Letters to the editor - Saturday (7-4-09)

Friday, July 03, 2009 3:36 PM  |  Printer friendly version | E-mail to a friend |

Contributions help ensure pets won't go hungry

Many thanks to Kathy Chaffin and the Salisbury Post for Kathy's article appealing to the community for pet food donations to the Humane Society of Rowan County. In the two weeks since that article appeared, individuals and groups have contributed well over 1,000 pounds of food to be distributed to families in need, and the donations keep coming. Many kind people delivered to our dog-wash fundraiser the Saturday following the article's publication, and one supporter brought a dog house as well. "I just want to help" has been said time and again as bags of food are loaded into volunteers' cars.

The HSRC began providing pet food to families in need nearly 30 years ago. Never in the history of this service have we received so many requests for help. One request every four or five months used to be the norm; we now receive at least twice that many per week from people who are trying to care for their pets but having difficulty in these hard economic times. A recipient said last week as he thanked me for a few bags of dog and cat food, "y'all always find a way to help us." The way was Kathy's article and a lot of caring people.

In addition to requests for food and other services, the HSRC receives multiple calls every day about unwanted kittens and puppies and abandoned animals. Spay and neuter is the answer to pet overpopulation. For information on reduced cost spay/neuter services, call 704-636-5700.

The next HSRC general meeting is Monday at 7 p.m. in the Hurley Room at the Rowan Public Library, 201 W. Fisher St., Salisbury. The public is invited. Applications are being accepted for foster care providers.

Again, thank you, Kathy, the Post and everyone who is helping us to help those in need!

— Jane Hartness

Hartness is president of the Humane Society of Rowan County.Pray for our troops

On this 4th of July, I pray that the Lord will bless all the men and women who have met their deaths in service to their country. May we never forget them and all the others who work to keep us out of harm's way. God has been good to America. Those who are living should thank the Lord for keeping us safe here at home. We should pray for our troops everyday, asking God to keep them safe in his hand.

— Johnsie Lassiter

Salisbury

Thanks for all the support

From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to thank everyone in Emergency Services for what they did for our son, Chandler Spry, following the accident in which he was involved on Thursday, June 4. We are also so grateful for all our family, church families and friends for their prayers of faith and support. The staff at CMC-Northeast and Levine Children's Hospital are wonderful people. But most of all, we would like to thank our precious and awesome Lord Jesus for his work and holy spirit and that he never changes or ever will.

Thanks again to everyone across this county state and country for your concern, thoughts and prayers. We love you and are praying for each of you. If we can every help or do anything for you, please let us know.

— The family of Chandler Spry

Music for heart, soul & mind

"It is from the blues that all that may be called American music derives it most distinctive characteristics." — James Weldon Johnson

I'm happy to say that I have had the privilege of hearing live blues. You know — the kind of music that grabs your heart and pulls dormant emotions out of their hiding places. So, I am writing this letter to express gratitude to the people who made this possible.

The Rowan Blues and Jazz Society provides the people of Rowan County an opportunity to experience affordable live performances of blues and jazz close to home several times a year. My husband and I have enjoyed two or three performances just this year at the Looking Glass Artist Collective's Black Box Theatre (405 N. Lee St. — Rail Walk area). We love the music, the venue, and the opportunity to lose ourselves in the rhythmic blends that poet Langston Hughes described best when he said, "Swaying to and fro on his rickety stool, He played that sad raggy tune like a musical fool. Sweet blues!"

— Karen Puckett

Salisbury