Rescued, My Favorite Breed

By Christa Stout

Remember if you can’t donate, foster; if you can’t foster, volunteer.

ENAC Meets Local Need, Extends Invite

Have you ever noticed that when you meet animal lovers and they talk about their pets or their experiences, their eyes truly light up? Well, that’s the case with Cathrine, who owns, operates and literally does everything to do with the shelter called ENAC (East Newton County Animal Coalition). The shelter is a fairly recent startup located in Granby and like all shelters I have visited, is a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization (hint, hint, donations are more than welcome and may have some tax advantages). Cathrine rescues animals, fosters, does fund raising and anything else that might come up. When I met up with her, she had just completed walking dogs. Oh, and by the way, she also helps the City with the six pet runs at the City pound. We met at JJ’s Restaurant to grab a bite to eat and talk about shelter life. I should not have been surprised that JJ, the owner of the restaurant and his wife are pet lovers and have been instrumental in raising funds for the shelter, even donating a quilt and keeping a donation jar on the restaurant counter at all times. Together with Cathrine, they have raised more than $21,000 for animals, and they even help getting other vendors involved. Oh, and last but not least, I can vouch that the food in the restaurant is great as well. Cathrine tells me that she is getting a lot of animals right now, from skin and bones puppies to a large Pyrenees/Great Dane mix found in a tiny crate by the side of the road. She currently has 16 young puppies with two different mommas, one grand senior and 3 adult dogs; as well as several adult cats and kittens. She says it is very hard some days to continually have to watch mistreated or abandoned dogs and cats come into the shelter, but she is very grateful for her support system that keeps her sane when so many pets need help.

Here is how you can contact and/or donate: Facebook.com/ENACRESCUE | EastNewtonAnimalCoalition.org

MARTHA

the cute dog with a saucy nose, has a sad past; she was taken to the pound by a person who found her. They managed to track down her owner, who came and picked her up. What they didn’t realize was that the owner promptly took Martha to a remote area and dumped the poor girl there. It was a full month before Cathrine and her people were made aware of her being out there all alone; a whole month that she survived on her own. Luckily, a good Samaritan contacted ENAC. He found her in a civil war graveyard, so skinny the bones protruded, and she covered in ticks and fleas. She had open wounds and was a very sad dog indeed. Fortunately, a great lady agreed to foster Martha. There she has blossomed into a beautiful and happy dog. Martha is now ready to find her forever home and is available through ENAC. Are you interested? MIRACLE

a lovely kitten, was found under a busy overpass. Sadly, out of 5 tiny kittens, she was the only survivor. Although she had managed to survive on the remains of her siblings, she was very thin and very weak. It took a long time for her to fully recover. Her weight gain was slow, as was her trust for people. But after several weeks, she was ready to shine! She was transferred to a larger shelter and soon found herself starring at Whiskers’ Cat Cafe in Kansas City. Now a loving beauty, her stay was short and she was quickly snapped up for new adventures and a new forever home.

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A small shelter cannot afford spay and neuter costs, especially when they are large dogs, so it is absolutely necessary to network with larger shelters such as Joplin Humane Society’s facilities, for these services as well as medical care. Networking is also necessary to find rescues and sanctuaries in metropolitan areas because not all animals can be adopted locally. Giving them transportation to larger shelters allows them a better chance of finding their forever home. Also, there are the special needs animals, whether injured or senior pets, that are not as easily adopted and may need a move to special rescues and sanctuaries. Of course, this also means arranging transportation for the dogs and cats so they can get from Southwest Missouri to St. Louis or possibly even beyond. ENAC’s biggest challenge at the moment is finding enough foster parents to allow her to continue rescuing as many animals as possible. Fostering is a wonderful way to get to know an animal, to teach the pet some basic commands or to contribute to the life of a senior dog or cat. All expenses for food and medical care are taken care of by the shelter — you can’t beat having a pet without the expense. Won’t you consider fostering? And everyone loves a foster fail, when fostering actually turns into adoption! Please help, if you can.

REMINDER:

Please remember to give your dogs heart worm preventive. It’s a small price to pay to prevent painful and expensive treatment once a dog is diagnosed heart-worm positive.

The Lions Club goes through so much sauce during their traditional chicken barbecue Independence Day weekend that they literally make it by the bucket.

Lions Club BBQ tradition lives on

One Monett service club is determined to keep tradition alive, despite challenges with COVID-19 and an ever-evolving calendar that has created a conflict among the club’s faithful.

