Dear Editor:

It takes a village.

It all started with an ailing horse. Sue Wright, manager of the Animal Benefit Place, needed a substitute to run the store last Friday because her horse needed to see the vet. Jim Wood called me and I agreed to fill in.

Jeff Cantrell, one of our good customers, met me at the door as I opened the store Friday morning. As Jeff and I started to walk toward the back, we heard what sounded like a waterfall.

Jeff waded through water that came all the way to his shoe tops to turn on the lights. The splashing sound came from the darkness of the very back room. I rushed to the light switch by the back door and discovered the source of the sound as the water drenched my whole right side. Jeff spied the trouble--a broken pipe on the ceiling.

I called Mayor Jimmy Poss to get the water turned off. Then I called Sue Puckett-Jernigan to see if she could use some of her resources to help find a plumber or someone to get rid of the two inches of water that stood in the floor. The next call was a message left on Robin Driver's phone looking for a wet vac.

Just as Mayor Poss came down to assess the situation, the water was turned off at the meter. Then, in walked David Cook to fix the pipe. Hallelujah! He was produced by Sue's call to Tom Vickers for help. I got a call back from Robin, who owns our building with his dad Donnie Driver, and who generously lets us use it rent-free. He sent Chris with a wet vac. Hallelujah , again! Chris worked hard all afternoon getting rid of the water. I was able to move the water soaked things into plastic tubs. Robin came down later in the afternoon to check things out and see if we needed anything else.

Thanks to the generosity of spirit of our friends, our Animal Benefit Place--one of the major sources of money for our new animal shelter--survived with minimal damage. So to Jeff Cantrell, Mayor Poss, Sue Puckett- Jernigan, Tom Vickers, David Cook, Chris, and Robin Driver, a big THANK YOU.

See, it does take a village. Aren't we lucky that Smithville is ours?

With gratitude,

Marsha Darrah

President, DeKalb Animal Coalition