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Sharon Leary of the Rappahannock Area Agency on Aging helps deliver dog food for St. Seton's Orphaned Animals to Jim Lankford.
Sharon Leary delivers dog food at the same time she delivers meals at a home This dog has eyes on the dog food bag being delivered by volunteers with St. Seton's Orphaned Animals, which pairs up with the Rappahannock Area Agency on Aging to deliver the donated food to needy pets while delivering food to the homebound. |
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.
Indigent people in the region, including seniors, would be able to get pet surgeries and other vet care free or at reduced prices, Carl Allard told the board.
Virginia Kincheloe, who has operated a similar clinic for more than 11 years in Spotsylvania County, said she supports a clinic in King George.
So did several other speakers. The only opposition came from Pauline Knowles, a Montross veterinarian who runs a mobile service and worried that a new clinic might take away business.
The Allards already had posted on their website that they hoped to open a King George clinic by this summer. They had built up momentum going into the April 5 meeting, Carl Allard said.
"We thought we were going to be able to kick this can down the road pretty quickly," he added.
There was just one problem: St. Seton's hadn't made any proposal to King George County, which already has plans for the land around the old dog pound.
The county is having a study done to see what kind of park and ball fields might work on the 33-acre property.
The old landfill was there until Waste Management dug up the trash and dirt around it and hauled it to the current landfill. The old dog pound sits atop one of several hilly spots on the property.
The county may need the dirt under the old building to even out the property, said County Administrator Travis Quesenberry. He said it probably will be summer before the county has a plan.
Supervisor John LoBuglio, who also is a member of the Agency on Aging's board of directors, dealt with the Allards first because of his connections with both boards. He arranged a tour of the old dog pound and contacted several county officials about its availability.
LoBuglio was excited by the enthusiasm of Carl Allard, who drew up plans on how to renovate the interior to fit the clinic's needs.
LoBuglio didn't know about the dirt issue until the morning of the April 5 meeting. He and the Allards both believe King George is still the place for a clinic.
He plans to form a steering committee and look into other possible locations for the clinic.
"The idea has so much support right now," LoBuglio said. "I don't want it to die down or go away just because they can't get that building."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
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@
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.
