Donations

Someone donated a ream of paper the other day. 

Awesome, cause I mean... if you've ever adopted, you know that there's four pages for each adoption (minimum) -- pickup form (details which animal is going home), adoption contract, health guarantee, and invoice.  If there's more than one animal, add more pickup forms.  The adopter gets copies of this, so however many pages there are, double that.

Plus, everyone gets a care packet, and that's... maybe 6-8 pages, plus a coverpage.  The other animal care packets (non-chin ones) are shorter, but still 3-5 pages plus coverpage.  Everyone adopting a young chin gets two handouts -- what to expect when you take home a young chin, and do's and don'ts for young chins.  Plus, the adoption form is printed out and stapled to all of this for my records... so you can see how we use paper.... and this is just for adoptions, specifically.

So, someone donated a ream of paper, yay!  As of 5 minutes ago, it was still sitting where I set it, which prompted me to write this blog.  It's now put away, so I have it when I need it. 

If you are ever looking to donate... I understand not everyone has gobs of cash to donate, or chin cages lying around... I get it!  So I created this page on the website -- List of Needed Items -- which details basic items that we go through all the time.  Some off the top of my head would include paper towels, reams of paper, simple green, white vinegar, sharpies, notecards, packaging tape, and so on. 

Yes, I do realize (though thank you to the people who have pointed it out) that the list does not include things like chinchilla food, dust, hay, etc.  Honestly, most of this stuff we're already getting cheaper than the average person, anyway.  For example, you can get chinchilla dust at a pet store... it's usually $8-10 minimum for about 2-3 pounds, which works out to about $3.50ish per pound.  If you only have one chin, maybe that's totally reasonable.  But here's the thing... I just bought two 50-pound bags of dust last week, for perspective on how much we got through.  I'd have to look up exactly how much those cost (I bought a lot of stuff... it's part of the grand total...not quite so sure of the breakdown), but I'd bet you that I didn't pay more than $50 for those two bags.  So, $50 for 100 pounds of dust is $0.50 per pound... as compared to $3.50 per pound.  Comes down to... if someone wants to spend $10 to help the rescue, there's better things to spend it on than a tiny canister of dust.  Sure, if that's what you want to buy to help us out, feel free... but my personal opinion on that is that it could be spent better.  $10 for dust, or $10 for... $3 simple green, $1 pack of notecards, $2 -- 2 rolls of paper towels, $3 white vinegar gallon, $1 dish soap... see what else we could have for $10? 

That's why I made the list.  I think the average person can understand, yes, we need chin food, yes, we need hay, yes we need bedding.  And yes, you're welcome to donate any and all of those, plus more things not on the list.  Someone donated sterilite tubs last week.  Can always use more storage (thanks Kenneth)!  Doesn't have to be on the list, but those are just ideas.  We had someone else donate hay (thanks Aleks!)... their family ordered 50 pounds of hay, and wasn't quite aware just how much hay makes up 50 pounds... so they took what they wanted, and brought us the rest.  There's probably 35-40 pounds left, and that will last, oh... about 2-3 weeks, so it's appreciated!  The list is just meant to be less expensive suggestions... basically... things that you might not necessarily think of, when wondering, "hmmm what does a chin rescue need?"... but things that we definitely go through on a regular basis, and can always use more of.  So, if you're ever looking to help out, but stay within budget... keep that list, and the rescue, in mind!