I met an dear old friend this afternoon. In fact, she and another friend were the pioneers who started AnimalCare with me. We have remained friends all these years and both of them are also animal rescuers in their own right.
She mentioned something very interesting and I thought I should clarify this in a blogpost.
She mentioned that she asked the other friend if she still follows our blog news and this other friend said that it’s not so much about “AnimalCare” but more about “Family Care” now.
Hmm…that’s an interesting perspective to me and I am thankful for the feedback. It’s important that we understand and appreciate how others see us and the role that we play.
AnimalCare actually started only as an educational platform, which was the only thing I knew how to do – to educate, having been a teacher all my life. I only wanted to educate the community and especially young people on the importance of neutering and caring for street animals.
But I sought the advice of a monk who has done (and is still doing) a lot of charitable works in Malaysia and he advised me to start a fund. I remember his exact words, “If you want people to do things, you must give them the money to do it. Start a fund.” I did not know how to start a fund, but I did it and the rest, as they say, is history.
So back to what we have done through the last 14 years. As in all things, there will always be the ebb and flow in life’s activities. We started as an educational platform (it still is now), a neutering fund, a medical fund and food fund. We reached a peak, maintained it for years, and then learnt that some people took advantage of us and there was abuse and cheating. So, we had to tighten our policies to address this abuse and dishonesty.
Then, the pandemic struck and people were hit badly by the economic crisis. They still are now. Vet costs and petfood costs have risen many times now. It just makes CNRM more costly and we responded by increasing our aid to the caregivers.
It took awhile for the gears to get cranking again. But we have never rested. When neutering claims decreased, we channel our surplus funds to our food fund. All donations were still used for the animals.
And as for education, I have always believed that the best education is by example and this is why I write so much about how I take care of my own cats. I believe and hope that all these little stories can serve as educational tidbits that might inspire others, especially the younger generation, to care for animals too.
Education is best achieved through example, by letting others see (in this case, hear and read) what you do. In my experience with the younger generation, education by preaching no longer works at all! Children see, children do.
Hence, AnimalCare will always remain an educational platform and we will always practise education by example. There is no point in talking about a whole lot of theory and philosophies if we do not practise it ourselves!
I am also re-doing our brochure, hoping to print more and distribute it out to vet clinics so that caregivers who need financial aid can apply to us for it.
This is the front page of our brochure, done ten years ago. I found that I don’t really need to change anything much, because we ARE providing the same services now.
Note: EDUCATION in the foundation of everything that we do! Our stories would be the best things to pass down to the younger generation.
Now, enough talking, and back to our stories!