Sunday, January 25, 2009

SC Shelter in Need Gets Help from Near and Far

Hundreds of pounds of kibble and blankets were flown in to save the day for the Anderson County Animal Shelter in SC:

The food and blankets, airlifted in by volunteer pilots from as far away as Pennsylvania and brought in by concerned area residents from as far away as Greer, were the answer to a call for help from the Anderson County Animal Shelter.

According to shelter officials, the facility is housing between 400 and 500 animals, including more than double the usual number of dogs for this time of year.

[...]

“The response from Animal Rescue Flights and concerned citizens in and around Anderson has been completely overwhelming,” she [Michelle Shead, the shelter’s adoption coordinator] said while she counted cash, checks and gift cards dropped off by concerned citizens.

One of the donations was $40 from an 11-year old boy.

“His parents said he’d saved up his money and wanted to donate it to help with the animals,” Shead said. “He will never know how much that means to all of us at the shelter.”

Volunteers with the ROTC of Westside High School in Anderson and cadets of the Anderson Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol loaded roughly four truckloads of dog food and blankets, Shead said, and more than $2,200 in cash donations had been received as of 2 p.m. Saturday.

I love community based efforts, especially when they aid the non-voting and otherwise voiceless members of the community. And in this case, a successful fund raising effort drew support from out of state donors as well. I'm glad to know the pets in the Anderson Co. Animal Shelter will have full bellies and blankies to sleep on tonight. It's been cold lately!

Video here.

1 comment:

Jan said...

I do love the way people rally to help shelters in need when they know about the problems. It shows that people are in fact not the irresponsible oafs we are sometimes made out to be.