Project 19

ADOPTING GINGER

What We Did:

After one of our few trips to the animal shelter we decided that we wanted to try to help one of these homeless animals.  It didn't take long before we found a spunky little puppy to rescued from an unknown future.

How Long it Took:
Just a couple of hours for the adoption but with this project your in for the long haul :)

How Much it Cost:
$110 for the adoption and license.

Would We Do It Again?
Yes. It felt really good to get her out of the conditions of the selter and to provide her with a safe, physically and emotionally rich environment. As our vet put it "this dog won the puppy jackpot". The dog is happy, the kids are in love and I'm trying to become a dog person.

References:
http://www.adoptapet.com/
http://www.petfinder.com/index.html
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/adopt/tips/adopting_from_shelter_rescue.html

Project 18

ETHIOPIA READS POSTER

What We Did:

We found this brilliant program called Ethiopia Reads.  Their mission is "to create a reading culture in Ethiopia by connecting children with books".  One of the ideas that the program has listed a way that we can help is to make posters of the front cover of a favorite book to hang in their library.  Since we don't have a favorite family book we took a fun trip to our library to explore some of the classics, especially those with simple cover designs.  After we read many books the kids choose their favorite and got to work painting the poster board blue.  I did all of the rest (see Would We Do It Again below :) We are going to laminate the poster and send it off.

How Long it Took:
4-5 hrs.

How Much it Cost:
$1 for the poster board.  We used paint that we already had.

Would We Do It Again?
I'm going to have to say no, at least not with the expectation of it being a much of a family project.  After the initial painting fun nobody was into the project except for me.  Ruby painted the letters a little bit but was done in 5 minutes.

I had a good time though :)

Next Time:
Wait a few years.
References:
This site has a list of 20 ways that we can help Ethiopia Reads locally. 
http://www.ethiopiareads.org/help/community
http://www.ethiopiareads.org/home