More than eight dozen puppies and kittens along with adult dogs and cats, arrived in Batavia Saturday morning from Harlan and Hazard counties in Kentucky, where they had been in what organizers called “high kill shelters”
And the volunteers with the Plainfield-based Starfish Animal Rescue who were there to greet them said hopefully the animals will soon find homes in the area.
The shipment wasn’t rare, said Starfish founder Margie Swift, but Saturday’s arrival coincided with an extra holiday effort by her group.
“Actually, we get a shipment of animals like this every other week,” Swift said. “But we also wanted to help some of the people there in the Kentucky counties that are not well off. Our volunteers have adopted kids or families that are in need of food this holiday season and we’re packing boxes to be brought back down to them.”
Saturday’s effort, dubbed Holiday Smiles, will help nearly 40 low income Kentucky families and include as many as 160 people, Swift said, adding efforts were underway to also ship about 40 turkeys to the area.
“This is the third year we’ve had the food and gift collection, she said. Joining Starfish in the effort were employees from a Des Plaines-based real estate firm, the Missner Group.
Animals arrived by 9 a.m. Saturday in a truck that would be used to transport the gifts and food boxes back to Kentucky.
Soon after they arrived, volunteers including Jenny Partykevich of Bartlett began feeding animals outside the facility at 167 Oswalt in Batavia. She said requests for animals typically go up this time of year but that the shelter still maintains its rigorous standards about adoption.
“We don’t want these animals brought home for Christmas and then back to the shelter by New Year’s Day because people weren’t really committed,” she said.
Bethany Ciepley of Bensenville said the Holiday Smiles program was getting a boost in terms of donations this year thanks in part to the Missner Group employees and others who were part of a coordinated effort.
“There also was a Cub Scout group involved,” Ciepley said. “We have about 45 volunteers here today and a lot of supplies that have been donated. I’m not sure they are all going to fit in our vehicles, but that’s a good problem to have.”
A number of students joined the volunteer effort Saturday morning, including Justin Kish, 14, of North Aurora, who came thanks to a friend – Zachary Benbow, 17, of Aurora – who was completing an Eagle Scout project.
Kish said his older brother Josh Kish, 17, drove him over to the shelter Saturday.
“I’m here because I love dogs and I’ve learned to clean kennels this morning,” he said. “People come here every two weeks and walk the dogs. I’m hoping to come back.”
Benbow, The Eagle Scout candidate who also is a student at Oswego East High School, said he chose working at the shelter for his Eagle project based partly on his own adoption experience of Ringo — a rescue dog his family took in two years ago.
“We now have four rescue dogs and we love them and I wanted to do something to give back,” he said.
Another volunteer, Jenna Floss of Arlington Heights, said she has been involved with the rescue effort for seven years and continues to make the pilgrimage to Batavia twice a month despite having moved farther away.
“We used to live in Bloomingdale and we’ve moved a couple times and now are more than 25 miles away,” she said. “I got my rescue dog back on July 27, 2011, and I was blind to all of this before the dog I have now just jumped up on me and started licking my face. The dog chose me and now I’ve spoiled it rotten.”
Floss said the food and animal rescue effort Saturday was all about improving lives.
“Hopefully, by collecting food and supplies and sending it to the people where these animals come from — it will make a difference in the people’s lives and the animals that still live there,” she said.