Recycle for Rescue
By Clare Devine
For many people across the state, times are still tough and money is tight. Priorities have shifted, and the focus of most is now on essentials. The Society is no exception. However, with nearly 80 horses currently receiving lifesaving care, many of whom require additional expenditures due to their former abuse and neglect, the essentials are an expensive proposition. On average, it costs $5,000 annually to support a single healthy horse. For horses that have suffered, the cost can be much higher. In addition to routine checkups, specialized and intensive care is often required to both bring a horse back to health and maintain it thereafter. At the MSSPA, no expense is spared for an animal in need, from addressing painful teeth that make eating difficult to tending to crippling, overgrown hooves. Besides medical costs, the price of grain has risen and hay has sky rocketed. With every horse eating about a bale each day, expenses add up quickly at the farm.
As always, we are thankful for the generosity of donors, but realize and understand that many, though they would like to, do not have the capacity to give money at this time. For that reason we are also very grateful to Patman’s Inc., a local bottle and can redemption center. We are excited to announce that Patman’s has reached out and set up an account for the Society at their Tandberg Trail location and created a new way to help the animals.
Middle-schooler Morgan Kendall and her family kicked off ‘Recycle for Rescue’ on December 6th at the farm’s successful 2009 Holiday Open House. After collecting from their neighborhood, the Kendall family arrived in a pickup truck filled with cans and bottles for the Society. They also brought clean, used blanket and towels for the cats and dogs living at the Society’s farm. Holiday visitors brought lots of carrots and apples for the horses as well as donations to help keep the hay loft filled.
For those wanting to get involved in fund-raising efforts for the Society, we are currently in need of both children to decorate donation cans for placement in designated local store and a responsible adult to run the donation route. This entails periodically collecting the donation cans, bring the money to the Society, and replacing old cans with new ones. If you are interested in volunteering to manage a donation can route, please email Meris Bickford at MerisBickfordMSSPA@roadrunner.com, or call the office at (207) 892-3040 between 9 – 3, Monday through Friday.
Bottles and cans can either be dropped off in the donation box at the 279 River Road farm, or at Patman’s. The farm staff will be happy to receive donations of recyclable bottles and cans between 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. each day. When returning your empty bottles and cans at Patman’s, simply mention that you would like your refund money to go to the Maine State Society for the Protection of Animals. Patman’s is located at 95 Tandberg Trail in Windham, and can be reached at (207) 892-5218. It’s an easy way to give and every recyclable bottle or can counts! On behalf of the animals, thank you.
The MSSPA is a tax-exempt, 501(c) (3) entity and receives no federal, state or local funding. The Society is entirely funded by membership dues, donations, bequests, grants, and fund-raising activities. The Society does not charge for its services and seeks no reimbursement from any public source. The MSSPA provides more than one million dollars in services annually to the taxpayers of Maine and salvation to abused animals.