Page 4 Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier June 23, 2011
A ‘life-changing’ event
Duo heads to tornado-ravaged town to help care for stray animals.
By Rachel H. Goldman
Staff Writer
Megan Arsenault saw a city in ruins last week as she
looked out an airplane window over Joplin, Mo.
“It was unbelievable,” said the 24-year-old Sanford
native. “After we landed and traveled through town there
was just complete and total destruction. Houses were
collapsed and buildings and stores and everything were
gone.”
Arsenault and fellow West Kennebunk Animal Welfare
Society staff member Ben Prevatt, 19, of Kennebunk,
were slated to return home Wednesday from a nine-day
assignment in Joplin, Mo. The two fl ew to Joplin June 15
to assist American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals with disaster recovery efforts following last
month’s tornado.
Arsenault on Monday said their work in Joplin began
immediately and from the get-go was “very, very busy,
very, very hot and incredibly wonderful.”
Arsenault and Prevatt stayed in trailers behind
temporary animal shelters and worked 10- to 12-hour
days. After breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and a daily morning
meeting, Arsenault said she and Prevatt worked “as long
as they needed us.”
Arsenault worked in the temporary cat shelter, a
warehouse beside Joplin’s Humane Society that was
emptied and fi lled with crates to house stray cats.
A temporary dog shelter and a logistics facility with
supplies also were created in nearby warehouses.
Arsenault cleaned cages, medicated, bathed and
nurtured the 374 stray cats that remain unclaimed in the
temporary shelter.
“We’ve been doing everything you can think of for them
but one of the big things is cooling them down because
it’s been 98 degrees here,” she said.
Arsenault said similar work occurred at the temporary
dog shelter that was housing about 250 stray dogs.
Arsenault worked in the temporary cat shelter, a
warehouse beside Joplin’s Humane Society that was
emptied and fi lled with crates to house stray cats.
A temporary dog shelter and a logistics facility with
supplies also were created in nearby warehouses.
Arsenault cleaned cages, medicated, bathed and
nurtured the 374 stray cats that remain unclaimed in the
temporary shelter.
“We’ve been doing everything you can think of for them
but one of the big things is cooling them down because
it’s been 98 degrees here,” she said.
Arsenault said similar work occurred at the temporary
dog shelter that was housing about 250 stray dogs.
A ‘life-changing’ event
Duo heads to tornado-ravaged town to help care for stray animals
“I was told we were caring for between 700 and 800
animals right now that were tornado victims,” she said.
Many pet owners lost their homes during the tornado
and became separated from their pets, she said.
Arsenault said while a few animals needed to have
amputations from injuries sustained in the tornado and
others were sick, most of the strays were in good health.
“They are actually pretty healthy,” she said. “I was
really surprised at their condition and their very friendly
temperament. They must have had very good owners so
we’re just hoping they get reunited.”
Arsenault said reunifi cation of pet and owner is the
society’s goal. More than 500 animals have been reunifi ed
with their owners since the tornado.
“The numbers of incoming strays are going down now,”
Arsenault said.
Any animals that are found now are considered to be
general strays as opposed to tornado victims, she said.
Prevatt has spent his time in the logistics warehouse
moving donations that include animal food and cat litter
and distributing them to temporary shelters and families
in need of animal supplies.
While Arsenault spent much of her time with the
animals, Prevatt mostly dealt with the public.
“They are awesome people down here,” he said Monday.
“They are very grateful and very appreciative. Every
person greeted me with a smile.”
Arsenault and Prevatt are conspicuous around town in
their bright red T-shirts with “AWS Disaster Response”
written in white lettering across the front.
“We stand out for sure and if we go around town or to
restaurants people’s heads turn but you can tell they are
truly grateful,” Arsenault said.
“They’ve been through a lot,” she added. “And they
appreciate us even if we’re just able to help in a small
way for a week.”
Both Arsenault and Prevatt said the most
compelling work they’ve assisted in is reuniting strays
with owners.
“You see dogs eyes completely light up and their tails
wag as they focus in on the people they miss. They are so
happy to see them and it makes you know that that’s why
we are here: To reunite,” Prevatt said.
Arsenault said there’s one reunion that she won’t forget.
A woman in her 80s had walked in with ASPCA staff and looked into cages Arsenault had just
fi nished cleaning.
“She walked in and she saw her cat
and she just started crying,” Arsenault
said. “She was so thankful that we had
cared for her animal like it was our
own.”
Arsenault said American Society
for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
continues to host adoption events to
help owners fi nd pets. The society is
waiting until the beginning of July to
put unclaimed and unidentifi ed pets up
for general adoption, she said.
The national society is also boarding
pets for free that have been identifi ed by
owners whose living situations remain
unstable.
Arsenault said she would take home to
West Kennebunk the opportunity she’s
been given in Joplin to “make happy
endings.”
Arsenault said the trip home on
Wednesday would be a challenge.
“I e-mailed Steve Jacobsen, our
executive director, and said can I stay
here forever? I guess the answer was no,
they want us back in Maine,” she said.
“But in all honestly,” she added. “I
can’t even really explain it, Ben and I
both, our lives are changed forever from
this trip.”
“This trip has defi nitely changed me,”
Prevatt said.
Prevatt graduated from Kennebunk
High School in 2010 and has worked
at the Animal Welfare Society at West
for nearly fi ve months.
Prevatt plans to go to school to become
a veterinary technician and said the trip
“helped me open my wings and fl y to
help people and animals.”
Arsenault said the work led her to a
greater appreciation for the work she
does every day.
