Chain links and zip ties

Submitted by Janell Matthies, UAN Emergency Services Manager

Even though we are here in Hawaii, you would never guess that people were lounging by a pool or having fun in the ocean. About 30 volunteers from EARS and other groups swarmed into the warehouse yesterday to help set up our temporary emergency shelter. The volunteers, some even from the mainland, have been sweating all day creating kennel after kennel out of chain-link fencing and zipties.

The words “Kennel Kit: A Complete Kennel in a Box” will stick in our heads for a very long time. Each box provides a new and interesting challenge to the volunteers. Their perseverance and determination was amazing. By early afternoon we had solid, safe and large kennels ready to take in the 100-plus dogs, many, many cats and whatever else was in store for us.

I have forgotten how spoiled we are by having the PetSmart Charities Emergency Relief Waggin’ as a partner on so many deployments. We all commented many times about how we would never complain about “pin crates” (crates that take a bit longer to put up than the “pop up” kind).

Once again, every volunteer stepped right up and started working as a team. To look at them, you would think it was a well rehearsed effort done many times by the same people, not a miscellaneous group of people coming together for the first time, all working for the same cause.

These animals are so lucky to have so many people watching out for them. We’re getting ready for the arrival of the first transport trucks now and will send updates on what we find whey they roll up the doors.