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Less Talk, More Walks Pet Supply Drive
By: Claudia Raffay, Director of Marketing & Member Services
Email: craffay@sussexrec.com
“Concern for Community” is one of the seven principles that guide all rural electric co-ops. At Sussex Rural Electric Cooperative, we take this principle very seriously. Our employees, management, and board of directors live and work right here in this community. Just like the community members who banded together to form SREC in 1937, we want to make sure that our impact is positive, uplifting, and meets specific needs of the community.
“Concern for Community” means making the wellbeing of world around us a priority. In late 2017, SREC established the CAP$ (Community Action Plan) fund from monies collected from unclaimed capital credits. Since establishing our CAP$ fund, SREC has put almost $100,000.00 back into the community in donations and sponsorships. Our Employee Directed Giving program directs thousands of dollars a year to local non-profits and empowers our employees to choose which organizations to support. We support youth soccer clubs and baseball teams, non-profit organizations that benefit our members, and the community organizations that work tirelessly to make a difference.
Through our educational programs, we teach young students and scouts about energy and electric safety. We support local graduates through scholarships and this year gave out over $10,000 to a group of 18 students from three area high schools. We also have a long history of participation in the National Rural Electric Youth Tour, where high school juniors from across the county are given a free trip to Washington, D.C. Following a hiatus due to the pandemic, we hope to offer this trip once again to students in the near future.
When possible, we work alongside our members to maximize the difference we can make in our community. In the past, we have gathered donations from members to support charitable organizations like Family Promise of Sussex County, the Sussex County Division of Social Services, Pass It Along, and Father John’s Animal House. We saw great support from our community in the last pet supply drive held in early 2020. In total, SREC employees and members collected 330 pounds of food, supplies, toys, and treats to be used in supporting Father John’s animals while they wait to be adopted.
This year, we will be holding another supply drive titled the “Less Talk, More Walks Pet Supply Drive.” From Friday, June 17th to the morning of Thursday, July 28th, we will be gathering donations and are hoping to beat our 2020 record! Therefore, we are encouraging all members of the community, not just SREC members, to donate!
We are partnering with other organizations to make this drive as successful as possible. In addition to working with iHeart Media Sussex in the planning and promotion of this event, we have teamed with Franklin Sussex Auto Mall to serve as the drop-off site for donations. We are hoping that the accessibility of Franklin Sussex Auto Mall encourages more people to donate! Small donations will also be accepted at SREC’s office during the supply drive.
This cause is important to us here at SREC because our employees don’t just talk the talk, we walk the walk. Half of us own at least one rescue animal and several have adopted from Father John’s. Our Manager of Engineering Mike Osborne even adopted the puppy from Father John’s who was featured in 102.3 WSUS’s Pet of the Week segment which was filmed at our office to kick off our last supply drive. Biscuit is happy in his forever home with the Osborne family.
When I received a recent newsletter from Father John’s Animal House, I was amazed to learn that in 2021 a total of 840 animals were brought to the shelter, 71 being local strays and 398 having been surrendered from Sussex County households. While 764 of these animals were adopted during 2021, these figures were a steep increase from the previous year. When I spoke with Garret Barcheski from Father John’s, I found out that currently they are operating 70% higher than normal with the number of animals in and out of the shelter. July and August are typically the time of year when shelters see the highest need for donations and this need has increased due to supply chain issues, gas prices, and rising costs affecting people’s ability to donate. Father John’s is also taking on more responsibility for our area’s animals in need. They have recently begun partnerships with municipalities to take in their shelters’ animals and effectively turn them into no-kill shelters. They are also expanding their in-house spay and neuter operations to cut down on overpopulation of stray animals.
Having worked with Father John’s in the past, we saw another opportunity to generate support for a good cause. Just like our approach to power outages, we determined the problem, figured out how to fix it, and put a plan into place. This is how the idea for the Less Talk, More Walks Pet Supply Drive came together.
For those of you who feel helping people should come before helping animals, I ask you to consider the number of programs available to help people from many different sources. Also, consider that adopting an animal companion is proven to improve mental health. Father John’s does what it can to help people keep their pets instead of surrendering them when times are difficult. The companionship of a pet is beneficial to mental health during challenging circumstances and the act of surrendering your pet, even if you feel it would give them a better opportunity for a stable home, can be harmful to both your pet and family’s wellbeing. Helping animals does not mean people don’t get helped. Studies show that those who donate to charitable causes to help animals in need are also more likely to support other charitable causes as well.
There are many great animal-centric non-profits in our community that are deserving of support. Our employees have supported Skylands Animal Sanctuary, One Step Closer Animal Rescue (OSCAR), and the Avian Wildlife Center. We have maintained good relationships with each organization and if you would prefer to give to these shelters, we highly encourage you to do so directly. However, we will note that Father John’s Animal House shares resources with other shelters in the area if they have a surplus of supplies. We hope to see a strong show of support in the Less Talk, More Walks Pet Supply Drive that can end with many of our local shelters “sharing the wealth.”
Remember that direct action is the best way to make a difference. It is easy to slip into the role of a “keyboard warrior” who shares calls to action on social media and makes comments about what others should do, but we all have the power to change the world. When we come together as one community to support a good cause, we can accomplish amazing things.
If you’re looking for a new pet, consider adopting from Father John’s! On July 28th, we will cap off the drive with another Pet of the Week episode filmed at our donation site, Franklin Sussex Auto Mall. Let’s make sure it will be a collection worth celebrating!
