A Chance to Help Midwestern Waterfowl

by Stephanie Ernst

categories: Activism and Actions, Sanctuaries, Wildlife/FreeLiving Animals

Published September 17, 2009 @ 12:44PM PT

The compassionate advocates behind the Deep Roots Animal Sanctuary of Bloomington, Indiana, have a new project in the works -- and fellow animal advocates have a chance to help them over the next several days. As explained on the project page for the in-progress Waterfowl Rehab Center,

After finding that there are currently no waterfowl rehabilitation facilities in southcentral Indiana, we spent the summer setting up just such a facility.  A small amount of your time and money will help us complete this project and create a new chance for hundreds of birds.

So far, we have fenced an area of land that borders part of our lake so that rehabbing birds can live in a natural setting before being released back into the wild. Now we need to build a structure to keep the birds comfortable and safe. For the birds, we are building a house out of straw bale-- a durable, sustainable technique; flooring it with reclaimed wood.

In comparison to other projects by larger organizations, this one isn't exorbitantly costly -- but smaller organizations have drastically smaller budgets and donor bases too. And here's where we come in, folks. Change.org member and sanctuary cofounder Chris has a fundraising project going that I'll let him explain in his own words:

The 10/10 Plan started as a challenge to myself.  I wanted to take $10 of my own money and see how much I could turn that into in 10 days.  My goal is to turn that $10 into $1000 in 10 days (hence the name - to see what I can do with $10 in 10 days).

The idea is simple.  Although I may not have $1000 to contribute and my friends and family members may not have that much, together we do.  If each of us puts in $5 or more between September 14th and September 24th, we can meet this goal and help save the lives of animals in need.  If you want to go above and beyond the call of duty, help spread the word and encourage more of your friends and family to give to the animals. . . .

All of the funds raised go towards Deep Roots Animal Sanctuary's new water fowl rehab center.  Deep Roots is completely operated by volunteers, so 100% of the money goes towards helping animals.  Any amount raised above the funds needed for this project will go towards food and healthcare for all the animals at the sanctuary.  Just think, hundreds of animals will get a new lease on life for only ten days worth of work.  That's a great return on your donation.  And it is a tax-deductible donation.

As we all know, not all grassroots animal advocates have much money to donate and spread around, but if you do have even $5 or $10 to spare (or more if you're able), this looks like a worthy project to support. You can donate directly through Change.org now (click the donate button on the upper right-hand side of the fundraising page), or you can send the sanctuary an old-fashioned check (Deep Roots Animal Sanctuary, P.O. Box 171, Bloomington, IN 47402; with "10/10" on the memo line).