An outpouring of support is on the way for Australia’s beleaguered animal populations, thanks to thousands of Canadians who have taken up the cause by activating their crafty ways.
The Canadian Animal Rescue Craft Guild organized collections of freshly made nests and pouches, the results of which were sent off via cargo planes on Monday. A knitting bee on the weekend allowed a gathering of local helpers to demonstrate their compassion and commitment to helping the many millions of creatures big and small that have been affected by the devastating wildfires.
“Our group will focus on the large and the extra large. Everyone's been making the smaller items because it takes less material but we've got so much so we're going to focus on the large, the extra large, and extra-extra large,” explained group spokesperson Sandy Allen.
She first learned about the effort through a friend in New Orleans who had joined her local organization. Her reaction to contribute was instantaneous, immediately setting off to find Canadian efforts that she could aid.
The Canadian Animal Rescue Craft Guild is directly aligned with Australian efforts, she noted, which is receiving the same kind of support from groups contributing from countries all over the world.
Allen wasn’t alone here in St. Albert. She joined up with several other members of the St. Albert chapter of the Beta Sigma Phi sorority to take the supplied patterns and produce smaller bags for the wallabies and baby joeys and hanging pouches for the larger joeys to simulate the mother kangaroos’ pouches. Even that group wasn’t alone in its endeavour, receiving financial donations from Dr. Rory Wiens at the Sturgeon Animal Hospital and further support from Fabricland. With that help, they brought home several hundred metres of the required fabric and a lot of strong thread to get the job done.
Air Canada even donated cargo space on six planes to transport the items to Australia for free.
Allen added that the “degree of co-ordination, goodwill, and kindness being demonstrated by individuals and organizations is exactly the kind of news we need to rekindle our hope that everyday people can mobilize quickly to help our planet and future generations turn the tide on global warming.”
“I am a real animal advocate and very environmentally concerned. I believe that we all share one planet and what happens on the other side of the world impacts all of us,” she continued.
“We need to watch out for each other. You listen to the news every day and you forget about all the goodness in the world and how kind people can be. It gets you down. Then when you start seeing how quickly this all came together around the world, and how organized it became and how supportive everyone was, that just renews your hope and your faith in people. It actually makes an individual feel good about what they're doing and how they're contributing. We need more stuff like this in our lives.”
