It's raining cats and dogs. . . .

As I have already blogged, my official job at the Charlotte Humane Society is interviewing the cats up for adoption and writing their descriptions.  Just how long did anyone who knows me well think I could keep on ignoring the dogs.

A new friend named Maria Goto is the volunteer photographer of both the cats and the dogs.  We meet almost every Monday afternoon to work together on the cats and today she asked me if I could stay a little longer and help her with the dogs.  I was hooked.

It breaks my heart to see how many large dogs end up at the HSC. The older dogs, especially the pit bull mixes, are the hardest to get adopted. Fortunately, we are a no-kill shelter.  That's why I was delighted to snap photos of Starsky and Hutch, because they have both just been adopted and are on their way today to their "forever home".





Hutch

 

Starsky

The Infirmary, checking in a new arrival.

His name is Keeper and he'd love to be one.

This is Bon Jovi.  I wonder if he sings.



This is Bono.  I think he's musical also.

The Charlotte Humane Society does an incredible job getting both cats and dogs adopted to loving homes and I love feeling that I may be helping that happen, even for just a bit.  Maria photographs the dogs out of their cages, with help from someone a lot stronger than me.  I couldn't resist taking my own photos of just a few of the dogs whose names made me laugh out loud.  Here's hoping that some of them find their forever home before long.  They certainly deserve to.

 

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Butterflies fly free. . .

I tried being "a lady who lunches", but to no one's surprise, it just doesn't work for me. Which leads me to an unusual volunteering project, at the Charlotte JCC, that I am really enjoying.

Let me introduce you to "The Butterfly Project".  I never heard of it either, but it is a national project designed for school children from the 5th to the 12th grades, to learn about the 1.5 million children who died in The Holocaust, and to remember them by painting a ceramic butterfly for each of their names. It is an amazing experience.

First the kids, many who have no prior idea what the Holocaust was really about, gather in an auditorium to meet one of two actual survivors, watch a film of their experiences, and have a chance to ask questions.  The discussion, led by Lori Semel, the head of the project here in Charlotte, leads to talk about prejudice, discrimination of religion and races, bullying and outright terror.

Next, the kids go into a large room set up with tables.  Here's where I come in.  When I first volunteered for the Project, I helped set up the room in advance of the kids arriving. Today, for the first time, I became a "presenter".  The one standing at the front of the room, talking to the kids, and leading the discussion.

Glazing the painted butterflies to ready them
for the kiln

At each place there is a paper plate with a small ceramic butterfly on it.  There is also a printed sheet where the student writes his or her name over the name of one of the 1.5 million lost children.  Each is asked to say that name out loud as a means of remembrance.  Then they paint the butterfly after learning that each of them will eventually become part of the huge butterfly sculpture on the grounds of the JCC.

It's an amazing project, with over 30,000 Butterflies already created at the Charlotte JCC alone.  I feel very honored to be part of it, and wanted to tell you about it.

School children painting ceramic butterflies.

Every child paints his or her own design.

First I talk about the importance of a name.
Then they paint.

The incredible Butterfly Memorial to the Holocaust
Sculpture on the grounds of the JCC.

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