Highlighting the Humane Society of the New Braunfels Area
Where one of their sayings is "More Couches, Less Cages"!
The Bates Family Adoptions - Lily & Luna
People often preach, adopt, don't shop. If you can't adopt, foster. If you can't foster, volunteer. If you can't volunteer, support. If you can't support, share on social media. If you can't share, at least do no harm. Well, we disagree. Do whatever you can, whatever you want. We need everyone: a community of pet-loving individuals makes a better community, no matter what your means or commitment.
Just being an example and loving your pets or speaking up makes a difference. The Humane Society of the New Braunfels Area isn't just the only open-intake facility in Comal County. We're not just the "contracted holding facility for Comal County, New Braunfels, and Marion." We're not just a 501c3 non-profit. We're an organization changing and adapting to our growing community to give resources to humans and save the lives of animals in need. With your help, we can do more. That is the bottom line and the most important one. Your donations keep the lights on and water running. Your adoption, foster commitments, and volunteer hours expand our capacity of care so we can do more. Your support and willingness to just love your animals and do the right thing rekindles our hearts as we see people in need, humans with calluses that may not be able to care as they need to, and situations that are truly dire and sad.
So that is our call to action, our plea. When we were approached to do an article for the upcoming year, we didn't know how we wanted to start, but as we write this, we know what we want the real message to be. The "meat and potatoes," if you will. And that isn't begging, it isn't the call to action, the flowery prose, the paragraph we started with, and we hope we didn't lose too many readers with just being "another group asking for money." It is the same thing we love to read, our happy tails. We reached out to a few families in Vintage Oaks to share their story, but the deadline caught me before we could get them all (sorry about that!).
So that is our call to action, our plea. When we were approached to do an article for the upcoming year, we didn't know how we wanted to start, but as we write this, we know what we want the real message to be. The "meat and potatoes," if you will. And that isn't begging, it isn't the call to action, the flowery prose, the paragraph we started with, and we hope we didn't lose too many readers with just being "another group asking for money." It is the same thing we love to read, our happy tails. We reached out to a few families in Vintage Oaks to share their story, but the deadline caught me before we could get them all (sorry about that!).
This is from some wonderful volunteers, fosters, adopters, and supporters: The Bates Family.
"Our family’s love for animals led us to the New Braunfels Humane Society, where we found a meaningful way to give back to our community. What began as a simple visit quickly turned into volunteering and fostering cats whenever we could. Helping the staff care for animals in need has been both humbling and deeply rewarding.
Along the way, we also found two new members of our family. We adopted Lily three years ago, a brown tabby with a loving personality and a habit of “talking back” whenever she’s spoken to. Last year, we welcomed Luna so Lily would have a companion. Quiet and gentle, Luna prefers to stay close, and the two have since formed a special bond.
Through volunteering, fostering, and adoption, we’ve seen firsthand how compassion can change lives—both theirs and ours."
If you've read this far, we want to leave you with these ideas of less and more. One of our sayings is "More Couches, Less Cages" - foster homes like the Bates' provide us much-needed space, enrichment, stability, and one-on-one devotion and understanding that a shelter environment just can't provide. We personally want 2026 to be a year of more though: not wasteful excess, but mindful ability to say yes to helping more lives. More donations, more couches, more volunteer hours, more neuters, more microchips, more animals reunited, more animals adopted, more lives saved and more thank yous to our community. We can do it, and you can help. Again, thank you, for inviting us into your neighborhood and this Stroll magazine, and making New Braunfels a more humane community. Thank you for your support, Vintage Oaks, it is very appreciated!