We’ve made some new friends over the past year, and want to share our stories (and pictures) with you. It is a great experience for the dogs when groups of volunteers come for the day, bringing fun, pets and goodies.
Students from Commonwealth-Parkville School have always come to our Saturday Clean-ups and given of their time to make sure the pups have clean crates for the week. But we were thrilled to learn that student Natasha San Miguel had organized a casual day with all proceeds were donated to ADLA. “Wear Blue for the Animal Lover in You” took place March 2, 2018 That day, students could forgo their uniform and instead wear blue in support of animal rescue.
Another school we have grown close to over the past years is Saint John’s School. These students have also been a big help on Saturdays. Some have even chosen to become parents and take an ADLA dog home with them for good.
The Community Service Club of Saint John’s is student-run and provides opportunities for young people to work together in the service of different causes. For the first semester of the school year, the club elected ADLA as their cause of choice. Throughout the semester, the students organized different initiatives to get the word out there (rescue, foster, adopt… don’t shop). They organized fundraisers for our benefit, including: a bake sale, a movie night, a Halloween Party, and, for the gran finale: a fashion show featuring the dogs!
And when it comes to getting hands-on with the dogs, students from EDIC College Veterinary Assistant Program are superstars! They come regularly to do check-ups, help deparasite, bathe and groom the dogs.
Here is a clip of Allison– still at the shelter and awaiting her big adoption day– getting a bath and check-up from two of the students.
We recently blogged about the University of Puerto Rico’s animal welfare club Patita Amiga, and their commitment to improving the quality of life of our dogs with regular walks, as well as donating food and supplies. Who we haven’t mentioned are the Jaguares from the university’s Carolina campus, and students from the university’s School of Medicine.
You might now know that we are starting to schedule regular beach clean-ups. So, we were thrilled when the leadership and camaraderie-building group Creando Contigo with Coach JoAiris not only sign up and helped clean Piñones Beach, but also walked dogs and donated supplies. A full and fun day!
And who could we count on to come ready to work? Volunteer teams from Americorps NCCC are ready and willing to come regularly on Saturday for our clean-ups. With their help, the dogs crates smell nice and clean for the week. Teams also took part in the Shelter Rebuild by painting the interior of the shelter. Thanks guys!
Finally, we were so excited when volunteer Yathzary Albizu approached us with her plan to get a group of university-aged dog lovers together to come and walk the dogs, as well as donate supplies for the shelter. Yathzary’s group visited us December 18th. She had some getting-to-know-you games prepared, brought snacks, the dogs were walked, and received lots of donated goodies. Thank you Yathzary and friends!
We know we have many volunteers come by and do not always get the chance to document the fun with pictures and videos. So, send us yours!
And, if you aren’t volunteering yet, what are you waiting for? Fill out a volunteer application today!
We are so happy to inform that Phase 2 of the Shelter Rebuild is well underway! For those that did not read our post on Phase 1 of the rebuild, we began renovations soon after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. The natural disaster caused the rebuild to move up on our priority list.
Phase 1 involved resealing the roof to prevent further water damage; removing and reinstalling new gating throughout the Shelter, including the gates of the dog runs; and replacing the coverings for the front and back patio. All this was possible with funding from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ® (ASPCA) and PEDIGREE Foundation ®.
With our beautiful new gating installed, we needed to do some construction and aesthetic updates as soon as possible! Without much of a breather, we quickly moved on to focus on Phase 2, which was made possible by a shelter rebuild grant awarded by the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), International.
Moving through Phase 2
First, we repaired and improved on the roof of the interior and exterior of the shelter. This involved fixing the rebar, which had been damaged over time and had worsened with water damage, repatching cement on the ceilings and walls, and installing new fans to make sure the pups were properly ventilated. Below are some of the photos during the construction.
There was a lot of drilling going on for days at a time, but the doggies took it like champs. They got along great with the construction workers as well. After the work was done, we felt all felt much safer.
Next, all that repatching needed to be painted! The shelter had not been painted in 8 years, so the job was long overdue. We turned to Sherwin Williams, who generously donated six large buckets of paint: 2 bright white, 2 beige and 2 of our favorite color—blue (of course)!
Over the course of three weekends, Americorps NCCC volunteers painted the interior of the shelter a bright white. The new paint makes the interior of the shelter more alive and welcoming.
Next, we started on preparing the outside for painting, which was more of a task. First, we pressure-washed the interior patio to get rid of the dirt and peeling paint. But this was not enough. When we started scrapping off the remaining paint, the scrapping would not stop, we just kept pulling off more and more paint! Plus, sometimes the paint would stick to the cement and pulling it off was a grueling job.
We soon learned this was no regular painting job for volunteers. But we did our best!
Lucky for us, Terminix came to the rescue, hiring personnel to finish the job. The patio and remaining walls were pressure washed again with stronger equipment. (By the way, the Terminix team also donates graciously by coming to the shelter once a month to fumigate, which keeps our dogs and shelter pest-free). Now, we can also thank the company and its President Mark Kitchenman for the some much-needed home improvement work.
And with such a blue and beautiful shelter, it is an absolute necessity to keep it secure. Terminix has also donated additional LED lighting as well as motion-activated security lighting to install throughout the shelter. However, first, we need to figure out some electrical issues we are having, and which have exacerbated since the hurricane. We are waiting for estimates from a licensed electrician to take care of the issues. We know it will be expensive, but it is needed.
We want to again thank SPCA International for donating the majority of the funds that made Phase 2 of the rebuild possible. SPCA International was founded in the United States in 2006, and has the mission to advance the safety and well-being of animals. SPCA International has assisted over 313 animal shelters and rescue groups around the world, and helped spay and neuter thousands of animals. The organization strives to with the impact made by independent shelters through alliance building, information networking, and national and international programs.
Last, but hardly least, no Amigos de los Animales post is complete without pictures of our pups, all taken by our visiting photographer Dominik Fleischmann! Here are a few of our buddies, all for adoption: