N.E.W. Salvation Army Aids Local Animal Shelter
The N.E.W. Salvation Army of Nash, Edgecombe, and Wilson counties is well known for providing help to human members of the local community, but now it is helping furry neighbors in need as well.
The Salvation Army recently delivered blankets, mattress covers and other linens to the Edgecombe County Animal Shelter in Tarboro to help provide a warm and cozy environment for cats and dogs at the shelter. The items came from donations to the Salvation Army Family Stores in Rocky Mount and Tarboro.
Normally, stained bedding items or items that are surplus are converted into rags or discarded. However, when the Salvation Army learned of a need for these items to help local animals in need, they began delivering them to the Edgecombe County Animal Shelter.
Animal Services Officer Amy Lynn with the Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office said that the shelter will primarily use the donated bedding supplies for the cats at the shelter.
“This will help our kitties for sure,” Lynn said. “We have to beg for donations because we don’t have a budget for blankets and things like that. So we ask the community to help. This donation will hopefully help keep us in stock for a little while. Our cages are stainless steel, and they are cold, so these blankets will help make them warm.”
Lynn said the shelter has certain needs when it comes to bedding for animals.
“We can’t really use sheets or think comforters, but things like thinner blankets, towels and rags will work. We can also use donations of animal carriers and anything else animal related,” she said.
For now, donations of suitable bedding items will continue to go to Edgecombe County Animal Shelter.
“We gratefully accept donations at the Family Stores and try to utilize those donations in the best way possible. If we have items that we cannot sell for some reason, we still want to do what we can to give back to the community,” said Capt. Claudia Meads of the N.E.W. Salvation Army. “Donating to the animal shelter is another way we can give back.”
The donations to the animal shelter are especially needed in Edgecombe County. That animal shelter does not have facilities for washing and drying items, so disposable bedding items are needed, said Kathy Williams, chairwoman of the Edgecombe Animal Welfare Advisory Council and a frequent volunteer at the shelter.
Williams said she will be glad when a new shelter is built, but she thinks that day is still a way off.
“We don’t have all the money yet,” Williams said. “The county says they don’t have money, and so we have been fundraising.”
Three such fundraising events are coming up or are ongoing.
A “Painting with Goats” event will be held at 6 p.m. April 9 in partnership with The Painted Farmer. That event costs $65 a person.
From 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on May 7, the Friends of Edgecombe County Animals will be sponsoring a fresh chicken sale. Cases of fresh chicken are available for preorder at houseofraeford.com at the NC Pickup Preorder Tarboro link. A donation to the new animal shelter fund will be made for each case of chicken sold. For help with ordering, call 252-641-4112.
The Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Office is also raising funds for the new animal shelter by selling engraved bricks. For more information about this fundraiser, go to www.fundraisingbrick.com/newedgecombe or call Williams at 919-744-7713.