MILLBROOK — In the throes of catastrophe, what can people do? Well, a number of things. In the beginning of the health crisis, many people were panic-driven, fearful of catching COVID-19. But then, some asked themselves, “How can I help make things better?” Different people came up with different solutions.
Millbrook resident Judith Muir was scrolling through social media one day asking herself that very question: “How can I help?” Something she saw on the news feed struck close to home: a request for urgently needed foster homes for kittens and cats that were rescued from a hoarder/abandonment situation.
An animal lover and former cat owner, Muir decided to foster a cat. She said she was a little surprised that she was not given a choice, but was handed a black and white cat named Percival. She took him home, prepared to foster him for as long as needed, but knew within 24 hours that Percival wasn’t going anywhere.
Foster homes and permanent homes for animals are especially needed right now because there is a lack of available volunteers to help out in animal shelters due to the health crisis, and, due to the economic toll of the pandemic, donations are also down. This leaves many animal rescuers and animal shelters in dire need of help.
Helping is part of Muir’s nature. She’s both a musician and an educator, having earned degrees while studying in the SUNY school system, the Manhattan School of Music and The Royal Academy. Aside from teaching private students, she is an instructor at The Fountains in Millbrook, where often she and some of her students volunteer to get seniors at The Fountains active through music and song. She finds great power in music and is herself a world-class clarinetist. The Fountains residents especially like older songs, ones that 100 years ago might have been sung in the parlor and sing-a-longs. That type of music promoted connectivity, Muir said, it soothed and healed, which is why she plays it today.
Trips to The Fountains have been postponed until further notice because of COVID-19, but Muir still teaches virtually and is offering free online sessions to the children of her students and first responders who may be in need of the healing sound of music.
“How do you explain to a child of 4 about quarantine?” she asked. “About illness and death?”
So Muir continues to reach out to those who love music, as she said it has the power to heal the soul. In times of great stress, she said, the arts can heal, whether it’s through painting or drawing, reading or writing, composing or playing music or simply appreciating the arts. Art is said to “soothe the wild beast.”
Percival, the rescue cat, agrees. Very often he sits and listens as his musical mother plays; he is now finally living the good life.
To learn more about local animal shelters in need of support, call the Hudson Valley Animal Rescue and Sanctuary in Poughkeepsie at 845-392-4849; the Dutchess County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DCSPCA) in Hyde Park at 845-452-7722; or Collaborative Cats in Ancramdale at 518-305-2910.
Meg Sher, executive director of the David M. Hunt Library in Falls Village.L. Tomaino 
