News
Winter Package Drive for Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue
November 10, 2008, 12:26PM MT
By Danielle A Engle
Efforts are underway to collect winter supplies for Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue (RLRR) in North Central Minnesota.
Efforts are underway to collect winter supplies for Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue (RLRR) in North Central Minnesota. Learn about RLRR and how you can help secure winter supplies for the animals at the shelter.
Posted by Danielle A. Engle, Best Friends Network Volunteer
Photograph of Karen Good, Founder of RLRR courtesy of RLRR
About Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue
Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue is located on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in North Central Minnesota. Founded in 2004 by Karen Good, the organization rescues hundreds of animals from disease, starvation and injury each year. The reservation is about the size of Rhode Island with acres of lake shore and undisturbed land that serve as a natural habitat for the animals and plants. The Red Lake Nation is dedicated to preserving the natural habitat for bald eagles, hawks, fox, muskrat, deer, wolf and other winged and four-footed creatures for future generations.
Yet, in this same setting, there are unprecedented levels of poverty and homelessness. There isn’t sufficient housing available for those individuals and families without homes. As a result, they often stay with friends or relatives. The resultant overcrowding and persistent poverty are stressful and challenging for the people and the domestic dogs and cats entrusted to their care. For those animals, RLRR offers hope, spay, neutering and other veterinary care, food and other supplies, and when needed, temporary shelter until the animals can be adopted into new families.
When Good and a handful of volunteers opened the rescue, they shared a vision “to change the way we relate with and treat our animal companions throughout the Red Lake Nation.” The connection between animals and the Ojibwe culture are described as follows:
“Traditional Anishinabe respect all living things including animoosh and gazhigees. According to oral tradition the Ojibwe, the Anishinabe had a very special connection to maheengun, or the wolf. Original man walked across the North American continent long ago with maheengun by his side. After their journey together as brothers, they parted their ways. What would happen to the wolf would surely happen to the Anishinabe. The Anishinabe were always to regard the ancestor of the wolf, animoosh or dog as a friend. Red Lake Rosie reminds the Anishinabe to keep their covenant with maheengun. Animal and Culture Connections.
About the Founder of Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue
When not working at the shelter, Karen Good teaches at-risk youth at the Red Lake Alternative Learning Center. The center offers alternative education services and independent study to students 16 years of age or older who are actively enrolled and attending Red Lake Schools. Good would like to spend her remaining years of teaching providing humane education to the students. She dreams of obtaining funding for a reservation wide humane education program. With such funding, the at-risk students would conduct educational outreach projects. This would include the following: develop a marionette theatre; write stories about puppies left at the dumpsters; storytelling about animals living tethered to chains; presentations to children at all levels; and, bringing animals to the classroom.
Following the death of her sister, Patty Good of Roseville, Minnesota , this September, Good established a memorial fund for a feral cat shelter. In speaking about her sister, Good said, “She cared so much for the feral cats, I thought it [feral cat shelter] would be a good way to provide a memorial for her.” The funds will be used to build a multi-level insulated shelter on stilts about 5 feet above the ground for feral cats. It will include well bedded shelter boxes, food and heated water bowls, and a retractable ladder for volunteers to go up, clean the shelter and provide fresh food and water.
According to Good, the shelter receives about 10 feral cats per year. With no hope for adoption, the cats would be spayed, neutered, immunized and then released into the feral cat colony. In the past, the shelter sent feral cats to barn life where they didn’t know what their quality of life would be. The Feral Cat Project will ensure that the cats are being fed, have adequate shelter, a quality of life, and as much safety as can be provided. The target goal to begin building the shelter is the Spring of 2009.
Although this is a vision without funding, RLRR was once a vision without funding. With the ongoing assistance of individuals, other rescue organizations and sponsors, foundations and volunteers, RLRR is now a reality. “We have developed a very helpful network of rescues and shelters statewide that take our animals,” said Good. “Without these two critical components, we would not be able to help the animals."
She credits several foundations and organizations for their support in funding various neuter/spay programs and shelter improvement projects. They include:
• St. Paul Foundation
• Lawson Family Fund
• Minneapolis Foundation
• D J and T Foundation
• Pins for Pets
• William and Charlotte Parks Foundation
• Friends of Flicka Foundation
• Oppenheimer Fund Foundation
• Castaway Foundation
• Animal Relief Fund
• Humane Society of the United States
A complete listing is available at Our Family of Friends.
RLRR Metro Support Team
DeeDee Welles is a member of the metro support team. She coordinates animal placements and transports for RLRR. The metro team is small but very active in fundraising, transporting animals and food to and from the shelter, organizing and supporting spay/neuter clinics, traveling to and working at the shelter, and other services as needed or requested by Good. Welles said, “We can always use more volunteers since our group very small and the need is very great.” Anyone interested in learning more about the metro support team can contact Welles or visit Red Lake Rosie’s Rescue Blog.
Collaborative Effort
When someone suggested a winter supply drive for RLRR, Marilou Chanrasmi, President of Pet Haven, offered to coordinate the project. She contacted Dana Andresen, Director of Operations for Chuck and Don’s Pet Food Outlet, for assistance. With Andresen’s help, arrangements were made for three strategically located stores – Elk River, Roseville and Shakopee - to host collection bins for the drive. Volunteers in the metro support team secured and delivered bins to each of the participating stores. The bins will remain in place until the end of the year. Chanrasmi volunteered to deliver the first load of supplies in mid November. Metro team volunteers will collect and deliver the supplies throughout the remainder of the year.
How you can help
The following supplies are always needed and can be placed in the collection bins:
Canned dog food
Canned cat food
Kitty litter
Cedar chips for puppy bedding
Rawhide bones to chew on
Pet Beds are fun for the doggies and cats
Paper towels
Garbage bags
Larger rubber pails for water in winter
Large metal food dishes
Large rubber bowls
Frontline for dogs and cats
Pain medication and antibiotics
Cedar bedding (not mulch)
The addresses for, and directions to, the Elk River, Roseville and Shakopee stores are available at Find a Chuck & Don’s store near you. You can show your support for Chuck & Don’s participation in this collaborative effort by contacting Dana Andresen.
Winters are very cold in Northern Minnesota. Straw bales are used for bedding and insulation around the shelter. At least 225 bales at $2 per bale will be needed to get through the winter. Monetary donations for straw bales or other supplies can be sent directly to the shelter at:
Red Lake Rosie's Rescue
23880 So. Good Road
Trail, MN 56684
Veterinary services for RLRR are provided by Clearwater Veterinarian Services. Monetary donations for the vet bill can be sent to:
Red Lake Rosie’s Animal Fund Account
Clearwater Veterinarian Services
Gonvick, MN 56644
Anyone wishing to contribute to the Feral Cat Project memorial fund can send checks to:
Red Lake Rosie's Rescue
Feral Cat Project
23880 So. Good Road
Trail, MN 56684
Together, we can help RLFF achieve the vision of restoring the bond between animals and the Ojibwe culture as outlined so eloquently on the web site. In doing so, the Red Lake Nation will serve as a model for what is possible when the native people of a land restore the traditions and values that once made it a place of untouched beauty and richness.