I'm about to reveal something that may hurt my credibility, especially for someone that grew up in New England. Alright, here it goes.....I just really don't care much about sports. There I said it. Sure, I'll watch a game now and then but that's about it. Just the other night I had a choice between the World Series or The Walking Dead. Without hesitation, it was The Walking Dead that I ended up watching.

I'm not anti-sports and I get why many people are obsessed with watching. There are many reasons that sports are such a big part of our culture. It is exciting when your team works hard to face (and beat) what may seem like insurmountable odds. It is exciting to watch a group of talented people do amazing things. The feeling of camaraderie and pride one gets from watching your team give it their all. These are all things that just make you feel good. You watch your sports team...and win or lose you are proud of what they have done and most importantly how hard they have tried. This is how I feel about team PARL.

In 2013, I have watched the team here at PARL become one that would be in the World Series of animal welfare. This team of rookie and veteran players has found a way to work together to focus on the important work: helping animals. The year has had many challenges. The team has faced some difficult opponents. They have faced more cats coming in the shelter in 2013 than in previous years. They didn't back down. They found ways to get animals to off-site adoption events, become creative with office and conference room space and save animals' lives. They also never took the easy road of just saying no. No matter how stressed the shelter was they did not turn away people or animals in need. PARL is a resource for those that have no other option. The team made many half-time adjustments to ensure that we continued to operate as this resource rather than yield to the pressure.

I could go on for days about how much this team has accomplished. In my opinion they are batting 500 (that's good right? Like I said I'm not a sports guy). I'd rather just close this message so you can enjoy reading about some of the great things happening here at PARL.

Go Team PARL!