News

ARL's Home for the Holidays campaign includes food drive, adoption special

by . .
Wednesday Nov 19, 2014

As the holiday season rapidly approaches and Boston, like much of the country, endures unseasonably frigid weather, the Animal Rescue League of Boston (ARL) launches its "Home for the Holidays" campaign to meet the needs of homeless animals with a Winter Cat Food Drive on Saturday, November 22 and Sunday, November 23 from 9:00 AM-3:30 PM. Donations of unopened wet or dry cat food will be accepted in the lobby of the ARL's 10 Chandler Street headquarters and donors will receive their choice of a dog or cat emergency backpack while supplies last as a thank-you gift. The food collected will supply feral cat caretakers in the community as well as cats in foster homes that are being prepared for adoption. Maryann Regan, director of shelter operations at the ARL, said in a statement, "Every day, dedicated feral cat community caretakers feed multiple cats living in areas around the city, often at their own expense."

Brandy Dixon, 33, a student at MIT in the Naval Architecture and Engineering (2N) program and a volunteer Feline Friend at the ARL, is leading about 10 other MIT students in promoting the food drive. Dixon obtained a grant from MIT's Graduate Student Council Service Fund to support the ARL cat food donation drive, using the grant money to provide flyers advertising the food drive and snacks for the student volunteers. Dixon and her volunteer crew will also help sort and distribute cat food at the end of the food drive on November 23. Explaining her dedication to aiding animals through the ARL, Dixon wrote, "I love animals and really enjoy helping in any way I can. I am a "Feline Friend" volunteer at the ARL, and my husband and I are foster parents for the ARL as well. We also have two cats, Maeby and Cooper. We adopted Maeby from the San Diego County animal shelter, where I volunteered when we lived in San Diego, and Cooper is from the ARL."

Home for the Holidays, a series of events through the holiday season that aims to provide for homeless animals and promote adoptions, continues with a Black Friday adoption special on Friday, November 28, the traditional kick-off of the Christmas shopping season. For the first time in several years, the shelter on Chandler Street will open on Black Friday from 1:00 to 4:00 PM with pre-paid adoption fees for select shelter animals courtesy of ARL donors. Adopters on Black Friday will also receive an emergency pet backpack while supplies last; one free wellness visit at the ARL's clinic, Boston Veterinary Care; a free pet dental care kit while supplies last; and a 20 per cent discount coupon on a purchase with a PALS reward card at Petco. D'tails, a pet supply and service boutique located at 73 Berkeley Street, is also donating a 20 per cent discount coupon for adopters on Black Friday.

To learn more about the cat food drive and to view animals for adoption, please visit www.arlboston.org.

DISCLOSURE: The writer is a volunteer with the ARL since 2009.