GraniteCityGossip.com's Plea to Ellen to Help our APA After years of dedicated service, not only to our own community, but to many surrounding communities, our local APA not only is desperate for a face lift, but is so deserving of it. The following message was sent to talk show host Ellen Degeneres in hopes she can highlight the good works of our APA and inspire people to send in donations from around the country. Dear Ellen, We are a couple of local gals on a mission. We are from Granite City, Illinois, a small steel mill town located across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. Over the last several years, our community’s population has gone from 46,000 to 32,000, and during this time our local APA has suffered tremendously. Our mission is to save our local Granite City Association for the Protection of Animals from closing it’s doors. Our APA is completely funded through donations, and those donations have all but stopped coming. Our shelter is a “no kill” shelter that has been in existence for over thirty years... The facility sits on a small secluded plot of land in a rural area of our small city, it’s often forgotten until someone wants to leave a dog or cat. People come from miles around to leave their unwanted animals at the shelter by tying a dog to the fence, leaving a box of kittens in the pot hole riddled parking lot, or simply putting puppies inside the fence., never considering these animals will need food, vaccinations and constant care. Some of the dogs and cats have been at the shelter for over two years! The shelter has fallen into shameful disrepair over time, as most funds are used to feed, vaccinate, spay and provide surgeries for injured animals. The saddest part of all is, our shelter would be eligible for government funds if they euthanized the animals, which goes against the mission of the shelter. We are currently featuring the APA shelter on our hometown web site in an attempt to generate donations so they can remain open. They barely received enough donations to pay their electric and gas bill for the month of March. What we are asking from you, is to please, please consider mentioning our situation on your wonderful show, which might generate a huge amount of interest and start the donations up again, as Trivia Nights and Spaghetti Dinners simply aren't generating enough funds. The folks at our shelter work so hard, volunteers walk and play with the animals, clean kennels, transport the animals and work at local adoption clinics and take the animals to veterinarian visits, just to name a few of their responsibilities. As we speak, they have two transport vans, one is in horrible shape, the other does not even run, they are both over twelve years old. The gasoline expense alone is quite burdensome. The building is literally crumbling, it needs a new roof, new flooring, new duct work as rodents have destroyed the insulation and duct work getting at the food supplies. In a hard rain, the outside kennels flood with rainwater, the parking lot and driveway are in desperate need of graveling and grading and is barely maneuverable. The shelter is in dire need of blankets, dog and cat toys, dog and cat chow. They have a wish list, as well as, an on-line donation form on their website, www.gcapa.com. Please consider mentioning our local APA during one of your shows, and hopefully we can keep the doors open to continue to rescue , love and care for our furry friends. We are desperate! Thanks you very much, Katy and Lorri @ www.GraniteCityGossip.com |