Several months ago, one of my tattoo clients (the dear Paula Kolpien) approached me and asked if I’d be interested in doing a fundraiser for some organizations she’s a part of. Generally, I try to do one fundraiser a year by donating the proceeds from a day’s worth of tattooing, so this wasn’t particularly out of my normal realm of practice, but I’d been considering something … special … for a while. Let’s just say a few metaphorical marbles were rolling around in the ol’ brain hole.
I wanted to try connecting my two passions (tattooing and writing) in a positive way for a while, and when the lovely Paula said the money would go toward White Paws German Shepherd Rescue and Mit Leibe German Shepherd Dog Rescue respectively, I thought, “Those sound like organizations Granite would donate to if he weren’t a figment of my imagination.”
Naturally, as creative minds often do, this thought spiraled wildly out of control.
What organization would Umbriel donate to?
Or Mr. Addihein, the tireless humanitarian whose dream for a better world for all seems like an all-to-utopian impossibility?
Even Kazuaki, with his questionable moral compass, would surely find something he deemed worthy of supporting, right?
I believe they would.
As the general underlying theme of the Panagea Tales is ‘there is no good or evil, only people doing what they think is right’, I intend to do just that. Once a month. For an entire year.
Today, my tattooing career helped me raise $680 (or $340 for each organization) for Mit Liebe and White Paws.
Somewhere in the depths of my head, Granite is genuinely happy to see money going to help animals who really need it.
Here’s something directly from White Paws’ website:
Since 2004, we’ve saved approximately 150-175 dogs a year from being put to sleep in shelters, most stray or abandoned by owners. We take in dogs found in dumping grounds, owner surrenders, shelters and many other bad circumstances from 22 states in the Continental U.S. We rescue young, old, and medically needy dogs.
And the mission statement from Mit Liebe? I think that’s something we can all get behind:
We only adopt to those who will love the dog as much, or if possible, more than we do.
If you’d like to make your own donations to these fine organizations, you can find the information on their mission and more on the links provided.
We all know the cast of the Panagea Tales is extensive … so, as stated above, for every month of 2020, I’ll pick an organization I think one character would support today if they were tangible human beings. Since Granite was so late in the month of December, he’s taking place as my official ‘January’. I don’t know who will serve the February slot yet, but I’m sure when the timing strikes, I’ll feel it. (Unless, of course, you all have some suggestions on where you think the characters would like to lend an assist). I’d love to hear them and help however I can.
I’d also love to hear stories of how you made positive changes in your world or someone else’s. Maybe a signed copy of a book will fall into your mailbox from the literature fairy. They say fortune favors the bold, but I think it also favors those who favor others. Good karma and all that.
A happy New Year to you all, thank you to the lovely ladies who came out to get tattooed today, and cheers to eventual salvation for homeless animals everywhere.
-McK.
Books by McKenzie Austin 