The holidays came just a little early this year for the Animal Welfare Association of Voorhees when on Dec. 11 the AWA received a gift from the Petco Foundation in the form of a check for $25,000 as part of the foundation’s annual “Holiday Wishes” grant campaign.
The Petco Foundation, an independent, non-profit organization started by animal supply retailer Petco, started the grant campaign as a way to help dedicated animal welfare groups progress in their mission of saving the lives of animals.
Animal organizations, shelters and rescues across the United States, 850 in total, applied for this year’s grant by submitting stories of their most successful animal adoptions, and 33 winners were chosen, with the AWA as one of only five winners to receive $25,000.
The AWA’s winning story was that of Attie, an underweight and dehydrated tabby cat found by a young man in the attic of a foreclosed home on the man’s first day of work taking insurance pictures.
According to AWA executive director Maya Richmond, she chose to submit Attie’s story for the Holiday Wishes grant because when the man first discovered the cat, his coworkers actually told him to simply leave the cat alone and hurry up with their work.
The man, who wished to remain anonymous and was not present at the check presentation on Dec. 11, ignored his coworkers’ request and brought the cat to the AWA.
“Here was an adult man, on his first day of work, who was being jeered for wanting to save a cat’s life,” Richmond said. “He was being bullied by his coworkers because he was wasting their time, but yet he stood up and he did the right thing.”
Richmond said the man left Attie with a hug and a kiss goodbye and signed her into the care of the AWA. She was nursed back to health and adopted a few months later by schoolteacher Lauren Campisi.
Campisi, her husband Joe and their 2-and-1/2-year-old daughter Joelle were at the Dec. 11 ceremony, and Campisi said Attie has been doing well in their care.
“I think she thinks she’s a dog,” Campisi said. “She eats everything. She’s into everything. She’s the most loving cat. Even my father who hates cats, she’s constantly on his lap, she’s on everybody’s lap — she lies with her (Joelle) every night.”
Petco Foundation program manager Lee Domaszowec helped present the $25,000 check to the AWA, and said the foundation’s mission is to help bring people together and unleash the strength of a community toward collaborative efforts for the benefit of animals.
According to Domaszowec, with Attie’s story, not only was there the opportunity to do nothing, there was a compulsion to do the wrong thing, but multiple people came together to do what was right.
“We always talk about making the pet the hero in any story, but this story had so many heroes, because it really started with someone who made that conscious decision, in the face of some sort of challenge, to do the right thing for the right reason and to save a life,” Domaszowec said.
Richmond said she was really proud of the AWA, and the $25,000 would definitely help in its future efforts.
“We always, constantly ask ourselves ‘what more can we do?’ and so I think the check and the presentation today are going to help us look at our plans for next year and answer that question with some excitement,” Richmond said.
