Bonus Episode with Rachel Townsend and Sara Alley

The Spirit of Volunteerism is an indelible part of being part of community and belonging.

In todays episode 2 friends with similars hearts but different missions meet up on the podcast to tell about the organizations and events were they volunteer.

Rachel Talks about Paws to Care and the Dyersburg Dyer County Humane Society

Ms Sara talks about Addi's Haunted Trail which happens next Saturday, October 22, 2022. 

Transcript

Marsh Naidoo (00:13):

Hi guys. Welcome to the Raising Kellan podcast. My name is Marsh Naidoo and I blog at raisingkellan.org where we curate resources for parents raising children with developmental delay and disabilities. On today's episode, which is a bonus episode, we are going to be chatting with Rachel Townsend. Rachel and I have developed somewhat of a tradition where we chat to each other every year on the podcast. And this year she is going to be talking about Paws to Care, which is a local nonprofit here in Dyersburg that she volunteers with. And later on we will be joined by Miss Sarah Alley who will tell us about Addie's Haunted Trail, which he's slated to take place next, right here in Dyersberg.

Marsh Naidoo (01:14):

Rachel, thank you for joining us and I wanna catch up with you what's been going on with you for the last year and just really excited to have you with us today.

Rachel Townsend (01:26):

It's always a pleasure, Marsh. I really look forward to these little annual impromptu get-togethers that we have on the podcast. It's always fun and it's always interesting.

Marsh Naidoo (01:37):

<laugh>. Yes ma'am, it is! So Rachel, you have had a lot going on this past year. Can you tell the listeners a little bit about the goings on?

Rachel Townsend (01:49):

Sure. So my main focus this year has went into animal rescue and I know I kind of have my fingers into a lot of different organizations, but I've been wanting to get into animal rescue for quite a while around January. Paws to Care, had invited people to be volunteers via Facebook and I thought about it and I was like, that's pulling my heartstrings. I've actually, I think I have time right now to invest in this. And I was thinking something small, maybe help them with photographs or some animal handling. Yeah, that did not happen. So I started volunteering with Paws to Care in February. I did my orientation and got going.

Marsh Naidoo (02:39):

So what all are you doing Rachel? Tell us about the volunteering.

Rachel Townsend (02:46):

Well, it's thankless work Marsh and it's dirty work. So I think everybody in Dyersburg can agree that it is extremely hard to get volunteers to do anything right now. I mean there's so many charity organizations and there's just not enough hands to go around. So at Policy to Care, I go in on the weekends, I was going in through the weekday, now it's the weekends and I do kennel cleaning, I do animal enrichment, which is taking the dogs that have behavioral issues or dogs that are just stuck in their kennels all day that haven't been adopted in a long time. Take them out, I work with them. We do enrichment training, we play with toys, we have snuffle mats and we have a pretty good time. But it's basically what I'm doing is day-to-day maintenance and care. And honestly, it's one of the most fulfilling positions that I could have taken as a volunteer because I've really gotten to develop personal relationships with each of them. I know all their names, I know all their quirks and there's a lot of trust that goes into the relationships that you develop with rescue animals because they come from extremely complicated situations most of the time upsetting situations.

Marsh Naidoo (04:09):

Rachel, let me ask you a little bit, now I do some volunteer work at Healing Horses. So guys that's like out on Parker Road, Roellen

(04:17):

I'm not as familiar with Paws to Care. So kind of give me the low down Rachel, where are they located at? What does it take to become a volunteer? If anyone listening each day is interested, how would they go about enrolling. So they location where they're located at and hours that they the open And how would you enroll as a volunteer?

Rachel Townsend (04:45):

Sure. Well we always need volunteers at Paws to Care all the time. It formally was Navi Pet Resort, but about roughly six to seven years ago it got converted over to the 5 0 1 C 3 organization. So it went from basically being a boarding house and grooming house for animals to now being a rescue shelter. So the mission of PAWs to Care is to work with other rescues as well as our local Dyersburg- Dyer County Humane Society to try to rehome animals and make sure that we are able to maintain a no-kill status here in the shelter by finding alternate locations for our dogs and cats. We have one cat location and one dog location. Our cat location remains in disclosed to the public until you actually volunteer for. There are many reasons for that. We do have a lot of people that just drop off animals and then PAWs to Care's dog location is on Harris Road off Lenox Navoo orientations. We usually host those regularly and if you get on Facebook and follow us at Paws to Care, then all you have to do is check out those orientation times. We usually do 'em at the Masonic Lodge and Downtown Dyersburg Show up to an orientation and a little bit of paperwork and you're ready to go.

Marsh Naidoo (06:18):

Awesome Rachel. So Paws to Care has an exciting event coming up. Can you tell me about it?

Rachel Townsend (06:28):

Well, so we're actually hosting an Adopt A Thon for the Dyersburg-Dyer County Humane Society. And Paws to Care has thankfully and graciously decided that they would be able to host a table at that event. So, this is awesome. We're thrilled to have so much support and for all of these agencies that have a common goal to be coming together to host this, Adopt A Thon, it's going to be November 5th at the Dyersburg Farmer's Market from 10 o'clock until three o'clock. We're gonna have animals, we're gonna have live music, we got tables, we got food, we got coffee. I mean everything is planned out except the people. So if we could get the people there, we're gonna be in great shape.

Marsh Naidoo (07:14):

We gonna take just a little break, Miss Sarah Alley is going to join us soon and Sarah is gonna tell us all about Addie's Haunted Trail, which is taking place next Saturday as park here in Dyersburg, Tennessee.

