Now is not the time to sit back when there are so many reasons why people need to step up. Stop for just a moment from your busy schedule and really take a good look around. What do you see? Do you see the man grabbing his wife by the arm and pushing her into the truck? Do you notice the child who never smiles in dirty clothes? Do you see the homeless man sitting on the street corner begging for food? Do you notice the single mom counting her change to pay for a gallon of milk? Do you see the starving stray dog wandering in and out of traffic on the highway as it searches for anything to eat? Do you notice the crying kitten by the dumpster at the gas station? Look around you – what do you see? Do you see that every day, someone or something needs you to stop sitting back and to start stepping up?

Every day I get amazed at just how many people sit back and do nothing when there are so many people and animals in need. Some say that they are just too busy to care or too wrapped up in their own agendas. Some think they don’t have the means to help anyone else so they just don’t. While others are waiting for someone else to step up so they don’t have to. But what if everyone just sat back and did nothing? What if no one ever stepped up to do what’s right?

However, there are those of us that can’t just sit back and do nothing. There are those of us who step up even though our schedules are just as busy as everyone else’s. We step up even though we don’t always have the extra means. We step up just because it’s the right thing to do.

I literally haven’t had a vacation in over three years. Why? Because I’m constantly tending to someone or something so I seldom get a break for more than 24-48 hours every other month if that. I know how hard it is to work 8-12 hours and then go home and work another 6-8 hours to tend to my crew. Though some of them are two-legged, many more are four-legged and depend upon me for their food, water, and shelter. Every single day I get up between 4 a.m. – 5 a.m. to start feeding the 8-12 semi-feral cats outside. Then I feed my crew inside which consist of three dogs and seven cats (though some are my children’s pets, most are rescues). Then many times I have a foster or two or three or four or five. Plus I help with the Eufaula pound and within our communities with county animals that are abandoned, abused and just need someone – anyone to not sit back but step up.

I am also grateful to have a tribe behind me who do their part to rescue every day. My Paws N Claws partner, Lori, is constantly updating and adding animals on our Facebook page and volunteering at the pound each evening. She also has her own crew of rescued animals that she tends to daily and she volunteers at many other events all while working full time as a teacher. I’m grateful to my newspaper crew who help run our pet pantry, Daphanie and Shauna, as they work full-time jobs as well. I’m grateful to Kate who runs Happy Paws and always helps us with spaying and neutering these poor fur babies and answers all my crazy calls, to Voss Veterinary Clinic who answers the phone at all hours of the night and on weekend emergencies, and to Glover Veterinary Services who answers all my crazy questions and gets me wormer for litters of unwanted babies and Aday Veterinary who takes walk ins and even reassures us when we have to make the hard decision to euthanize the ones that are too sick to save. I’m grateful for friends like Della, Teresa and Krista who drop everything to help me with 12 newborn kittens that were left abandoned in a box like they were trash. And most of all I’m grateful for so many of our Paws N Claws volunteers, Livy, BJ and Tisha, who help at the pound, and James who fosters and helps every time we call. To Roger, Lana, Sandra, Bernita, Bob, and so many others who donate to the pantry and to help get so many of our fur babies fixed. To the businesses, like BB Boutique, Sharpe’s, the Lake Gypsy and Lake Dog who donate to our rescues, we thank you. To everyone who has shared our page to help find homes and to everyone who has adopted a pound pup or a county pup or kitty, we cannot thank you enough. To our county sheriff officers, Kevin and Chad, who go do animal welfare checks, for Rep. Tim Turner who is working to help find solutions and for anyone who has helped us in any way – THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

I know there will be several people I missed in all this but TO OUR WHOLE COMMUNITY, WE CANNOT SAY THANK YOU ENOUGH! Thank you to those who don’t’ sit back, but step up to make a difference! You matter! Just like all these fur babies matter! In a time when there seems like so many heartbreaking situations are happening all around us, please don’t ever sit back – step up and be part of the solution. I know we can make a difference every single day if we just choose to step up!