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12:57pm

Meaning of Makeover

I was talking to somebody the other day about the Zootoo Shelter Makeover. I was explaining how the contest was started and what we had to do to get in the top 20 to be given a chance for the Million Dollar Makeover.

The person asked me "what is the meaning of Makeover".

I must have looked completely puzzled by this question because the person said "remodel, restoration, renovation". I said okay.

Then came the question of "what does remodel, restoration, renovation mean." Again, I looked at this person like "what".

Then came the "well, go look up those words, see if they apply to your group and how. Oh and good luck." They walked away.

I felt like I was 12 years ago again being sent to look up words in the dictionary and the encyclopedia.

So here we go.

Remodel - to model again, to reconstruct, re-create, repair

Just looking at this part, I would say to reconstruct our building to model anew. I could see that as part of the makeover.

Restoration- the act of restoring, renewal, revival or reestablishment. The state or fact of being restored. Something that is restored as by renovating.

I have thought about this word and meaning. To restore. What would we need to restore or be restored. The building is the only thing I could think of again.

Renovation- to restore to good condition, make new, repair, to reinvigorate, refresh, revive.

I thought about this word long and hard. Again came the whole building. Yes, a new building would be great. But then I kept thinking of this word. To reinvigorate, to refresh to revive. And I thought, no, this word could be used to help our organization and our community. So I looked up these words.

Reinvigorate- impart vigor, strength, or vitality to.

Which to me would mean give more stength to our organization. Strength we have, but even more strength is better. To add even more strength of the community and other shelters/rescues would make us even stronger than we are.

Refresh-to provide new vigor, to stimulate, to make fresh again.

Again, this word refers to our organization and community. And I have to say, yes, like with most groups we could be refresh. We are good in what we do programwize, but we could be refreshed. There might be other programs to learn from to improve up on. To give us new vigor. To give the community the shot in the arm it needs to be proud of what we do.

Revive- to return to life, vigor, strength; to restore or renew as in hope or confidence.

This word hit me like a brick wall. Each group should be confidence in what they do. I believe our group is. We get along well together. Based on some other shelter, I would say our board of directors shows support of the shelter staff and they do so in return. We have confidence in that we have a good set of programs with the prison program, 100% spay/neuter of adopted animals program, adoption program, and more.

So then I looked at the rest of this while thinking, how else does this apply to us. After much thought, I decided the following is what makeover for the HSMC would mean in my opinion.

To strengthen what we already have.
To give new life to our shelter, organization, community.
To restore faith that the animals are taken care of.
To give hope that we all are in this together.

I believe a "makeover" can be achieved by every group. You just have to decide what kind of makeover is needed then make it happen for your organization.

Just my lesson for the day.

Now you go look up Makeover and see what you think it means for your group.