Marsh Naidoo (07:36):

Oh, here she comes.

Rachel Townsend (07:38):

There she is. Woo

Sara Alley (07:40):

Here. I am

Rachel Townsend (07:41):

Hi Miss Sarah.

Sara Alley (07:43):

I'm running crazy Rachel, I here at the church and I'm trying to get all the trophies organized and okay. I know you guys have been on for a minute. So have you been talking about the Haunted Trail?

Marsh Naidoo (07:54):

Miss Sarah, please tell us about the upcoming Addi's Haunted Trail which is happening next Saturday.

Sara Alley (08:03):

Okay, absolutely. Addi Simms is a very special young lady. She has SMA type I and that's basically being born with something like Lou Gehrig's disease, which is what I have. So when she and I chance met because her mother had to come fix my catheter because her mother's a nurse and we were talking and she was telling me about her wonderful little redheaded daughter, I said, I need to meet her. So when I met her, one of her dreams was to always go into a haunted house. Well being in a wheelchair and not really being able to drive yourself very well, you can't go upstairs, much less going a haunted house. And so whatever she and I met, we discussed it with her parents and caregivers and I said, Well let's just have a haunted trail. We'll do it, we'll do it right here in this city.

(09:00):

We have a beautiful park and we'll just make it Addi's haunted trail. And I said, Addi, even whatever, we go to our next journey, we will leave whispers of us. And I said, This will be your memories and your beauty that will continue to shine for us. And that's just how it came about. And that everyone, the community really jumped on board. We kept it really protected because these children and young adults and older adults are, I shouldn't say they are people too, but we have things that we need to be sensitive about and we just wanted to make sure that no tears only happiness, but the whole community just engulfed us with so much love. And Rachel could tell you as well, cuz Rachel was Georgie from Stephen Kings

Marsh Naidoo (10:04):

In last year

Sara Alley (10:06):

And her daughter was Penny Wise. And so I would run 'em into around the corner to Penny Wise and Penny Wise was a little bit accosted at once. I think one child grabbed the ballon and to ran with it. But this is just something that is special because we have so many special things for children, but children with special needs that also need so many special things. And so that's what my heart just rented for me because I was able to run a jump and do things and this was one way that I could help her enjoy just being who she is and showing that we're special and that we love. Just like you love.

Marsh Naidoo (11:01):

Can you please tell us a little bit about next week for parents that who are keen to bring their kids out to visit the trail? What would be involved? Do we come dressed up? I would just love to give more details.

Sara Alley (11:18):

Yes. Well here if you wanna be a part of it, the answer is yes, come dressed up. But we need to make sure we vet everybody and make sure that there are so many ways you can help. You can dress up, you can help lead kids in pumpkin painting or just whatever. But we do need lots of guides because it's a red light for don't scare and a green light for let's give it to 'em. And there's also, we need people to help park all these type things. But now if you are a person that has the needs as Annie and I do, you and your family and friends, you are like the VIP. You invite who you want. And so it's basically we give the information to the families with the children like me and add, and then they choose whoever comes if you get special invites or whatever. But all the only qualification is that you gotta have a V I P to invite you to go on the trail. So we send v I P invitations out to nursing homes, other special schools in the area. Last year we had, I know counties from all over came to this and they were so happy there were children with parents, it was just beautiful. The footage that we got from it, the pictures that Rachel took just they speak volumes. But to be there, it was just amazing.

Rachel Townsend (12:55):

And I do wanna add something to what Ms. Sarah was saying also, last year there were hundreds of people, the reception to this event was hundreds. The community supported it heavily. It was beautiful.

Marsh Naidoo (13:12):

Thank you so much Miss Sarah. And listen, what time are you guys going to start

Sara Alley (13:19):

This year? We say six 30. Six 30. And we will probably, we said okay, we don't have to wait until it's dark half. So we thought we'd start a little earlier this year and we'll probably wide it up around Ted. Well nine 30 probably. And then we'll probably try to clear the park up by ten.

Marsh Naidoo (13:43):

Miss Sarah, Rachel, thank you guys so much for joining us on the podcast today. I'm gonna work this weekend so that we can get it out on Monday so we can tell all parents about Addi's Haunted Trail, which is going to be next week's Saturday, that's October the 22nd, starting at five 30 at Okeena Park. And Miss Sarah, Rachel, thank you so much for your spirits, your spirit of joy, your spirit of being a volunteer and just helping the community move forward. It is greatly appreciated. Guys, thank you so much for your time.

Rachel Townsend (14:27):

Thanks for having us Marsh.

Sara Alley (14:29):

Thank you Marsh for being an advocate as well. Thank you.

Marsh Naidoo (14:35):

Bye guys. Bye

Rachel Townsend (14:36):

Bye

Marsh Naidoo (14:38):

Guys. Thank you for listening along with us today. Get out there, be the change, put your voice into action and become a volunteer. As you've heard, our community is in need of volunteers and there are several organizations that would benefit from your help. A couple of them here in the community are Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, the Mission, Post Care Berg, Dia County Humane Society, Transitions and Healing Horses. This is just a sampling of the organizations out in our community doing a fantastic job. If you have a particular interest, try and source a nonprofit that's doing similar work as that interest and consider giving them just an hour or two a week or a month. I know your help would be greatly appreciated. And as we end off the show, I just wanna let you know if you are interested in helping out on Addie's Haunted Trail, go ahead and look up their Facebook page. And Addie is spelled a d d I Haunted Trail. So guys, until we see all the next time is always remember get to the chop of your mountain. This is Marsh Naidu signing off.