Montezuma County and the rest of the far southwestern corner of Colorado is home to a host of worthy nonprofit organizations that do a stunning amount of valuable work. We can’t begin to list them here, but they help people of all ages cope with a variety of problems.
When it comes to aiding companion animals, however, there is just a single local organization that really shoulders the burden and responsibility in Montezuma and Dolores counties: For Pets’ Sake Humane Society.
This nonprofit group is formed entirely of volunteers. It doesn’t have a single paid staff member. But it works to pay for spaying and neutering pets, offer low-cost vaccination clinics, and manage feral cat colonies. For Pets’ Sake fosters cats and dogs and finds homes for strays. It helps lost animals get home again. It aids local people who are hurting financially by helping them pay for needed veterinary care for beloved animals.
In order to raise the money to do all this, the group (among other things) applies for grants, holds bake sales in front of City Market in Cortez, and sponsors an enormous annual yard sale that is a real service to the area. Organizing the yard sale requires a tremendous amount of work — finding and prepping a suitable location, promoting the sale, hauling in tons of goods, selling them over a two-week period, then cleaning up after the event. Again, it’s all done by unpaid people whose motivation is helping pets and their owners.
July is the month when For Pets’ Sake seeks new and renewed memberships. July is also the time when the organization collects donations of change on a single morning at the farmers market in Cortez.
If you appreciate pets – if your life has been made better by the companionship of a tail-wagging dog or a purring cat – please join For Pets’ Sake. You can pick up a membership packet at the Cortez Public Library.
Or if you’d prefer, just bring them a donation of some coins – pennies, quarters, whatever – to the July 6 Cortez Farmers’ Market from 7:30 to 11 a.m. The farmers market, as you probably already know, is at the corner of Main and Elm streets in downtown Cortez. For Pets’ Sake will have a booth.
And, of course, continue to support the other worthy local organizations of your choice. These groups are helping make our local communities better places.
