Dear Animal Rescue League of Berks County, P.A. staff,
I want to take a moment to collectively thank-you for starting and continuing to provide the “Book Buddies” program at your shelter. When the program started, it probably seemed like such a little thing. I read on your website that the program was somewhat of a “happy accident.” Your former program director, Kristi Rodriguez’s son, Sean, was having difficulty reading. She decided to bring him in to read to the cats because shelter animals understand that everyone wants to be loved and accepted just as they are. When Sean, a student who up until this point disliked reading aloud, asked to come back to read to the cats again, everyone seemed to realize the potential that this program would have in improving children’s literacy in the community.
As a consequence, your organization took action and opened the cat room to any student who felt uncomfortable reading aloud. I’m sure that your organization never thought twice about how amazing and life changing this program would be when it first started. I’m sure that it has, however, crossed your mind since the photo of one of the book buddies reading to a shelter cat went viral on the Internet. In fact, this is how I personally heard about the Book Buddies program.
I imagine there are so many other concerns that your organization has besides the Book Buddies program. Animal shelters like yours rely upon public donations to maintain facilities as well as provide food, toys, and care for the animals. Many animal shelters struggle to keep up with the costs that their facility requires. It must be especially difficult to be a no-kill shelter that can only accept so many animals. Adoptions provide some income and relief, but there are always more animals that need to be cared for before reaching their forever homes. I’m sure there are many days when you question if your efforts and programs make a difference.
If you ever begin to doubt how meaningful this program is, however, please re-read this letter and let me assure you that this program is definitely worth it. The Book Buddies program may seem like such a little thing, but I promise it will have a lasting impact in the lives of children that come to read to your cats. How can I, an adult stranger who has never participated in Book Buddies, promise this? Because I have had my life changed by a cat that was willing to listen to me read.
As a child, I was always an avid reader. I enjoyed books because they allowed me to escape into exciting, new worlds with characters that taught me many great lessons. The books I read as a child have profoundly shaped who I am as a person today, so much so that I am currently an English and Creative double-major. However, it took some time to become this confident with my reading skills.
Despite being a vicarious reader, I also had a speech impediment. Like the children who partake in the Book Buddies program, I had difficulties with expressing myself at school and reading aloud. I was afraid to speak up or share my ideas with my classmates because they would often laugh at my vocal ticks. My parents did everything they could to get me to participate in the action plan that my speech therapist recommended, but I didn’t want to because it meant reading aloud to them. I felt embarrassed and ashamed for being unable to do something that everyone else could just “do.”
So my parents encouraged me to read to (arguably) my favorite member of the family, Pumpkin the orange cat. At the time, Pumpkin was just a stray kitten that my family had rescued and adopted after her mother’s owners had abandoned her. Although she never went to a shelter like yours, Pumpkin was very much a rescue cat. I remember my brother and I begging our parents to let us keep her; they complied because she was impossible to resist as a tiny orange cotton ball of enthusiasm. Pumpkin quickly lived up to her namesake and became a giant, fluffy orange cat.
During those stressful years, Pumpkin was a wonderful companion that listened to me read aloud for hours. She would sit in my lap or at the bottom of my bed as I read for what felt like hours and hours. Pumpkin never laughed or criticized me when I stumbled over words or mispronounced them. Instead, she purred, loved, and accepted me as I was. As I read aloud to Pumpkin, I became more confident in my reading skills and myself. I doubt I would be who I am today without having Pumpkin as both my pet and reading companion.
Honestly, it was a moment of bittersweet kismet when I discovered your Book Buddies program. I have been saddened by the sudden loss of Pumpkin due to a genetic condition that made her become ill and pass away within a week. She was twelve years old when she died, but it still felt too soon. I was very upset that I never got to properly say goodbye to Pumpkin because my university is far away from home. I said a brief goodbye on the phone as my mom held me on speakerphone, but it still doesn’t feel sufficient enough. Although it has been six months since her death, I am still thoroughly mourning Pumpkin’s loss.
However, the recent media attention surrounding the Book Buddies program has reminded me of the profound, positive impact and change that the loving nature of just one silly orange cat had in my own life- especially since first photo I saw featured a large, orange cat. Your program allowed me to think of all the wonderful times that Pumpkin and I shared as I read aloud to her throughout the twelve years we shared together. To be honest, reading aloud to her was a habit I continued throughout middle, high school, and college although I’m sure the books of my youth were much more interesting. As I continue my education to become an English professor, I will be forever indebted to Pumpkin for helping me to not only read better but also become a more empathetic and caring human being.
With this letter, I want to remind you that the cats at your shelter can provide the same comfort and support to the children in the Book Buddies program as Pumpkin provided me. I’m sure that the children who participate in your program are already improving with each visit, but I promise that these changes will be lasting. Additionally, I hope that this program will help some of these participants find the cats that will help them grow as people like mine I did. Although it may just seem like a little thing, I assure you that each shelter cat that purrs as a child reads aloud during your program is slowly changing the world for the better. Never forget how one adopted cat can forever change a person’s life like Pumpkin did mine.
Thank-you,
Martha Ann Larkin
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