FREE & EASY ways to help shelters

Stephanie, those are great creative ideas. I often pick things up at garage sales and donate them, but I never thought about the lost and found towels! I just saw a sign at the Keystone Pet Hospital at 46th and Keystone that they are in need of newspapers. I always have PLENTY of those. Let's keep those ideas coming!

Great post, Stephanie!! The small shelter on Main Street (US 40) in Greenfield will take your soda cans and turn them in for cash. I used to take mine there when I lived closer. It's a great way to not only recycle, but help the animals too! If anyone knows of a shelter closer to Broad Ripple that does this, please let me know! IACC has a paper recycling bin. You can turn your paper items in, and they get cash for them.

1. Ask local businesses if they will let you leave a donation container on their counter.

2. If you are crafty, you can knit, sew, quilt or crochet blankets from fabric or yarn scraps or leftovers (www.snugglesproject.org)

3. Go to www.thehungersite.com and under the animal rescue tab, hit the "click to give" button - their sponsors provide a certain amount of food per click, and you can click once per day every day to help feed shelter animals.

Do you know if any of the shelters/rescues have "official" donation containers they use for this? Can an individual just make a can and put it up? I could probably find a few places to do this.
I bet WB's Pizza would, if we asked (and if they have anywhere to set it). We're in there a lot, and everyone in there is really cool.

for dog day ,THe Humane society didn't have a donation container so a friend of mine gave me a bunch of those cans that diet powder comes in (like slimfast) I cleaned them out and another friend made a label on her computer with our logo. The donation boxes were too expensive . I would ask the shelter what they would like - on one side of the can you can put a description of the shelter and their website ,that way the sales people know what it's for and it helps spread the word-

For the donation containers, I would definitely touch base with the shelter or rescue you want to raise funds for and let them know, and find out if they have a certain sign or container to be used. Most of them probably don't, but just in case...

Along with thehungersite.com (and theanimalrescuesite.com) don't forget www.freekibble.com! A 12-year-old girl in Oregon started this site to help feed all the pets that were abandoned when their people lost their homes to foreclosure. It works the same way -- you click on the little quiz and sponsors donate food (even if you miss the quiz question!) There's one for dogs and one for cats!