Need an ornament for your tree?

Last year we came across a charity that struck a chord with us. It was Shelby County Humane Societies ornament drive at Christmas that takes animals from our shelter to parts of the country where dogs aren’t as overpopulated, pretty much ensuring a happy ending (Suppy and Demand anyone?). This program, the Shelter Partners Program, allows you to purchase an ornament for $50 and help pay for the transport from Alabama to New Hampshire.

What appealed to me initially about this program was that I got to *choose* the dog that called out to me. My husband and I poured over the doggy candidates and picked Maribell. The fact checker in me has to state that I may be recalling the spelling of her name incorrectly by a letter or two! It was a year ago, but it was a variant of Maribell 🙂 We purchased the ornament and got to leave a little message online when we paid, saying a bit about why we wanted to do it. We signed it from Gina, Brandon, and Whiskey 🙂 One of the coolest things was that when the ornament came the front of the package had a big “Thank you Whiskey!” hand written on the front of the envelope. It’s these little touches that make me extra giddy to get mail “for” Whiskey.

Whiskey hangs out in his crate and shows off Maribell's ornament on the left, pictures, and thank you card. Seeing this now, there's something about her that reminds me of Whiskey! Maybe that's one reason we were drawn to her 🙂

A while later the most wonderful thing happened! We got the ornament and opened it up. It was worth every penny to know we helped Maribell go to a place with fewer dogs and get a new home. Everyone deserves a dog. Seriously.

This year’s candidates are no exception. There are so many different types of breeds to choose from to send. So many cute and longing faces.  I want to bring them all home. And while I have to run it by B who we’ll be supporting this year, I have to say Marvin’s face stands out, because he looks so much like our last years choice, Maribell.

I hope you’ll all find time to check out this site and peruse through the class of 2011. If you aren’t from Shelby County (I know many of our FB followers and readers are spread out across the US), you can help too! Spread the word on fb. Share the link we posted on Whiskey’s page, or share this article, or better yet, buy an ornament! Whiskey will definitely thank you, and so will I.

We’ve been chosen to write a piece highlighting the Shelter Partners program so in the next day or two we hope to have up a special story about a dog that is *perfect* for us here at Whiskey on the Rocks- a hiking, outdoorsy, Alabama transplant of a dog named Dharma. I think you’re really going to love her!