Tomorrow, Nov. 28th, is Giving Tuesday, the designated day when philanthropic individuals across the nation remember what the holiday season is all about.
For the Baltimore Humane Society, this day is particularly important since the Reisterstown-based private, nonprofit, no-kill shelter is celebrating its 90th birthday.
The BHS owes its start to a compassionate socialite named Elsie Seeger Barton, who devoted her life to the care and humane treatment of animals. In 1927, Barton and others founded the BHS. Three decades later, the BHS moved to its current facility at 1601 Nicodemus Road in Reisterstown.
What’s most important is as it enters its ninth decade, the BHS is moving with new energy into the future. In the last year, adoption rates at the BHS have increased by a whopping 42 percent. That, of course, has emptied cages more quickly, creating room for more animals. As a result, BHS has been able to pull more pets from municipal shelters in our area, as well as from high-kill shelters in the South.
This is a new paradigm in the world of sheltering. Rather than operating with a self-centered focus, more and more shelters are working together toward the common goal of ending animal homelessness. It’s a model of cooperation.
As a private shelter, BHS must constantly raise money to continue its lifesaving work. And that’s why Giving Tuesday — which always falls on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving and kicks off the charitable giving season — is so important.
Here’s how it works. Donors of $50 or more will receive party favors, their choice of a stuffed animal, kitten or puppy lunch bags. Monthly donors of $25 or more will receive all three favors plus a 90th birthday commemorative t-shirt.
Donors are being asked to make their gifts through the Baltimore Humane Society Facebook Donate Button. That’s because the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Facebook will match every donation up to $1,000 per donation and $50,000 total, beginning at 8 a.m..
The BHS’s Facebook page address is facebook.com/BMOREHUMANE/. For information you can also go to bmorehumane.org/givingtuesday/.
The BHS is one of the many charities that can benefit from this philanthropic effort and is hoping for a very successful day. Giving really can be better than receiving. Especially when you know that your money saves lives.
For more information, check out this short video:
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"This year to date, we have taken in 1,342 animals and have adopted [out] 1,252," Wendy Goldband said.
Pairing Yiddish and dogs may seem strange today, but it would have been even more unusual 100 years ago, said Burko, who received a doctorate in modern Jewish history from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.