Pushed to the back of what most see as just another dirt road in Darlington County is where our lost, thrown away and forgotten animals live. This is their “shelter”.
I wish I could remember now how it all began back in May. Whether I just saw a post on Facebook or the newspaper, but somehow I was drawn to a picture of a shelter animal and then I asked the question, “How can I help”?
The response was something I will never forget. They put me right to work! Awareness is what they needed. They needed someone who could help them get started in social media. Someone to spread the word. And this whole time I was thinking, “why haven’t they thought of these things sooner”?
That’s when what I perceived was happening at the end of that dirt road was so far from the reality. Why did they think of this sooner? They did. And I learned that there are only so many hours in a day and they spend most of theirs trying to get these animals to safety. They don’t have time to sit down in a meeting room and think “strategically” on how to execute a plan like I thought they should. They only have time to fight fires, and work hour by hour to save each animal.
Did you know that Tuesday night when you were probably fast asleep or relaxing with your family, volunteers were running around taking animals that have been at the shelter for 30 days to rescue homes so they wouldn’t be put to sleep Wednesday morning? Did you have any idea that they were down to three puppies that needed to be spoken for before midnight and Facebook, of all mediums, helped save those three puppies?
And did you know that because of that, no animals will be put to sleep in Darlington County this week? You’re tax dollars will not be spent on saying goodbye to the forgotten, but rather giving them a chance for a life?
I don’t think the citizens of the county truly have any idea exactly what these volunteers do at our shelter. I never did. I perceived things much differently until I got involved. Until I was on the email chain for Pilots and Paws, the pilots who fly all over the U.S. and pick up deserving animals to take them to a rescue, or the email where one foster home in Hartsville has 12 animals she’s caring for and some nursing back to health to give them a chance outside of the shelter. Or the amazing efforts with the van the shelter bought that packs up dozens of animals every chance they get and drive them to people all over the East Coast who want to give our Darlington County animals a second chance.
I think about the one volunteer who I found out most recently drives down from Virginia to our shelter to take photos of our animals in hopes that by postings online and to other rescue organizations she can get the animals to a safe place.
And what do we do as a county? We push them back. Back to the end of a dusty dirt road which most would never drive down. We don’t have heat in the winter or cool in the summer for our animals. We have volunteers and workers who cover the animals up and hose them down.
We don’t acknowledge what these volunteers do to save our Darlington County animals. We don’t even give them the appropriate amount of funding or shelter to truly do what is needed. They don’t have an adequate shelter. It’s not even close to what we as a county should and could do.
Right up the road in Greenville, SC, they just opened a new state of the art no kill facility. Funded by a capital campaign and the people of Greenville County. They are able to host awareness events and people actually don’t mind going to the shelter. They enjoy their experience. It certainly isn’t constructed by the prison behind the water tower.
We fund many initiatives in Darlington County which I am most proud to call my home. We have amazing facilities that most small towns do not have. Black Creek Arts, Coker College, Governor’s School for Science and Math, Mayo Magnet School, just to name a few, and yet we call this our shelter.
I wrote this letter for one reason. I am now so acutely aware of our potential in Darlington County that I find myself angry that we just don’t do more. I look at these volunteers, these people who stayed up most of Tuesday night transporting animals to a safe place and I think…my goodness! What could these volunteers do with their time if they had appropriate facilities, funding and resources?
This letter is not to point out what we don’t have and move on as a community, rather it’s about the potential impact of what we could create. It’s about reaching new people… with the opportunity to influence their thoughts, decisions, and actions… in ways you could never do otherwise.
It’s about getting the communities of Darlington and Hartsville on board. Finding or building an appropriate facility that Darlington County can be proud of. Thinking about the bigger picture.
Could we make a difference? Could we start a capital campaign to build a facility that we as a community can be proud of and can save the animals that we are simply casting away at the end of a dusty dirt road behind our water tower next door to our prison?
I’m challenging the citizens of Darlington and Hartsville to step forward. I’m challenging the industries imbedded in our county to step up. I believe we can do this as a community just as we have successfully done so many initiatives before this.
Please speak up! Facebook the Mayor, call the City Councils, write you local representatives, ask your employers, email me! It won’t just happen on its own. We have to have a voice and one that says we are proud of Darlington County and we want to provide our animals with the care they deserve and the chance to find a home.
I challenge Dawkins Concrete, Dempsey Construction, ACE Hardware and Lowe’s of Hartsville. What can you step forward with? A concrete foundation? Pavement? Supplies?
I challenge Sonoco, Nucor, Stingray. What can you step forward with? I challenge the builders, electricians, plumbers and all other skilled tradesmen, along with the businessmen, bankers, strategist, fundraisers, capital campaign advisors, how can you help? And I challenge all other industries, businesses and organizations that I have not mentioned…what can you do?
I found this quote on a blog from this lady in Meredian, MS who inspires me that we as Darlington County can do this. She’s one person and she rescues dozens of animals who are cast aways, bait dogs and injured animals, all who she finds a way to fund and eventually adopt out to new homes. She shows me that with the right plan, we can do this as a community!
I looked at all the caged animals in the shelter, the cast-offs of human society. I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness and betrayal, and I was angry. “God” I said. “This is terrible! Why don’t you do something?” God was silent for a moment and then He spoke softly. “I have done something.” He replied. “I created you.”
