Passing It Forward

So, we get a reasonable amount of donations, and sometimes oddball stuff... people often ask what we do with the stuff we get donated. 

Obviously, much of it we use.  When things like bedding, food, hay, etc are donated, those are usually pretty much immediately used for the animals in our care.

But what about when we get in blankets, towels, etc?  People really do bring a little of everything!  Sometimes we give stuff away, sometimes we sell stuff.  It really depends on what it is, and who needs it, but it all goes to good causes!

I know of someone in rat rescue who always needs wheels for their rats.  The rats constantly destroy them, and we have practically a never ending supply of people surrendering their chins with wheels that are unsafe for chins, but are just fine for rats.  Many of them head the way of that rat rescue.  The other day, we had someone adopting some rats, and they mentioned wanting to get a safe wheel for their rats.  I went and got one of our donated wheels and gave it to them, so they would have a safe one for their new additions.

A few days ago, my parents had a garage sale.  Much of our "random" stuff ended up there.  For example, we had some blankets, bed sheets, cat litter scoops... among the regular, small animal items.  A lot of that stuff sold, and of course, the money goes right back into the rescue to help care for the resident animals.  We even had a 1/5 full bottle of ferret shampoo that we put in the garage sale for $0.25.  Someone bought it, and that's $0.25 more for the rescue!

For some stuff that I know has more value and is more easily sell-able, I will list it on marketplace or craigslist.  Lately we've had a lot of luck selling things on marketplace, and have sold at least 5 guinea pig cages, umpteen cat / small animal carriers, 4+ crittertrail cages, and more! 

And lastly, some stuff gets donated.  We had someone awhile back donate a bunch of towels, washcloths, bedsheets, etc.  You read above what happened to some of that.  Some of the towels (smaller ones) we kept for our own use, some of the really crappy, ripped up ones, we cut into rags.  The bigger towels though, we have less use for, as far as the rescue goes.

So, we packed up three shopping bags full of them (this is what was washed at the time... we have more for our next trip!), and donated them to the vet that we use for our dogs, Beecher Veterinary.  When we came in with our Roxy all wrapped in a towel because her wounds were oozing (story for a different day, if you don't already know it), the vets at Beecher sent us home with a clean towel.  Now, they will have a TON of towels!

So, no matter what's donated, we find some use for it, and if we can't use it, we will get it to someone who can!