Not Meant for Me

What do you do when gifted the opportunity to solve a majority of your troubles, at the cost of the well being of a stranger? It is a question many of us are sure we know the answer for, do not harm another for your own benefit. However, when the choice presents itself, it is a troublesome decision to deal with; as it is often difficult to let go of a chance to alleviate our own pains. But the nobility of one's heart will many times win out, and endure the hardships of life in order to ease the aching of a kindred struggling spirit.

Andrea, a young woman falling on her own harsh times, found herself in just such a situation. She was not sure why or how, but some unlucky fellow had lost a piece of their luggage. A plain black travel bag, unmarked with no nametag, containing nothing but a little, black book, and a large sum of US dollars. Despite being behind on her payments for vet school, and with the dreams of what relief and creature comforts she could afford with this find; Andrea knew she had to find a way to return the money to its rightful owner.

With the bag left almost in right on the side of the New York City streets, probably accidentally left behind while getting into a taxi, there were no clues as to who the owner could be other than the black booklet. Andrea hated to invade someone's privacy, but returning easily five figures worth of cash to its rightful owner was more important. Upon opening the booklet, it was clear its contents were also very important, containing pages upon pages of notes citing the names of animals with their individual needs, and the budget requirements for them.

As a pet owner herself, Andrea felt in her heart the urgency of funding their care. The little black book noted the budget for heartworm pills and stomach treatments, for new tags and grooming equipment, building maintenance and plans to add kennels for even more animals desperate for homes. In Andrea's possession must have been the money needed to meet these outlined necessities.

The anxiety Andrea felt over what might pass should the money not be returned to the rightful owner, was thankfully dashed away as the final page of the booklet included a name and address of the animal shelter for which this budget belonged. The money belonged to a woman named Margery, and the shelter for which she worked was in Brooklyn. With utmost care as to ensure the funds would not go missing from a second set of arms, Andrea made her way to the Brooklyn shelter. Navigation was a minor issue, as Andrea was no native to the city, but she reached her destination all the same.

The building for the little Brooklyn animal shelter could not have been mistaken for anything else. The barking and howling of dogs could be heard down the street, a directory pointing out the shelter's cattery, and a pair of male workers with leashed dogs could be seen on the grounds before the entrance. There could also be seen work being done on the outside of the building, which must have been the extension for additional kennels she read about. Andrea swallowed her worry over being mistaken for a thief with bag full of the shelter's money, and she went inside.

Upon entry, she found there was no lack of work that required attention at Margery's shelter. There were several dogs being moved back and forth for outdoor training and being brought back to their beds, a pair of cats being adopted as she entered, and more being fed in their kennels in the front lobby. All the while, the front desk clerk was in the midst of a conversation and filling paperwork with two men in suits. As the first clerk was entrenched in her own work, another shelter worker emerged from the front office to address Andrea.

"Welcome to the Brooklyn Animal Shelter and Rescue, I'm Tiffany, how can I assist you today?"

Andrea was nervous, but set somewhat more at ease from Tiffany's polite demeanor. "Yes, hello, I, wanted to know if there was a Margery here. I believe she lost her luggage."

Tiffany watched as Andrea indicated the bag and black booklet with the shelter's budget in her hands, and her eyes suddenly lit up with excitement. "Oh my gosh, yes! Margery is our founder, let me bring you to her right away!"

The kind young woman lead Andrea into the back office, and Andrea felt a wave of happiness, as the reception from Tiffany was exactly what she thought would come from an animal caretaker relieved that their budget had been saved. She had definitely brought the bag to the right place. The clerk asked Andrea to wait a second, as she entered the shelter manager's office.

On the other side of the door, an elderly woman sat bawling in tears at her desk, in a torn up room, with a pile of paperwork for contracting and veterinary bills. This was Margery, the owner of the animal shelter, who believed she had just doomed her beloved rescued dogs and cats by losing the twenty-thousand dollars from her fundraiser. She was completely beside herself with grief when Tiffany knocked at the door.

Margery quickly tried to compose herself so as not to worry her own employee. "Yes, come in!"

Tiffany was smiling brightly as she entered. "I have some very good news, Marge. Somebody just got here with a gift for you!"

Margery chuckled a little cynically. "A gift? It doesn't happen to be all of the money from our fundraiser, is it?"

"Actually, I think that's exactly what it is." Andrea said from the doorway as she held out the black bag and booklet for their rightful owner, unable to help herself from hearing the conversation as she stood just behind Tiffany.

Margery was overwhelmed with relief as she bolted to her feet and happily went to greet Andrea. "Oh my god! Please tell me you're not joking! Oh god, thank you! Thank you!"

The elderly woman was in tears once again, but this time from fantastic joy as she hugged Tiffany and shook Andrea's hand in gratitude. Having had losses of her own in her life, Andrea completely understood the joy Margery was experiencing at having her shelter's budget saved.

"You're welcome! You're welcome!" Andrea replied to the ecstatic founder. "I am just so happy the shelter animals can get the help they need! I know I would die if I couldn't take care of my dog."

"Oh dear, bless you!" Margery said as she continued to shake Andrea's hand. "The world needs more people like you, dear. I can't thank you enough. If there's anything you need, if you need any help with your own dog, let us know!"

Overwhelmed by the praise, and with great admiration and appreciation for the work of an animal shelter founder, Andrea thought she could take a chance and take up Margery's offer. "Well, um, actually, I am looking for a job, and I love to work with animals."

Thus began the decades spanning career of Andrea for the growing animal shelter and rescue of Brooklyn. In the ensuing years, Andrea would help countless owners be matched with and care for their lifelong dog and cat friends. Thanks to the returned funds, the shelter was able to pay for extensions so there would be no lack of space for rescued animals and veterinary care was provided to every resident that came through. Beyond that, Andrea proved instrumental to the success of further fundraisers, helping expand the reach and care provided by the shelter, and allowed them to provide support to more rescues and neighboring animal shelters.

With Margery's team at the Brooklyn shelter, plus Andrea's enthusiastic support, they were able to fund the opening of a Vet clinic directly attached to the shelter, allowing even more convenient and immediate veterinary attention to be given to every rescued dog and cat, and for every other pet owner's animal that might need medical attention. In following months they would also have formed a team of adept animal trainers, providing services to help the behavior for pets all throughout the NY area, and ensuring every rescue the shelter saw would be a perfectly mannered pet.

Over the years, Andrea's own terrier mix, Jackson, would be joined by a Stephanie the Staffordshire pup from the shelter, just one of many lifelong friendships formed from the work performed at the shelter. Others included hundreds of therapy animals given out to the children of local schools and residents of New York hospitals. The shelter became the starting point for many stories like that of Chilai the black cat who helped her older owner call for medical attention when he had fallen and hurt his back; and the seeing eye German Shepherd Dakota who'd help save his owner's life every day in the dangerous city. Over her decades of working for Brooklyn's shelter and rescue and connect vet clinic, Andrea would collect thousands of stories of human and animal lives brightened beyond measure by the work of Marge's shelter and their peers.

As time passed, Andrea completely forgot that she ever considered keeping the money she found that day for herself, and if she were to think of it again she would consider twenty-thousand dollars in her pocket to be a paltry and unimportant thing compared to the good that her beloved shelter and clinic has provided. Endless were the waves of good will in the community that resonated from the simple deed of returning a lost bag of money to its forgetful old owner. There can be no measure put on the worth of providing aide to another soul.