The HOWS Project

3 days ago

⭐️⭐️. New location added! ⭐️⭐️

Our second 👟 GotSneakers 👟 fundraiser has started and runs through August!

The kids are starting school in a few weeks which means it’s time to clean out their closets 🚪and go Back to School shopping! 🛍

So drop their old dirty sneakers👟 (and yours) in one of our sneaker bins!

This months locations are:

👟 ACAC Downtown (Monticello Ave)
👟 ACAC Albemarle Square
👟 ACAC Adventire Central (Four Seasons)
**all bins located in their front entry way
👟 Dogwood Refillery (Seminole Square)

Please no bags 🛍 in the bins and tie your laces together for us!

Reminder, 🌟only sneakers…no other shoes please 🌟 ... See MoreSee Less

The HOWS Project

4 days ago

🙂 Fencing Team Leader Needed 🙏🐾

Improving the lives of outside dogs certainly includes “getting them off the chain”. ⛓🐾

Several years ago, HOWS was blessed to have both the financial and human resources to create a fencing division for organization! 🙌
Thanks to our fencing leads and volunteers, as well as supporters, we have erected several dozen fences, freeing roughly twice as many dogs from their tethers! 🐶😊

Our fencing team leader duo recently retired, and we are looking for someone (or two) who might have interest in continuing to lead our efforts to unchain outside dogs. 🙏

💪 We have a seasoned HOWS volunteer interested in assisting our new leader(s), and we have a waiting list of dogs as well as a budget and system in place to support our efforts. 👍
We are looking for someone who has an attention to detail and is somewhat mechanically inclined. The Lead(s) would be responsible for coordinating the fence builds with the clients, coordinating the collection of materials for the builds, and executing the builds themselves. 🐾🐾🐾
Collection and transport of materials can be done with the use of HOWS vehicles. 🛻🚐
And, though we have done permanent fencing in the past, our focus is much more these days on panel fencing. These go up quicker with fewer volunteers.
That said, the number of fences per year can be as few or as many as can be handled by our fence team. We’ve done as few as a handful per year and as many as 13 per year.

Fence builds tend to draw volunteers as they are truly feel-good events! 💟

If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, please let us know. We would love to talk with you! 😁
And if not, please be so kind as to share this post! We know a few dogs that would really appreciate it😉

#howsproject #unchainthem #outsidedogsinneed #teamwork ... See MoreSee Less

The HOWS Project

1 week ago

⭐️⭐️. Round 2! ⭐️⭐️

Our second 👟 GotSneakers 👟 fundraiser starts on Monday and runs through August!

The kids are starting school in a few weeks which means it’s time to clean out their closets 🚪and go Back to School shopping! 🛍

So drop their old dirty sneakers👟 (and yours) in one of our sneaker bins!

This months locations are:

👟 ACAC Downtown (Monticello Ave)
👟 ACAC Albemarle Square
👟 ACAC Adventire Central (Four Seasons)
**all bins located in their front entry way

Please no bags 🛍 in the bins and tie your laces together for us!

Reminder, 🌟only sneakers…no other shoes please 🌟 ... See MoreSee Less

The HOWS Project is feeling grateful at Squishy Faced Crew.

2 weeks ago

The Story of Max 🐾❤️ (spoiler: it has a happy ending ✨)

HOWS met Max in November of 2017. The neighbor had called us, asking if we could do anything to improve his life. 😥
Max lived at the far corner of his people’s property, with a very large igloo as shelter. We provided a more suitably sized dog house, straw bedding, and a few other “comforts”. It was obvious this poor guy was lonely (and cold), and we suggested they consider bringing him inside. They weren’t super receptive to us being there at all, let alone the suggestions we provided. We did what we could and then left. 😕
We visited Max a few more times over the years. He was always fat, always happy for the company, always alone and lonely at the corner of the property. Discussions with his people ranged from helping to vet him (for a skin condition on his legs) to helping to rehome him (if they ever wanted that) to helping to euthanize him (if he started to decline and they couldn’t financially afford it).
As Max was quite visible from the road, neighbors would openly stop by during our visits and praise our efforts to do any sort of thing for this lonely little Jack Russell. There were many folks concerned for him, but not much that could be done without consent from his people.

And then the call came. 🙌 📞
A week ago, Max’s people reached out asking if we could provide “safe haven” for him; they had been told by Animal Control that Max was not allowed to be tied in the extreme heat. ☀️They did not wish to bring him “in”, and realized to simply untether him would likely result in Max getting hit by a car. They loved him enough to realize it was best for Max to be rehomed. (thank goodness)
HOWS partnered with the amazing team at Squishy Faced Crew rescue (out of Fredericksburg), and Max is now safe and sound - at age 14… no longer alone and lonely at the end of a chain at the corner of the property. 💟🐾

Special thanks to Alice Brown O’Conner for connecting us to SFC Virginia; and to Ryan and Lauren from SFC for making this dream come true for Max. ❤️❤️❤️

#howsproject #squishyfacecrewva #jackrussell #saved ... See MoreSee Less

The HOWS Project

2 weeks ago

Team HOWS 07/23/22 (Darlene Hinton, Gaby Ford, and Stacey Norris) spent the day in 99 degree heat to help 18 dogs and 3 kit kats ☀️🐶🐱😮
Recipients included: Luna, Maggie, Elsa, Cheerio, Toby, Bella, Tigger, Zoe, Cally, and 12 unnamed beagles. We were fortunately blessed to be working quite a bit in the shade. 🌳

We provided *much needed* flea/tick preventative to all of them, plus other case by case supplies like dog food, leashes, pine bedding, and food bowls. 💟

We thought we’d be supplying 2 HOWSes to Cheerio and Toby, but it turned out they were looking pretty thin, 😔 so we changed the game plan and got their person to agree that they need to remain *inside* to increase their weights and keep a close eye on them. 🙌They also agreed to walk them daily on their new 6-foot leads to help them work off some of their energy so they didn’t destroy their home.🦮🦮

3️⃣ of the beagles were surrendered to us. The plan for them is to be taken into the BREW rescue next weekend; in the meantime, the kind folks at the Louisa Animal Shelter are keeping them safe and sound. They, like so many other shelters, are full, but they found temporary space for them regardless. Thank you Beth and Diane! 🤗🤗

So much good comes from working together with like-minded people. Way more comfortable critters tonight. ☮️💟🐶🐱

If you would like to be a part of this kind of animal-loving experience, we’d love to have you along! Volunteer for a HOWS field day🙂
Guarantee you’ll feel sooooo good about it!

#howsproject #louisacountyanimalshelter
#BREW #teamworkmakesthedreamwork
#volunteersmaketheworldgoround ... See MoreSee Less