Junior ARL North Volunteer Sends Plea to President Elect Obama

How many twelve-year-olds do you know who spend most of their spare time volunteering to help others? Meet Erika Szekely, junior volunteer at the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire - North. Erika turns her great love for animals into a valuable service for them: coming to the shelter after school and on weekends to clean cages, feeding the animals, greeting visitors and assisting shelter staff in all aspects of animal care. She has also organized fundraising projects for the shelter including a bake sale to raise money to help cover medical costs for special needs shelter animals. Now Erika has a new project. She has written and sent the following letter to President Elect Barack Obama:

Dear President Elect Barack Obama,

Hi! My name is Erika and I’m a twelve year old volunteer at the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire - North, a non-profit, no kill shelter in Conway New Hampshire. First, I just wanted to take the time to congratulate you on becoming the next President of the United States!

The reason I’m writing to you today is to ask for a favor. We heard that you would like to adopt a puppy, and we were hoping that you would consider adopting from our shelter. Organizations like the HSUS are not in danger of closing, but every day the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire - North faces the reality that we are getting closer to closing our doors. If you adopted a puppy from us we might be able to stay open forever. You might be able to open people’s eyes to the plight of our shelter.

Our shelter nearly faced a tragedy last spring. We almost had to close, we were days away! We almost had to stop caring for all these loving animals that have no other families or homes other than us. We’ve run many successful fundraising campaigns, but let’s face it the economy today is contributing to a downturn in donations and we are struggling to keep our doors open. As early as yesterday we rescued 18 puppies (from a southern kill shelter) that we have to care for, on top of the 140+ animals we already were caring for. We have been helping several surrounding communities, when we really need help ourselves!

We held our own cat primary this past January 9th with three of our shelter cats running for top cat on the summit of Mount Washington. The observatory cat retired, and Sarah, Wilson and Marty all ran campaigns. This story was picked up by several news stations, and traveled around the world. Marty won the cat primary and his picture was on the front page of the NH Union Leader that day, along with yours! How fitting would it be that you got your puppy in New Hampshire, at our shelter? The story can’t end here. It just can’t end here…we won’t let it. Please help us please adopt your puppy from us. We really need the help!

There are many volunteers that give up their time to help us provide loving care for these wonderful animals. We help over 1000 animals a year find their forever homes, with families like yours to love and care for them. Please help us to continue to do this. You can visit us at conwayshelter.org, or in person!

Sincerely,
Erika Szekely
ARL North Volunteer

Although it remains to be seen where the President Elect and his family will adopt their rescue puppy, if Erika has anything to say about it, it will be ARL North because, as she says, “We are the best!” ARL North wins no matter what, by having extraordinary volunteers such as Erika among their ranks.

The Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire - North is a non-profit, all-inclusive animal resource center. For information on donating, volunteering or adopting, please visit the shelter online at conwayshelter.org or call (603) 447-5955. The shelter is located at 223 E. Main St., Conway, NH 03818.