Animal-welfare group plans spay-neuter clinic

By CATHY DYSON

A volunteer group that's already helping homebound seniors--by providing food for their pets--wants to open a local clinic to offer more services for an elderly person's best friend.

St. Seton's Orphaned Animals started in Stafford County 11 years ago as an animal rescue group. Over the years, its mission has grown to include a partnership with the Rappahannock Area Agency on Aging.

When agency workers take weekly meals to homebound seniors, they also carry bags of dog food and cat litter donated by St. Seton's.

"For a lot of people, that dog or cat is their reason for being," said Sharon Leary, an agency driver. "Their pets are their best friends, their No. 1 family members."

She and other drivers noticed that elderly people would give meals meant for themselves to their cats and dogs when they had nothing else to give the pets. Now, about 92 elderly people in Fredericksburg and Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties get food for about 300 pets through the program.

Almost 50 St. Seton's volunteers help with food delivery and other services the group provides. St. Seton's pays for about 500 spaying and neutering procedures a year, said Jeanette Allard, who founded the group with her husband, Carl.

Both work full time apart from the animal-welfare group, and neither receives a salary from St. Seton's.

They apply for grants and corporate donations to pay for surgeries and standard vet care. From pet-food companies, they get several tons of food or cat litter at a time and keep them in rented storage units.

"But we do not have a brick-and-mortar building," Carl Allard said.

That's why the couple would like to open a spay-neuter clinic, preferably in King George County.

On April 5, Carl Allard told the King George Board of Supervisors his group thought the old dog pound, at the Route 205 convenience center, would be the perfect spot for a clinic. About 25 people in the audience supported his proposal, including members of the King George Animal Rescue League. They wore blue shirts emblazoned with yellow paw prints.

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St. Seton's Orphaned Animals gets grants from big names, such as Petco, Petsmart and the Doris Day Animal Foundation.

Petco has designated the Stafford County volunteer group as the regional pet food bank. If a person becomes unemployed, St. Seton's provides temporary assistance for up to 90 days, said Jeanette Allard, operations director. Last year, the group helped 150 families in this capacity and paid to have about 500 pets spayed and neutered.

More information is available at 703/209-4555 or by emailing saintseton@ hotmail.com. Its website is saintseton.com.

The Rappahannock Area Agency on Aging provides meals to about 340 senior citizens a week in Fredericksburg and Caroline, King George, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties.

About 190 seniors attend weekly gatherings at six centers in the region. Those who have trouble getting to the centers have meals delivered to them. About 150 people each get a package once a week that contains seven frozen meals, fruit, bread and powdered milk.

"The thinking is that these are supplemental meals, but that's not always the case," said driver Sharon Leary. "For a couple people I have, this is it. It's kinda sad."

The agency also takes elderly people shopping once a week. More information about programs is available at 540/371-3375 or at raaa16.org.

Read more stories about King George
Date published: 4/27/2011

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