"20th Century Technology Serves Charity"
I belong to a photography community named Flickr, which is owned by Yahoo.
This community allows members to create various groups in which memebers
post their photography. I am the founder and administrator of a Flickr
group
called the, "Flickr-Noah's Wish Auction," or FNWA for short. This is a
group
of concerned photographers who love animals.
Our group function is to auction our photography and donate all the
proceeds
to Noah's Wish, which is the equivalent of the American Red Cross. Our
group
url is <http://www.flickr.com/groups/noahs_wish>.
Flickr offers users a
free
account which allows about 25 photos to be uploaded monthly. We also
maintain a blog, located at <http://www.fnsg.blogspot.com>.
The blog
allows
nonFlickr memebers to join our auction. We are set up to receive bids and
donations via email. Email bids and donation of photography can be spent
to
Noahs_Wish_Auction@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
The beauty of this whole concept is that it
cost nothing but time, desire and talent to join. Since we are a fledging
group we seek to expand our group memeber****p and alert those who might
bid
or submit work. This is a great way to collect beautiful art work for a
fraction of the costs and to sup****t the love of animals at the same time.
We seek photographers and web savvy individuals to join our ranks.
Noah's Wish was established in March 2002. Their mailing address is POB
997
Placerville, Ca . 95667 and the phone number is 530-622-9313. Pagers
numers
are 877-575-0128 or 800-746-9390. Their fax number is 530-622-9317. The
web
site address is www.noahswish.org <http://www.noahswish.org>
and
information
or other contact is available at info@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Noah's Wish offers
their 990 IRS Tax re****t from their site and 75% of all donations are
spent
on disaster relief efforts. They coordinate their efforts with the State
Veterinary Ass. in the state of the afflicted area and also local animal
shelters, local animal organizations, and city employees. They also work
with Alley Cat Allies, a national federal cat org., and major pet food
suppliers. Their rescue efforts cover the US, Canada and British Columbia
and hopefully other countries in the future.
They have two full time staff- Terri Crisp...director, Jennifer
McKim...Admininistrative Assistant, 1part-time Sheri Thompson...Training
Manager. The rest of the org. is deciated volunteers who undergo a three
day
training course. Terrie Crisp, the director, was named Person of the Week
by
ABC news. Her story was been re****ted in Reader's Digest, Goodhouse
Keeping,
Lifestyles, USA Today, Wa****ngton Post, Wall Street Journal and the New
York
Times. She has also appeared on CNN, Biography, 20/20, the Today Show,
Animal Planet, and the Weather Channel.
When natural disasters strike funding from FEMA can take up to a year to
be
obtained. Many shelters and veterinary businesses are often destroyed,
leaving injuried animals without treatment and rescued animals without a
localized holding area or the owners a point of reference to seek out
their
pets. Most states will only hold an animal in a shelter for 15 days,
Noah's
Wish will hold them for 30 days. They also donate equipment to destroyed
shelters and veterary practices to get them back up on their feet as
quickly
as possible. This org steps in immediately, offering assistance, that
might
otherwise take weeks or even months to obtain. Only 40% of animals
involved
in disasters are later reclaimed by their owners. Noah's Wish has a 100%
adoption rate of its rescued animals and they provide spaying/neutering
for
free. They provide food and drinkable water to owners who are in need and
they also care for the pets of city employees thus enabling them to better
perform their duties without having to worry about their pets. Noah's Wish
workers are allowed into restricted areas long before the returning
owners.
They also provide grief counseling from licensed mental health workers.
They
also provide veterians and groomers who are necassary to remove toxic
chemails from the animals' coats. With their disaster experience and
training they are able to aid quickly rather than fumble around, many of
these animals do not have the luxury of waiting extended periods of time
for
help.
The volunteers come from areas outside of the disaster allowing them to
focus on the task at hand. Noah's Wish also provides trans****tation of
local
animals held in shelters before disaster strikes to get them out of harms
way and provides materials to establish new, short term, shelters. Because
of their connections with major pet food suppliers they can quickly obtain
access to large, varied food supplies which otherwise might take too long.
They are an immediate point of contact for those who have lost their pets
and provide reuniting functions. Because of their training in mock
situtations their personnel is perpared to handle the mental stress of
providing such relief and this training also ensures a safer context for
both the rescue personnel and the animals. Noah's Wish is the animal form
of
the Redcross. Many countries and US people donate to the Redcross. Noah's
Wishes can use all the help they can obtain considering the services they
provide. By helping the pets we are also helping the owners.
The marriage of digital photography and charity work is a win-win
situtation. Please aide us in our efforts. We are striving to reunite
owners
with lost pets for Christmas. Please forward this to any concerned
parties
you can think of.
Sincerely,
Dee Strellner
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