Do we really care more for pets than people?

To the editor:

In the April 8 issue of the Frontiersman, a short article on page 3 informed us that for the third year in a row, Valley residents have overwhelmingly supported Permanent Fund Dividend donations to rescue animals through the Pick.Click.Give. program over all other options available through Pick.Click.Give.

This bothers me. Don’t get me wrong — I am an animal lover too. In fact, all of the animals I’ve adopted over the past 25 years have been rescued animals, and I intend to adopt another rescued dog soon. I, too, have donated to an animal shelter. But it seems to me there is a much greater need to support people in need here in the Valley.

I went to the Pick.Click.Give website to see what organizations benefit from this fantastic and oh-so-convenient program. The list is long, and our generosity has increased over each of the four years this program has been in place. I learned 1,462 people pledged $85,875 to organizations in the Mat-Su that support rescue and rehab activities for animals. Only 286 people pledged to donate to the Food Pantry of Wasilla for $16,975 and 118 donors pledged to CCS Early Learning for $6,725.

Valley Charities, Mat-Su Services for Children and Adults, United Way, Frontline Mission, Habitat for Humanity and several others are organizations that support our less fortunate people. All these organizations received small pledges through Pick.Click.Give, but those pledges pale in comparison to what was pledged to animal rescue.

Why are we so generous to rescue animals, yet let children go homeless and neighbors go hungry? Are we lazy? We simply click our mouse three times while filing our PFD application online and our Pick.Click.Give. charitable giving is done! Or, do the animal rescue organizations simply do a better job of keeping us aware of their mission with their continuous advertising in the paper. Are we so busy that we no longer see the drooped shoulders, dirty hair, frayed clothing and the look of despair in a hungry or homeless person’s eyes? Is it apathy? Do we really care more for a dog in a shelter than a person who has no place where he is safe?

According to the Pick.Click.Give website, approximately 5 percent of Alaskans who filed for the PFD online pledged a portion of their PFD. There are something like 90,000 people who call the Valley home. If 5 percent of the Valley residents each pledged $60 to support humanity, we would be giving $270,000 to help our homeless and hungry people. Think of the good our humanitarian giving can do to help feed or stabilize a family, provide a stable environment to help a teenager graduate high school, provide emergency housing to someone who became homeless due to a fire or provide appropriate clothing to go to a job interview.

A dog with a home cannot provide shelter to a homeless person. A dog with a home cannot feed or clothe a hungry person.

Perhaps if we had compassion to support people in need, those people in need would eventually be stable and able to adopt and provide a good home for an animal in need. Please, let’s rescue our people first. Give to help people. Volunteer. Be aware. Extend your hand. Don’t look away.

Vicki Kluever

Palmer