Newspaper Page Text
LOCAL
MUMBllKfjEl March 31 - April 6, 2016 • Page 14A
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A Texas-based company recently donated $5,000 in pet beds to PAWS Atlanta.
Nonprofit animal shelter
PAWS Atlanta shelter manager Laura McKelvey helps a dog onto a kuranda bed.
Photos by Andrew Cauthen
gets donation of pet beds
by Andrew Cauthen
Andrew@dekalbchamp.com
A local animal shelter received
a donation of $5,000 in dog beds
March 24.
FarmHouse Fresh, a Texas-
based natural and organic skincare
company, gave the beds to PAWS
Atlanta, a private, not-for-profit
shelter in unincorporated Decatur
that will be a no-kill facility for 50
years.
The donation of 75 dog beds
included small, medium and large
beds in a range of thicknesses, plus
kuranda beds and mats.
Laura McKelvey, PAWS
Atlanta’s shelter manager, said the
beds were needed.
“We definitely needed it
because we go through them very
quickly and we don’t have enough
for the dogs currently,” she said. “At
any given time we probably have
150 animals on the property—cats
and dogs—so that should really
help with our dog population.
“Because so many dogs use
the beds, they get...worn out very
quickly,” McKelvey said. “We will
wash them and wash them and
wash them until they get to bare
threads and we have to get more.”
“It’s wonderful for us because...
our dogs will be more comfortable,
which is what we always aim for
here,” McKelvey said. “We always
try to make sure they have a really
positive experience even though
we’re a shelter.”
McKelvey said the beds also
will “show people more of what
the dogs will look like in their own
homes when they see them laying
on these beds. Maybe it will open
some doors to some adoptions
when they see it. Maybe they can
envision it a little better.”
Farmhouse Fresh works “with a
lot of animal rescue organizations
doing charitable work with them,”
McKelvey said. “They have a
program to donate beds and try to
get every dog in a shelter a bed.
They reached out to us and asked if
they could help us with that.”
“We are just incredibly grateful
to FarmHouse Fresh,” McKelvey
said.
The bed donation is part of
FarmHouse Fresh’s charitable
initiative to help forgotten and
abused animals.
“Our goal is to bring smiles
to dog and animal lovers, while
providing comfort, warmth and love
to our furry friends in shelters, plus
raising public awareness of their
need for a permanent home,” said
Shannon McLinden, CEO and
founder of FarmHouse Fresh.
McKelvey said that while
PAWS Atlanta currently doesn’t
need any more beds, “we always
take donations of towels, beds
newspaper—things...for [animals] to
lay on because...we do go through
them.
“These [beds] are very durable,”
McKelvey said. “We hope they’re
going to last a long time, but if
anyone wants to donate we’re not
going to turn them away.”
Bouldercrest Park has 70 new trees thanks to a county program. Photo by Andrew Cauthen
TREES
Continued From Page 11A
what we call a tree bank,” she said. “When
we approve a development..., there’s a
certain number of trees they have to keep
on the property.
“They are allowed to down so many
trees but with recompense; they have to
pay it back,” Gannon said. “And if you
can’t fit the trees back on the property they
came from, then parks and our arborist
work together to find appropriate locations
for those trees.”
Gannon said she has been working to
ensure that trees placed in the tree bank
“from developments that I’ve worked on
get used right away so they don’t get lost
in the banking system.”
After trees were placed in the tree
bank from a Clairmont Road development,
Gannon said she “worked very hard to
make sure that we got as many trees as
possible back on Clairmont and in that
immediate vicinity. That’s my first choice—
to get them back so they add to the canopy
that was taken away.”
Gannon said, “The tree bank has been
around for a very long time, but we weren’t
doing a very good job with ... making sure
the trees got planted. I’ve been making a
real concerted effort to make sure that tree
bank is actually used in a way that benefits
our district.”
Users of Bouldercrest Park have been
asking the county for trees for several
years “to get some shade on the walking
path,” Gannon said.
“So as soon as I had some extra trees
in the tree bank I [said] this is where they
need to go,” Gannon said.
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