As someone who has spent a significant part of my life playing and listening to music, I often relate moments in time or specific people and places with songs. So, if tasked to come up with a theme song to represent how I feel about the incredible people that make up the Bideawee Volunteer corps, I would say it would be “Kind and Generous” by Natalie Merchant. If you don’t know it, perhaps you might pop it into your playlist and listen for a bit. But in the meantime, here are just a few of the lyrics:
“You’ve been so kind and generous I don’t know how you keep on giving.. for your kindness I’m in debt to you..
For your selflessness my admiration.. for everything you’ve done…you know I’m bound.. I’m bound to thank you for it…”
April is Volunteer Appreciation Month and I cannot think of a better or more fitting song to express just how much the volunteers at Bideawee mean, not just to me and the staff, but to the thousands of animals whose lives they touch each year: the cats who get comfort from sitting in their lap for a bit or learn to trust a pet from a human for the first time; the dogs who get to go on walks or to spend time playing in the yard because a volunteer is there to play with them; the many animals that get adopted because a volunteer works an event or at the front desk, or those that get a reprieve from the shelter because a volunteer steps up to foster them. Not to mention the volunteers who help with transport so that we can rescue dogs from overcrowded municipal shelters in the south and give them a second chance, or the incredible volunteers who do TNR and cat rescue and work with us to find homes for so many deserving cats and kittens. Bideawee’s volunteers are at the heart of every effort and action we take, and I will never stop saying that we couldn’t do the work that we do without them, because we couldn’t.
Thank you all for your kindness and your generosity to Bideawee. We could not help as many pets and the people who love them without you! As Natalie Merchant said, “I want to thank you for so many gifts you gave. For everything you’ve done, you know I’m bound to thank you for it. And all the animals want to thank you too.
Happy Volunteer Appreciation Month! May you feel how much we all appreciate you – today, every day, this month and all twelve months of the year.