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| Patti Leonard | Administrative Assistant | Greensboro, NC |
For at the past 15 years my sister and I have dedicated our time to rescuing animals. She started out at a vet tech and was constantly bringing home puppies and kittens that were days old who had to be bottle fed. We lived together at the time and both just kind of fell into it. Over the years we have volunteered with various rescues including the Humane Society, the animal shelter, Gingers Fund and other groups as needed. I headed up a major fundraiser for Gingers Fund (an animal cruelty group based out of Lexington, NC) and raised over $6k for their group over a 3 year period. This was on top of the ones we did on our own. We took in animals that were what many deemed “throw aways” – the sick, the old and the ones that lost their owners to illnesses or death. We took them in, rehabbed them and found them homes with new loving families. After working with so many local rescues we discovered that there are holes in animal rescues that needs to be filled and with the money we raised for other groups we could be putting to use for our own 501c3 and taking on the areas that are often ignored or left out. Most rescues take on the animals that are healthy that they know they can rehome. The shelters end up with many of the owner surrenders. To anyone who has ever worked with shelters – the sick and the owner surrenders are the first to be put down in overcrowded shelters. A lot of the owner surrenders are elderly people who can no longer afford to take care of their pets, are dying and have to be moved to medical care facilities, are unable to care for themselves anymore and are moved to assisted living communities or the animals are surrendered by family members when elderly owners pass away. These are healthy animals that are being put to sleep at no fault of their own. It is also devastating to the owners who have to give them up just because they are physically unable to take care of them anymore.
My sister and I have always wanted our own 501c3 – to be called The Sparky Foundation – named after one of our family dogs who was a rescue that passed away a few years ago. The vision we have for the Sparky Foundation is to help provide medical care for animals in need, to rescue and rehome animals that are high risk in shelters – the sick, the elderly and those who just who cannot handle the stress of the shelter. We want to assist in spaying and neutering those animals we rescue so that they do not end up with litters down the road to end up in the same situation – victims of abuse, neglect or just dumped in a shelter. We would like to have one of our dogs trained as a certified therapy dog so that we can go into schools to educated children on having pets, to go into nursing home and hospitals and provide pet therapy for patients and residents. We would also like to work with the local Meals on Wheels program to provide dog food to the people who have pets. (Many seniors who get Meals on Wheels often share their meals with their pets because they cannot afford to purchase pet food. We want to provide them with a bag of pet food to be delivered along with their meals so that the elderly don’t have to share their food. By doing this it helps keep animals at home with their elderly owners longer. They don’t have to give them up to the shelter because of lack of food.)
We have already started laying the ground work for our organization but we need help to get us where we need to be. We need an out building that is climate controlled so we can house and treat animals until they are well enough to be rehomed (approx.$5,000-$6,000). We need $400 to apply for our 501c3 status so we can do fundraising and raise money to continue to help the animals in need. We need $500 for the certification class for our pet therapy project. And we will need supplies to help launch everything – pay for signs for events, supplies for the animals – kennels, food, treats, medicine, etc. $10,000 would help us jump start our dream.
There are so many animals that are dying each year. We know we cannot save them all but if we can just save one or ten that is better than doing nothing. We are not only helping the animals but also the humans. We are giving those who have to give up their pets peace of mind. We are giving those who are sick and elderly unconditional love with pet therapy. We are giving those who are not financially able the chance to keep their pets at home by helping feed their pets. Right now we do what we can until we can do better. This is my passion. This is my dream. I am making it a reality one way or another! Having my company support me in my dream and my mission would be nothing short of amazing!
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