one last act of charity

with about $80 left in our girl scout troop account and no more meetings scheduled, we had to come up with a good idea to use that money up in a useful way.  as part of GSGLA, when you disband and there are leftover funds in your troop account, you're expected to either donate that money to council (no way in hell), transfer the money to the troop the girls are joining (not applicable) or find a charitable way to spend it.  and with one of the moms in charge of our troop finances heading off on a 2-week vacation, we decided to try and get it wrapped up ASAP.

i ended up asking her to take her daughter to the store and spend the money on dog and cat food that we would then donate to the animal shelter that the troop has given supplies to before.  they bought bags of dry dog food and a handful of cans of cat food, dropped it off at our house and yesterday we finally had a chance to drive out to deliver it.

when we walked in carrying the first couple of bags, the volunteer who greeted us lit up and said "are those for us??"  she was super excited when we told her we had more in the car, and while she went to their files to find a donation receipt for us we made several trips until we'd unloaded it all, plus a bunch of old towels we'd cleaned out of the house.  if you didn't already know, animal shelters are always happy to take towels and blankets off your hands to use for their furry guests.

the bean was super excited to greet the doggies who scampered up to get a good look at her from the enclosure they were all playing in.

and then we had to take a walk around to see all of the other current guests in there.  this little guy was meowing up a storm, trying to get our attention.

the bean fawned all over him so much that the volunteer offered to take him out so she could cuddle him for a minute.  she was all too happy to take advantage of the opportunity.  not gonna lie, my heart melted a little too.

there were a handful of other cats there too, mostly full grown and looking for homes to take them in that didn't already have other pets.  we were having a ball watching them run around their little enclosures until one of them decided to take the raunchiest, foulest dump that made me feel a little barfy.  and so we moved into the other room to see the dogs.  these guys were so sweet:

although i have to admit, what we're going through with molly right now makes me really leery about taking in another pet after she's gone.  i love her so much and she's such a part of our family, and it's so painful watching her as she's declining.  i just don't know if i can handle doing it again.

but if we do decide to take that plunge again in the future, i definitely want to visit a shelter to adopt a new friend.  there are so many animals in shelters everywhere who are looking for a loving home.