The Monett Lions Club has resolved to continue its traditional chicken barbecue this Independence Day weekend – a tradition it has upheld since 1956.

In those early days, the Lions rallied together in October to host a massive cook-out for the community and raise money for their various charitable works, namely providing eyeglasses for those in need.

The second year of the event, 1957, the Lions built a massive barbecue pit at Monett’s South Park and ramped up their sales. That pit is used to this day.

However, one thing that changed is the date. In 1975, the club elected to move the cook-out from its autumn celebration to join in the festivities at South Park on Independence Day.

One could say the rest is history, but with a club as long-lived as the Lions, there may be just as much story as there is history behind the chicken dinner.

For instance, The Monett Times reported, without too much detail, that the second chicken barbecue hosted by the Lions “was much improved” in just a year’s time.

And the improvements keep on coming. Ellie Holle, who has been a steady hand at the barbecue for more than 30 years, said the club learned a valuable lesson not too long ago.

“If you’re going to cook for that many people, you’ve got to get the good charcoal,” Ellie said. “One year someone got some on sale, and it was a sale. That stuff wouldn’t heat for nothing. We had people lined up waiting. Now we get the name brand stuff.”

Grill Master Al Dohmen, a Monett City Councilman and long-time Lion, said it’s Kingsford charcoal under the grill these days.

Another valuable lesson that comes with 60-plus years of serving hot chicken to hundreds – even thousands – of residents is the timing. Holle said with that many chickens on the grill at one time, “you’ve got to be sure you get them off in time so you’re not burning them.”

Lion Steve Weiss explained that the Lions know how popular their barbecue chicken dinner is, and have made preparations to ensure they can meet the demand. Weiss said the massive barbecue pit at the park can have 640 chicken halves cooking at one time, and the club has become masters of timing, ensuring that there is a system in place to get raw chicken cooked and cooked chicken plated at just the right time.

To make that happen, it takes nearly the whole club.

Grill Master Al explained that at any given time there are seven or eight Lions manning the grill, three or four looking after the club’s famous barbecue baked beans, two cooking sauce, three racking raw chickens to prep them for the grill and countless others plating and serving the meals.

And speaking of the sauce and beans – the famous sides served with the 1,400 to 1,500 meals the Lions cook each year, Lion Bob Davis pointed out that the club uses the same sauce for as long as anyone can remember.

“As far as I know, we’ve been using the original sauce,” Davis said. “I know we’ve been using it for over 20 years. We might have tweaked the original recipe a little bit, but not much.”

That sauce is used as both a glaze for the chicken, and in the barbecue beans the club serves and each year, club members can be seen transporting it from grill to bean pot via five-gallon buckets.

“The only complaint I’ve ever heard about the beans is that there aren’t enough beans,” Ralph Scott, a longtime Lion and retired Monett school superintendent said.

In his 90s, Lion Ralph has been an instrumental member of the club and the barbecue for as long as anyone can remember, and he knows first-hand how much the traditional cookout has changed – and stayed the same over the years.

Because the Fourth of July falls on a Sunday this year, the club will be holding its annual feast on Saturday, July 3 to ensure its members are able to attend their regular church services Sunday morning, something the club has to consider every few years.

“This year, like every once in a while, Fourth of July falls on Sunday and this club has consistently voted that we are not cooking chicken on Sunday,” Ralph said. “My grandkids have all hollered at me and want to know if we’re doing the barbecue chicken. We’re doing it. But we’ve never cooked on Sunday. We’re all dedicated Christians.”

Another change the club is making is to keep the drive-through option they instituted last year due to COVID-19. However, this year’s drive-through pick-up is a matter of convenience, not safety.

“We are going to keep it this year because everyone liked it last year,” Steve said. “They were able to stay in their cars and not have to wait in the heat,”

Though drive through will be an option, the club has voted to bring back its outdoor dining option, giving community members an opportunity to enjoy the park and the company of the Lions.

But that invitation comes with a warning: according to club members, if a jovial Lion extends a hand for a handshake at the event, it might be a good idea for community members to check that extended hand for barbecue sauce as at least one club member has been known to glaze more than the chicken during the event.

As always, the meal will include a half chicken, the famous beans, a bag of chips and a beverage. Tickets sell out every year, so those hoping to get a taste of what the club is cooking up are encouraged to get their tickets as soon as possible. n

July is a fine time for family, and for many area residents, it’s not Independence Day without barbecue chicken from the Lions Club.