The following is a release by the Animal Welfare Association:
Animal Welfare Association (AWA) offers refuge to more than 40 dogs and 100 cats at any given time during the holiday season, until these pets get the ultimate gift – a forever home.
People often ask the shelter how they can help keep homeless pets fed, safe, and entertained during the holidays until they find their family. These last months are a critical time for AWA, as we work to save pets before the weather turns, and we’re grateful the community wants to help.
Not only does AWA have a wish-list online at http://www.awanj.org/wish-list/, but during the holidays the shelter staff and volunteers carefully hang stockings by the pets’ cages for the community to fill. Animal lovers are encouraged to swing by the shelter and pick a pet to fill their stocking, bringing happy holidays to our residents until they’re home.
“Some of the most needed items, the ones we have to buy ourselves, include: paper towels, liquid laundry detergent, and non-scoopable clay cat litter, bleach and trash bags. We are so grateful when we get these items donated,” said Shelter Services Manager Nanci Urban.
AWA is so much more than a shelter. It is a celebration of the human-animal bond, in all its forms. One of its programs is the Pet Food Pantry, where we offer low-income families pet food so they can keep their pets at home where they belong.
In 2019, AWA has contributed more than 3,750 pounds of pet food, and nearly 1,600 cans of pet food, to community members in-need.
