Seniors' pets receive needed gifts

Seniors and homebound residents who needed additional help taking care of their pets' needs had their wishes granted last Wednesday afternoon.

For the past month, the Golden Hour Senior Center has had tags with pet needs placed on a bulletin board for anyone to take home, purchase the supplies and bring them back.

Irish Kreis, GHSC activities and marketing coordinator, said 136 tags for various items including cat and dog food, toys and beds and those asking for monetary donations for vaccinations and other veterinary expenses were picked by residents and fulfilled.

"I think it went great," she said.

Kreis said they had a lot of community members who took a tag and when they brought back the items noticed there were still tags hanging on the wall and would grab another one. She said they wanted the communities help with the project because a lot of the seniors visiting the center are on a fixed income and may not have the funds to help with this particular project.

Kreis said she also had a lot of residents who would come in and just give her cash to buy the items the animals needed. She said this helped out a lot. Due to the great community response, 36 dogs, eight cats, two birds and one fish received needed items, but that's not all.

"We paid out over $1,000 worth of veterinary bills," Kreis said.

Some of the veterinary bills paid for included spays and neuters, wing clippings, X-rays and vaccinations.

Last Wednesday, home delivered meal drivers were picking up bags of food, toys, pet beds and more to deliver to those on their list. It was just easier to have the home delivered meal drivers deliver the items because a lot of them are those on their routes and they know them, Kreis explained.

"I know where all of these people live," volunteer driver Jim Lewis said after looking at his list. "I just get to sit and visit with the people and sit and talk to them when I deliver meals."

Lewis said often times they are the only ones who see these homebound residents regularly and he knows how much their pets mean to them.

"If you can keep the pet healthy, you can keep the people healthy," volunteer driver Bea Jacobson said.

"I didn't know how it was going to go because it was my first year doing it," Kreis said.

However, she was impressed with the communities response and wanted to thank them for making a difference in the pets and their owners lives.