A very special thanks goes out to Amy D, RLRR Spay/Neuter Clinic Coordinator for giving up part of her garage to store the food until we could arrange transport to the shelter. She lost use of 1+ garage stalls in her garage.
Before we could get this much needed load of food to the shelter, we learned that several businesses in the south metro were running a supply drive on behalf of our rescue. Dog Day Getaway, Camp Bow Wow, and Turning Leaf Chiropractic all made a huge commitment to companion animals from the Red Lake Reservation. The patrons and staff from these businesses opened their hearts wide and donated at least another 3,000# of food plus many other supplies (toys, treats, coats, beds, blankets, medications, crates, etc). OK, now how were we to get these donations from the south metro to the north metro? Barbie O. stepped up and answered our plea for help on Facebook. Barbie, removed all the rear seats from her minivan and made 2 trips from Apple Valley on Friday, December 16th. For those of you who need reminding, the weather was horrible that afternoon. It snowed 9” that day and Barbie persevered through the snow and traffic to get the donations to Amy’s. Our knight in shining armor had also answered our plea for transport assistance. Kevin S. said he would be more than willing to transport food and supplies up to Motley, where he would hand them off to Nancy and Tom S – our regular stalwart transport volunteers.
Now Amy’s garage was really full.
Unfortunately, the transport had to be postponed due to the snowstorm. It just wasn’t safe to ask Kevin, Nancy and Tom to be driving 350+ miles on rural roads. Weather cleared and we set a new transport date with Kevin. Kevin drove his white F350 truck (yup our white horse) to Amy’s home to load the donations. We packed and stacked, we pushed and shoved. The bed of the truck was surpassed by at least 2’ if not more! To secure the food, we covered the bags with blankets and tied everything down with multiple ratchet straps. Kevin, and his sidekick Larry (a form Red Lake Rez dog) headed north.
Karen was thrilled to get the first load…you read that right, we couldn’t get all the donations in one load.
Kevin, not to be deterred committed to making yet another run to Motley to get the remaining donations up to Karen for the animals.
This time the load was not quite as large. Seriously, I think the first load was almost even with the top of the truck cab – bummed we forgot to get a picture, but loading all that food was exhausting. Plus, we stuffed a ton of stuff in the cab as well, leaving only space for Larry (Kevin’s constant companion and from Red Lake) and Kevin. Along with the remaining donations, we added about another 500 pounds of food DeeDee W had stored in her garage. As you can see, Larry got to go along again on this trip. The boys even brought along Kevin’s wife! Kevin made his second trip on New Year’s Day.
What I love about this tale is the underlying current of kindness and generosity. The animals on the Red Lake Reservation have one less problem. They now have food to fill their bellies. None of this would be possible without the kindness of our “knight,” ”fair maidens,” and generous donors. Literally hundreds of individuals each combined their gifts and time to make this happen.
What a wonderful start to a new year!
Kim W.
RLRR board member
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