This is an idea from Gary Stewart in Tyler, Texas who I believe owns and certainly manages Stewart’s Donnybrook Automotive. He is in the news because he’s been insightful enough and generous enough to start and run a pet food collection program on behalf of a couple of local animal rescues in Henderson and Kilgore.
He had the idea of collecting pet food from, I presume, his customers (and others) who would come to his automotive repair shop to get their vehicle repaired and at the same time drop off some pet food which Gary would then deliver to the local rescues.
The idea is simply brilliant. I like it because there are three factors which make automotive repair shops and garages in general suitable for this program. They are:
- Garages are often in very suitable locations in order to run this kind of programme and
- They are often on quite large plots where they have facilities to store donations from the public without interrupting their businesses.
- Thirdly, there is often parking space at garages which means the customer or the public in general can drive up in their vehicle and offload their donation of pet food at their leisure.
It seems to me that one of the keys to success in this form of charity is that the facility needs to have the room to store pet food without any interruption to their business and it needs to be very easy for the public to make donations of pet food.
The idea is particularly good at the moment because there are many stories of animal rescues struggling with a heavy influx of unwanted animals. Their costs have gone up. Any help they can receive is useful. If the public donate pet food to animal rescues via an automotive repair shop or any other garage, they then have funds freed up to provide for medical facilities for their rescue animals.
It is the sort of idea I think that would please Nathan Winograd. He is America’s great advocate for animal rescue organisations and he knows how to run them efficiently and effectively. He founded the No-Kill movement. Nathan Winograd is very much into exploring new ideas and new concepts to save the lives of rescue animals. He wants to reduce euthanasia in any way possible.
This kind of scheme might help save lives because it frees up funds, as mentioned, for medical treatments. And if money is freed up generally the extra funds can be spent in other areas of the operation to improve the lives of rescue animals at shelters and save them.
I am simply passing on the word. I am cross-posting and leaning on Mr Stewart’s idea as he deserves all the praise. It is going very successfully and he wants to expand it. The local animal rescues are pleased with his efforts and he is pleased with his efforts because he loves animals and wants to help.
“It’s really helpful, not just in the supplies, but it helps us be able to put our money towards the vet bills and other needs as well,” Heather Payer-Smith, owner of the Cat’s Meow Rescue, said.
There is another benefit and it is to Mr Stewart. He is getting a lot of publicity about this scheme he devised which surely must help his business. It isn’t just the publicity which should help. It means that people who wouldn’t normally use his business are now driving up to it with pet food and so they become aware of the business. They also understand that it is a very animal-aware business. One concerned with animal welfare which would appeal to many people.
