A Shelter Gives Thanks As the Pandemic Continues
Foster volunteer Jake Walczak holds Enpiar, a loving 5-year-old Pitbull who is available for adoption at Pets In Need.
Caring for vulnerable animals requires a dedicated support network. From professional staff to veterinary workers, adopters to foster families, and volunteers to donors, it takes a proverbial village to care for shelter pets.
This has been especially true over the past 20 months, as the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to test animal shelters in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the country. But time and again, Bay Area residents have stepped in to help.
As we near the end of another challenging year, it’s more important than ever to acknowledge the many moments, big and small, for which we can be grateful.
Fast Initial Response
When COVID-19 restrictions went into effect in March 2020, Pets In Need, an animal shelter with locations in Palo Alto and Redwood City, issued a public plea for help. Within 48 hours, more than 150 dogs, cats, and rabbits were placed into loving foster homes to wait out the early days of the stay-at-home order.
Recognizing the pressure the pandemic would place on pets and their guardians in underserved communities, Pets In Need launched an emergency assistance program to provide financial aid and pet supplies for people impacted financially by the pandemic. Thanks to support from generous donors, more than $750,000 in direct aid was provided to nearly 750 families, and food and supplies were distributed to hundreds more.
One of those recipients was Ashley, whose Pitbull puppy Bentley had injured his leg in a serious fall. Bentley needed his leg amputated, an expensive surgery that Ashley could not afford. Pets In Need provided Ashley with financial aid for the surgery, and today Bentley is pain-free and getting around as a happy tripod.
High school student Lindsey Yang shared her inspiring story of overcoming a mental health challenge with support from her adopted pup, Parker, and won a grant from Petco Love for the shelter of her choice.
Countless Acts of Kindness
The impact of the coronavirus crisis would have been far worse had it not been for the efforts of so many Bay Area residents.
Take Jake Walczak, a high school student from Sunnyvale who convinced his mom that they could foster big dogs as long as Jake was attending school virtually. Jake and his mother, Michelle, had their first foster experience in September 2020, when a 10-day old litter of Pitbull puppies needed their help. When two of the puppies became ill, Jake learned how to administer intravenous fluids and medication. The puppies survived, and Jake and Michelle were hooked. The family has taken in 25 animals to date.
An Atherton high school student, Lindsey Yang, and her sister Ana had masks made for Pets In Need staff and volunteers. Lindsey also earned Pets In Need a grant from Petco Love when she submitted an essay detailing her mental health challenges and the help she received from Parker, a Chihuahua-mix that her family adopted in 2018. And the Palo Alto track and field team, led by then senior Neel Fulton, held a virtual Run to Clear the Shelters to raise funds for Pets In Need.
These are just a few examples of the many people who have supported Pets In Need over the course of the pandemic. There are similar stories from other Bay Area shelters and shelters throughout the nation.
The season of gratitude is upon us. Though we are still contending with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, here in our animal sheltering village there is much to be grateful for.