I've always been an "if it sounds too good to be true, than it probably is" kind of girl. Snackwell cookies, permanent waves, the Cutco knives sales job, Splenda, vegetarian bacon. I'll take a Pass on all of those, thank you.
But when it comes to animals--especially, sad puppy dogs and kitty cats--all bets are off. Cue the ASPCA commercial with Sarah McLachlan or Willie Nelson and I'm a puddle of emotions ready to hand over my AmEx card. Wishing I could be more of a help.
I can't remember who sent it to me, or how many years it has been, but some time ago a friend sent me a link to the Animal Rescue Site. Along with it came a simple plea to click on the site every day. In exchange for my clicks, the site's advertisers would donate food to shelter animals. It seemed simple enough, and I hated to think that any animal--or any living creature for that matter--might go hungry. The Animal Rescue Site says my daily click is the equivalent of .6 bowls of food. Every little bit counts, right? Even though it sounded too good to be true, I kept clicking. Just in case.
In time, I noticed the other tabs at the top of the page: Rainforest, Literacy, Child Health, Breast Cancer, and Hunger. They, too, tugged at my heartstrings so I incorporated all seven pages in my (almost) daily click routine. Then my practical side got ahold of me: What exactly is this site that I'm so devotedly clicking on every day? How do I know it's on the up-and-up?
Enter my favorite rumor-debunking website, Snopes. I'm pleased to report that the Animal Rescue Site (and affiliates) are for real. Check out what the snopes folks have to say. I'm also pleased to report that the Animal Rescue Site amassed enough clicks in the last six months to equal more than 40 million bowls of food. Most impressive, fellow clickers. Most impressive . . .
So, is there a cause for which you are an avid clicker? Did you hop on the L'il Green Patch bandwagon on Facebook, too? (Note, evidence is inconclusive whether L'il Green Patch is accurately capturing everyone's clicks; however, they have made at least one nice-size donation to The Nature Conservancy's Adopt an Acre program.)
_________________________________________________________________________ © 2009 Good Karma Housekeeping. Making the space--for all creatures great and small--to live happily ever after.
