A local organization raises almost $1,000 in just a few days to help homeless pets.
Angel Fund OKC used the money to purchase new dog crates for the Homeless Alliance’s Day shelter. “We really are ready to just kind of step up to the plate to do what we can to make sure our neighbors are safe and cared for because everybody deserves that care and that dignity and compassion and that also extends to their pets,” said Taylor Self, the communications director for the Homeless Alliance.
The blistering wind howled outside Friday and those dealing with homelessness in downtown Oklahoma City are looking for any type of shelter from the cold. “Everybody needs a safe place to be especially when the temperatures are this dangerous,” Self said.
Self says the Homeless Alliance offers the only day shelter in Oklahoma City. It’s open seven days a week. “There’s no other place like this place,” said Phil R. Booker, a client at the shelter. “It gets you off the streets and all of the resources and blessing.”
Self says the shelter has helped an average of 372 people each day for the past 11 days and on cold days could see up to 500 people, many with pets. “If they’re not able to bring their companion animal into a shelter situation they will not access that shelter,” she said.
That’s why pets are welcome here. The shelter offers an outdoor kennel area year-round to hold the animals, but with the cold coming, they’ll be moved inside. “I have seen firsthand that pet owners or the pet parents will take care of their animals first before they take care of themselves,” said Nani Paxton, a volunteer at the shelter.
Paxton has logged over 600 volunteer hours and wants to help, so she and others cleared out a classroom in the shelter to set up more dog kennels donated through a GoFundMe campaign organized by Angel Fund OKC. In just a few days, $900 was raised to purchase more than a dozen crates for the shelter. “The crates, we have blankets we have food,” Paxton said. “Angel Fund really has come through for the fur babies.”
For more information on Angel Fund OKC, click here: https://angelfundokc.com/
If you would like to help the shelter with donations or to volunteer, go to the website here: https://www.homelessalliance.org/donate