volunteers make regular trips to shelters, distributing more than 600 pounds of food a week to homeless pet owners.

Photo: Mike Christy / Arizona Daily Star

Since she arrived at PACC in July, 2017, Executive Director Kristen Auerbach has moved ahead quickly to make a dent in a perplexing problem. When it comes to pets, homeless folks have them, but not much else. And they adopt them from PACC, Craigslist or pick up strays on the street.

Kristen decided to offer booties to protect their dogs feet from the really hot pavement and roadways around the city. This opened the door for more help for the homeless such as social services, pet food and medical care for their pups.

The article focuses on Kristen’s success in caring for at least 1,370 pet owners through the Pups in Boots program. A goodly number in a little over a year. But there was one homeless guy who didn’t quite get with the program and ended up loosing his dog. This one disturbing story took up a significant segment of the article, too.

Here’s what I think. If an idea is saving over a thousand street dogs pain and suffering, in addition to helping their owners take advantage of some social services, then that idea should be supported not subverted with “one” human failing.

Read the article and if you agree with me, let’s start adding some booties to our Sunday donations. They are a great way to help PACC achieve more success in protecting homeless pets with homeless people.

Here is the link to the Arizona Star article:  Booties for Pups

By the way, a single booty costs around $2.00. Of course, 4 booties are what one dog needs. 

This week we donated 72.2 lbs. of pet food and $75.00 in cash and one check.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 32 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

72 Participants x $1.00 Each x 

52 Weeks ÷ $0.90 Cost Per Pound of Pet Food = 4,333 lbs. Donated to PACC in One Year

That’s how I came up with our Miles Neighborhood PACC donation goal. Well, it turns out the formula never took into account how generous and involved in animal welfare my neighbors really are. We just finished our second full quarter and the results indicate that we will crush that proposed goal. The graphic below speaks volumes.

We are now at Week 32 with 20 more weeks to go and there are 52 participants, not 72. In the first year of One Can A Week, we donated 9,203.5 lbs. of food to the Community Food Bank and $1,953.38 in cash. Even with fewer participants, we may match or surpass those numbers. It’s going to be fun to watch the weekly results pile up. This week we donated two large stainless steel bowls, a huge white blanket, one small pet bed, 75.7 lbs. of pet food and $57.69 in cash and two checks. See you Sunday, Peter

Week 31 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Two Wins for Miles Neighborhood Today

A couple of years ago, TDOT (Tucson Department of Transportation) developed, with some fanfare, a web submission form that would help speed and organize pothole repair all over the city. March 4^th I submitted the form with an attached pdf listing all the potholes and adjacent home addresses. Within 24 hours I received two Repair Request numbers which meant, to me, the potholes would be fixed soon.

A day later I got an email from someone who wanted to know what direction I was driving when I made the list. My friend David said,  “You should have replied, I was driving east and hit a pothole, then I drove a little further east and hit another pothole.”

Wish he had told me that really funny idea back when I wrote my response. I was serious at the time and answered the person’s question accordingly. Then I heard nothing. In mid-March I called to check on the progress and the person assured me the supervisor was on it. Called again the next week and the supervisor was still on it.

On my early evening walks with Cody and Haley, I often run into Richard and Mary Fimbres walking their two Boston Terriers. Generally it is a hi and bye, but this particular time in late March, we stopped to chat about potholes. Richard told me to email him everything. On April 2^nd, I got an email from Diana Alarcon, the Director of Transportation apologizing for the lack of details “on when they will be out to repair the pot holes.”

On Friday, April 5^th, a team repaired half of Miles between Highland and Santa Rita. Strange, as was the excuse we gave them. They only paved one section at a time, this Friday it was the 1100 to 1200 block.

Today, they were back again but finished Miles all the way to Vine and then turned right (south) to fill the potholes next to my driveway.

While they were on Miles, I walked over to the crew and motioned I wanted to say something. The truck driver tooted the horn so the guys would look up. I gave them a thumbs up and shouted thank you. They shouted back, “Thanks.”

My neighbor, Mr. Aguilar was standing on his porch as I turned (south) on Highland. “It’s about time,” he shouted. I thought, you know, I don’t say anything negative to folks doing the job. It’s never about criticizing folks or displaying one’s frustration. The potholes were being fixed for my neighbors and that is all I care about.

And here's the second win ...

Notice the gold-colored coin in the plastic bag hanging off the table? That's Sacagawea. My neighbors are always surprising me. Can't wait for the postage stamp with the upside down bi-plane. But I'll keep that surprise to myself.

We donated a small dog sweater, a large bed sheet, 53.4 lbs. of pet food and $61.75 in cash and two checks.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 30 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

Second quarter results are in

Sunday was the end of our second quarter and the totals are really surprising. We have donated nearly 80% of our annual goal of 4,333 lbs. of pet food and we have 22 more weeks to go. So we’re crushing it, as they say.

Take a moment to review the numbers below. You will see that consistency is the key to our success. There are a few strong weeks, but the average weekly donation patters really add up.

We’re having fun now.

See you Sunday,

Peter

Week 29 - Rescued Critters Food Drive

Hi Folks,

PACC Opens the Door

to a Better Neighborhood

After talking pointedly about Pima Animal Care Center and the needs of their 17,000 charges for the past 28 week, suddenly lots of simmering ideas in the neighborhood came to life this weekend. Folks were now conversing with me about cleaning allies and turning one into a butterfly sanctuary, free spay and neuter clinics, clearing walkways beside two large homes and planting African Daisies in the gardens of three other homes.

Then Betsy on 13^th Street and her son, Ed told me about a social entrepreneurship grant they are writing to fund a tree planting program throughout the Miles Neighborhood. I told them I would gladly introduce them to all the neighbors … for them, the most difficult aspect of their program … but so easy for me.

Well, none of the conversations were really just talk. By Monday noon all three allies were cleaned and ready for a brisk weed-whacking. That will happen Tuesday. 

For years I have been talking about clean allies so I cleaned my alley. That stopped my immediate neighbors from tossing stuff over the walls. I also requested those big green roll offs every six months. Again, nary a word from anyone, but the roll offs always left the neighborhood nearly filled to the brim. When it came to folks placing huge items like stoves or mattresses wherever or whenever they pleased, I quietly took care of those.

What suddenly changed? It has to be PACC and the joy folks feel inside when they donate every week to feed the dogs and cats and rabbits. That warm feeling took 28 weeks to ware down their protective shields to a point where they could say, “Hey, I need a little help with something that bugs me.” But the best part is they are now staying connected and continue to help right back.

Imagine if one person in each of the 130 neighborhoods in Tucson started to collect donations for Pima Animal Care Center. This would be one fine community service city in 28 weeks. And no hungry rescues anywhere.

We donated lots of leashes, food bowls, harnesses, collars, a Smurf hat, 42.6 lbs. of pet food and $58.90 in cash and two checks.

See you Sunday,

Peter