Dogs coming home for Christmas
This Sunday at Sacred Heart Greenwich’s fourth annual Come Home for Christmas event, dogs from Pet Rescue will deck the halls in hopes of finding a home in time for the holidays.
Pet Rescue is a non-profit animal adoption organization with a large foster care program and two local boarding facilities in Harrison and New Rochelle, New York. Its overall mission is to “aid homeless, abandoned, and neglected cats and dogs, to nurture them in the foster care of volunteers, to provide veterinary care and socialization, and to place them in permanent loving and responsible homes,” according to ny-petrescue.org.
A group of volunteers at a no-kill animal shelter founded Pet Rescue in 1982 after seeing the terrible living conditions in which the animals lived. According to ny-petrescue.org, they aim to house abandoned pets and provide a safe environment. The animals living with Pet Rescue volunteers are rescued from the streets, overpopulated shelters, or families who can no longer take care of their pets. Since 1982, Pet Rescue has successfully placed 10,000 dogs and cats in new homes.
Courtesy of ny-petrescue.com
Traditionally, Come Home for Christmas is a weekend-long event which aims to build community between students, faculty, parents, and alumnae of Sacred Heart. For the first time this year, Sacred Heart invited Pet Rescue to bring its dogs to the Christmas fair.
Along with the dogs available for adoption, Pet Rescue volunteers will be available to provide information for families who would like to know more about the organization and to raise awareness about puppy mills.
Puppy mills are breeders who value a high quantity of dogs and lofty profits rather than their facilities’ conditions. These breeders often do not provide adequate food, water, or healthcare for their animals. Puppy mills continue to function because they sell their dogs to pet stores or online, and the pet buyers are unaware of the maltreatment, according to humanesociety.org.
President of Pet Rescue Ms. Paula Krenkel appreciates this new opportunity to educate the Sacred Heart community on the importance of pet adoption.
“The more we can get the word out as to why we should not support puppy mills by buying dogs from stores, and the more we can educate people about the benefits of spaying and neutering all dogs and cats, the better off the animals will be,” Ms. Krenkel said.
Courtesy of womansday.com
Sophomore Lily Brown has volunteered and developed a relationship with Pet Rescue over the past three years. She has taken photos for the organization’s website, and she has also fostered and adopted a dog from their shelter.
“I think [the inclusion of Pet Rescue at Come Home for Christmas] will help teach Sacred Heart families the benefits of adoption and the importance of finding the right dog for each family,” Lily said.
Come Home for Christmas begins tonight, December 2, at 7 p.m. with a cocktail party and silent auction for parents and alumnae. The event continues Sunday with a family mass at 11 a.m. in the Lennie and John de Csepel Theater, followed by a Christmas fair, which will take place in the Athletic Center from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The family-centered event will include a secret Santa shop, gingerbread decorating in the Veronique DuBois Gymnasium, photos with Santa, a complimentary brunch in the Pamela Juan Hayes ’64 Hall, and a Christmas boutique.
-Daisy Steinthal, Staff Writer
Update: This weekend, Ziggy found a home after one of Pet Rescue’s adoption events.
Ms. Stewart • Dec 2, 2016 at 12:53 pm
What a great article! My family has been looking to adopt a dog from Pet Rescue. It’s exciting to hear that they are coming to our school on Sunday!