This just in! The Jacksonville Humane Society has decided
to jump on the bracelet bandwagon and are offering the bracelets in your
choice of three colors: red, black and blue with the words Spay, Neuter,
Adopt printed on them. You can visit their site at
http://www.jaxhumane.org/petcetera_specials.html or by e-mailing them
at [email protected] .
These bracelets are everywhere! We see them on the grocery
store clerk, the nurse in our doctors' office, our veterinarian, kids,
teachers and grandparents. They are worn by everyone, black, white, brown,
tall, short, old, young, fat and skinny.
What started out as a fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong
"Live Strong" campaign against cancer has spread like wildfire across our
country. The peace movement has a light blue one, the domestic violence
movement has a purple one, the breast cancer awareness crusade has a pink
one.
A few months ago I wrote to the nice people at Animal
Rescue Site and asked them if maybe they could come up with one for us
animal people. They obliged by designing a lovely purple bracelet with paw
prints and the words Animal Rescue Site stamped into the rubber. I was
thrilled to go to their site and purchase a few dozen to give to all my
friends. At $1 apiece, it was such a bargain!
I did get a few letters that were generated by that
article. In one, the writer noted that the purple color was already taken
by "gay pride" (I thought they had rainbows??). I knew that the purple was
already taken by domestic violence, but I felt that we could share since
companion animals are frequently the proximate or intended victims of
domestic violence. Another writer advised that she and some friends had
allergies to rubber and wondered if maybe they made on in metal. They
certainly do! They are fashioned after those popular Italian Charm
bracelets and have purple paw prints stamped into the links. Very nice.
The money goes to help animals in shelter via the Animal
Rescue Site. A word of warning, however, I have seen the bracelets for
sale at Exxon, Walgreens, Wal-Mart, K-Mart and other retail outlets and I
hope that people who buy them at these places understand that they are not
helping any specific cause when they buy them from such places. They are
simply following a fashion trend that is a bastardized version of the good
works that these bracelets purported to represent, so buyer beware!
Go on to Help The Caged
Birds
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