Animal shelter gets help from Buellton Garage in gathering donations for fire victims
The outbreak of destructive fires in Southern California, most notably the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades and Malibu and the Eaton Fire in the Pasadena area, is making its presence known up and down the state.
However, the catastrophe south has also given people outside the fire areas the chance to step up and offer assistance topeople and creatures of all kind. And that spirit has definitely emerged in the Santa Ynez Valley.
A big part of that relief effort has shown itself at the Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society facility in Buellton.
The SYVHS has welcomed in seven dogs that were up for adoption in Los Angeles-area shelters, according to Animal Care Supervisor Ally Boswell.
“In fact, two of them have already been adopted,” she said. “And there are others looking for a good home.”
Boswell said when the fires started up, SYVHS contacted shelters and offered to take some dogs in. She also pointed out that the dogs moved up to the Valley were one already up for adoption, rather than those displaced by the fire and are trying to reunite with their families.
“When this sort of thing happens, we have a network that we call partner shelters,” Boswell said. “We have a list of shelters and if they’re in an area that’s in trouble, we can go to that list and contact any of them to see if they need to move any pets.”
Boswell said they got their dogs from shelters in Pasadena, one that’s run by the city of Los Angeles, and another that’srun by LA County.
The Humane Society’s efforts didn’t stop with housing pets; it also organized a donation drive with food and supplies for pets in the fire areas.
“It was huge. We had our van completely full of stuff,” Boswell said. “We had a volunteer bring his pickup with a 4- by 8-foot trailer, and another volunteer who brought his van, so we were able to get it all down there.”
Boswell said that relief groups down in the fire area have requested people to bringing stuff because they’re already overwhelmed.
“They have more than they need in goods, but they’re still taking monetary donations,” said Boswell, who suggested anyone who wants to contribute should google “LA animal shelters” and find links to donate directly.
For the donation drive, Boswell said the SYVHS had an ally in Buellton Garage, located at Highway 246 in the shopping center where China Panda restaurant and Subway are located.
“They’ve had a bin there for people to drop off stuff, and we just picked that up to add to our stuff,” Boswell said.
Leslie Sherrill, operations manager for Buellton Garage, said the business frequently gets together with the SYVHS for adoption events and donations.
“We had an adoption drive here where they brought some pets,” Sherrill said. “We donated some of our proceeds from the day to help them out. We just love what they do and like to help, and it’s our way of giving back to the community.”
Having two entities work together like that illustrate what makes the SYV such a desirable place to live, according to Boswell.
“When you have something like this, it seems that everyone wants to come and help,” she said. “That’s what makes this such a great community.”