“Even just the simple things. For
example, we haven’t used litter box
scoops since we got here because we
don’t have them and we have to make
do. We just use our gloved hands which
makes me feel lucky for what the
animals have back home,” she said.
“And what the people have too,” she
added.
The trip also highlighted the fabric
of people throughout the country who
care for animals and for disaster relief
efforts, she said.
Arsenault said she’s met people across
the nation from more than 70 different
organizations who fl ew to Joplin to help.
“Oh, yes I’d do this again,” she said.
“Not that I’m wishing for something else
bad to happen, but I’d defi nitely like to
help out again in the future. It’s just life
changing, that’s what I can say.”
Staff Writer Rachel H. Goldman can be
reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.
The temporary shelters for stray animal tornado victims were erected in emptied warehouses beside the Joplin Humane Society after the May storm. Megan Arsenault of the West Kennebunk Animal Welfare Society worked at the temporary cat
shelter, above, during her nine-day assignment in Joplin. (Photo courtesy Bruce E. Stidham/ STIDZ Media)
June 22, 2011
Greetings from Joplin! We're sitting under the tent right now eating
sandwiches, our staple here. It is a comfortable 99 degrees today with
high humidity. Today is day 8. Ben and I are supposed to be on a plane
home to Maine right now, but we love it so much here that we decided
to extend our deployment until the end of the week!
We are stationed at the temporary animal shelter in big warehouses
next door to the Joplin Humane Society. There are approximately 120
people working with close to 800 animals. I have been working in the
cat warehouse where we feed, clean, medicate and care for almost 400
cats who were displaced by the tornado. Ben has been working in the
logistics warehouse where he helps sort out donations and distribute
them to the different areas of the temporary shelter and to the public
if they are in need.
A typical day here goes from 7 am to 8 pm. Once we finish feeding and
cleaning, we do afternoon projects which include socialization (my
favorite), assisting with spay/neuter transport and handing out "kitty
icepacks" which are frozen water bottles to prevent the cats from
overheating in these extreme weather conditions. We do the best with
what we have. It's very interesting to see the creativity used to come
up with makeshift apparatuses to replace things we take for granted at
actual shelters. We do afternoon feeding and treatments, then break
for dinner where we eat more sandwiches. We finish up the last of our
tasks, tuck the kitties in bed, then spend the rest of the evening out
in town or socializing with people from other shelters.
There are over 70 different organizations from around the nation, and
Canada, who have come to help out with the relief. We have met the
most incredible people both here a work and within the surrounding
community. I have never felt such a strong connection with a group of
people in such a short amount of time. It's incredible. The bonds we
have formed here are ones that will never be forgotten. Ben and I are
even planning to visit our new friends at their home shelters someday
and they have plans to come check out Maine and the Aninal Welfare
Society.
We got a chance to go into town and see the destruction from the
tornado. There is no way I could ever put into words what we saw. It
looks like a bomb went off; everything is in ruins. Many businesses
were destroyed, but the most emotional part for us was seeing the
piles of rubble with mattresses, shoes and toys strewn about that were
once people's homes.
Through this tragedy, however, has come a spirit of hope, fellowship
and appreciation within the community. We were able to feel that
spirit as soon as we got off the plane and it is certainly one both
Ben and I will keep in our hearts forever.
We have worked long, difficult days in extreme weather, we're
exhausted, sweaty, we've eaten more sandwiches than we've ever cared
to eat, we're sleeping behind the animal shelter, our greatest luxury
is the Port-A-Potty that sits in the shade, we miss our pets...oh
yeah, and our moms too! But we are having the time of our lives down
here. I am so grateful for what we have back home and for this
opportunity to come down here to Joplin. People are thanking me for
coming down here to help out victims of the disaster, but I am the one
who is thankful for this life-changing experience. I hope I was able
to touch the lives of the animals and people down here as much as they
touched mine. Although we are excited for the comforts of home, it is
going to be a long, sad trip home to Maine. Ben and I both look
forward to sharing more about this trip when we get home.
Love from Missouri,
Megan Arsenault
June 16, 2011
Greetings from Joplin!
Just wanted to check in. I'm on my lunch break right now. We're eating sandwiches. The ASPCA woman told us we'll probably never want to eat another sandwich again after this trip!
Ben is in the big warehouse today sorting out donations. I'm in the cat warehouse. There are 365 tornado cats in there living in dog crates on the warehouse floor. They put me with a guy from Virginia. We share a cart of cleaning supplies and go up and down the rows cleaning and feeding hundreds of cats. We are very short-handed today, I guess.
Everything is well-coordinated. It was very easy to catch on. They think of everything, too. They even gave us kneepads because are kneeling down cleaning the cats.
Things are going very well. Everyone here and in the community is so appreciative of our work. We went to Starbucks last night and they gave us free coffee as a thank you for coming down to help. Everyone here is so nice. We've met a lot of great people.
We went to the tornado area last night. It was awful. I took some pictures so you guys could see how bad it is. It's so sad to see what the people here have through, but you can feel the love and support throughout the community. There is a great sense of hope and seeing that alone was reason enough to come down here.
We are very well taken care of down here. Remember when I asked you if I was going to get my morning coffee? They don't offer any sort of caffeine because they say it dehydrates people. I was happy to see the 3 women in my trailer are hoarding a bunch of Cokes haha! I had a Coke and bag of Cheez-Its for breakfast this morning. Talk about roughin' it! Haha! I will be going out tonight to find anything resembling coffee so I can survive the week!
Hope things are going well in ME. I will keep you guys updated. Talk to you soon. Miss you!
Megan
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