Greg the dog after performing for the show, Greg's Grove, in Calgary, AB. (Tuesday Sanderman, CMRU.ca)
About
Rescue Friends Animal Foundation specializes in fostering animals such as dogs, cats, and other animals, such as an occasional guinea pig. When other shelters are too full or other rescues need assistance to place foster pets, Rescue Friends helps out. Occasionally, Rescue Friends take surrenders from either spay and neuter clinics or from owners. “Our tiny team carries a heavy load,” says Mary Louise Cole, a volunteer for the foundation.
Foster homes
The foundation is strictly foster-based, meaning they do not have a shelter and take as many animals as long as they can place them in a foster home. The foundation tries to match animals and fosters families accordingly, this way the animal has less chance of being moved around from home to home. This allows the animal to become more adjusted to their new lives while they wait to be adopted.
Some ways they evaluate a good fit is by determining the schedule of the foster person, for example, how long approximately would they be able to foster for and what is the adoptability of the animal. Fostering is an option for people who otherwise may not be able to welcome an animal into their home, such as affordability.
Fostering animals with Rescue Friends
“To be a foster means you must be willing to commit to welcoming an animal into your home, while it stays behind the scenes and gets ready, and then keeping the animal through to adoption,” says Cole. Once you become a foster, the animal is integrated into your home and Rescue Friends provides supplies, food, and vet care so there is no out of pocket expenses for the foster. The foster also helps out by doing meet and greets, as well as helping assess the suitability of the prospective adopters.
Other ways to help out
- Fundraising initiatives, fresh energy is always welcome.
- Donate your time, for example: setting up booths and helping to sell items.
- Become a volunteer coordinator and help organize other volunteers.
- Help with transportation of animals and supplies.
- Spread the word to support.
Reflection
Working on this project was motivating, not only because I got to work with an amazing foundation but also because we got to create something fun. Plus, I got to work with and meet Greg, the star of our show, who was very talented. The team at Rescue Friends was amazing and very helpful in making this project a success. Together, we made multiple episodes of Greg’s Grove in hopes that airing them once a week for three weeks would bring more attention to the foundation, and I hope that it’s true. I also hope that Rescue Friends is able to use my video to advertise their adoptable pets and that it helps more animals find homes.
Through the creation of this project I learned many different things, such as how to work with other teams, following their ideas and instructions, to make something we are both proud of and able to use. Creating the script and trying to have an animal follow it was quite a difficult task, but I think we managed since Greg was very talented and well behaved. We worked on brainstorming ideas and decided to go in a direction that was positive and silly, but something that would share important information as well. With Greg interviewing the volunteers this could be accomplished and was engaging for the audience. I hope to work on similar projects in the future and be able to create important works that resonate with people.
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