Blogsy palsy

This is the first of many posts I'm planning on uploading using a new software package for the iPad called Blogsy. Its a little more intense than the real basic Blogger app but it has a ton more features. Well here goes.

 

Help Me Help Kids In Need

Hello,

This July I will be boarding a bus to Staunton, VA in the beautiful Shendandoah Valley to participate in “The Anchor House Ride for Runaways”, the primary fundraising vehicle of Anchor House, a halfway house and shelter for runaway and abused children here in Trenton, NJ.

Anchor House was founded in 1978 to provide emergency housing, food, clothing and hope for runaway and homeless youth, ages 10 to 16. The shelter provides for the immediate needs of runaway and homeless youth, while seeking to reunite youth with their families, strengthen family relationships and help youth decide on a constructive course of action. Services are available 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. The mission of Anchor House has grown since it was founded and now also includes the Angels Wings Program for infants and young children and the Anchorage program for older teens. Taken together, the facilities and programs under the Anchor House banner provide a continuum of care for homeless, abused and at-risk children from birth to 18 years of age. For more information, please visit the Anchor House Shelter’s website at.www.anchorhousenj.org.

At the same time those dedicated volunteers founded the shelter in 1978, a small group of equally dedicated bicyclists started the “Ride for Runaways”. Now in its 34th year, the number of participants has grown to average 200 bicyclists; many are multi-year veterans who get together annually to raise the funds needed to keep the doors of Anchor House open. The story of the Ride and its importance to the mission of the Anchor House Foundation is available here at www.anchorhouseride.org.

For 2012, we’re starting in Staunton VA (the birthplace of US President Woodrow Wilson) and will ride for 7 consecutive days for a total of 500 grueling miles all the way back to Trenton, New Jersey. Here is our 2012 route http://www.anchorhouseride.org/Ride.aspx and I’ve attached the 2012 Ride flyer detailing our route and the towns we’ll be visiting this year

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Please consider supporting the kids of Anchor House (and me as a rider) with your donation. Now, more than ever the kids need us. I will be bicycling for 7 days in the sun, heat, rain, wind, whatever the weather offers. I’ll be climbing mountains, swilling Gatorade and riding 70 plus miles per day all to help kids in crisis. While it will be a challenging week for me, it is a very challenging daily existence for the kids of Anchor House. Help us keep the doors of Anchor House open to these kids.

Your donations are tax deductible and you may make them online securely by clicking here: http://www.anchorhouseride.org/Donate.aspx?poolId=1099 or by filling out the attached “direct mailing form” and sending it to the address listed at the bottom.

On behalf of the kids that depend on Anchor House, Thank You!

Brian

Kitty vacation

Well, let's say you have two cats and a dog. And let's say one of your cats has been diagnosed with diabetes and is on insulin. You want to go on vacation, and you're having a tough time arranging for someone to housesit your house and take car of your animals (including your special needs cat).

What do you do?

In our case, you arrange to have your diabetic cat boarded at a veterinary hospital where she can be monitored 24/7 while you are away. 36 dollars a day will provide a ton of piece of mind next month when wife and I are on the Anchor House Ride for Runaways. Our cat will be receiving the best of care at Columbus Veterinary Hospital in Columbus, NJ (a sister hospital to our local vet, West Trenton Animal Hospital) but our dog will be spending time with his aunt at our house, rather than being boarded out. The budget can only afford one pet on vacation at a time!

Our cat will be examined by the vets at Columbus this Saturday, and we'll arrange to drop her off the night before the Anchor House ride. She'll stay there until we arrive home the following Saturday; well fed and well rested. The staff there will keep an eye on her, feed and medicate her and monitor her blood sugar levels. She'll get better care than if she was at home.

Such is the life of a pet parent with a special needs cat.

Bittersweet

It's been over a week since we said goodbye to our nine year old cat, Sandy. And I still miss her. Sandy was a little stray cat we adopted in 2004, small, malnourished and starving. She went from a completely wild animal to a wonderful, loving little pet while living with us. She developed asthma early in her life, and although we treated her attacks with prednilisone, the last one was fatal.We let her go home last Thursday, and we miss her so. Love you, girl.