Local Realtors offer help to homeless pets
Two Fort Myers Beach Realtors are pouring their hearts out to homeless pets by starting a new organization and website for the cause.
Coldwell Banker Realtor Isabelle Wells and Lahaina Realty Realtor Pam Schwartz are the co-founders of “Find a Home, Give a Home” organization whose mission can be viewed on www.FindaHomeGiveaHome.com. They are working in cooperation with S.P.A.Y-L.E.E., Inc., an animal welfare, tax-deductible organization which is comprised of volunteers who assists pet owners and those who have rescued homeless pets by giving referrals to the most affordable veterinarian services for vaccinations and sterilizations.
During this month (December 2010), the two ladies will be supervising a food collection for pets for Lee County Domestic Animal Services at 5600 Banner Drive in Fort Myers. The food will be collected in boxes, which are placed at various Beach businesses. The ladies hope to do this service each year during the month of December, possibly for a different charity group next year.
Children from the after-school program at Chapel by the Sea Presbyterian Church will be decorating the boxes that can be found at the following locations: Century 21 Tripower Realty, 2001 Estero Blvd and 5689 Estero Blvd.; Coldwell Banker Real Estate, 7205 Estero Blvd.; Fort Myers Beach Real Estate, 2801 Estero Blvd.; Lahaina Realty, 6035 Estero Blvd; Loffreno Real Estate, 2100 Estero Blvd; Chapel by the Sea, 100 Chapel Street; and Publix Supermarket, 4791 Estero Blvd.
“This website is designed to help some great pets who need a home,” said Wells.
“The food collection is to help pet owners of unfortunate families, who in order to keep their pet with them, come and get a bag of food for their dog or cat.
“We will be posting pictures of needy pets and pictures of happy families who have adopted through us and are now enjoying life together. You are welcome to post comments on the website and, if you are looking to adopt a special friend, let us know. We will try to accommodate your wishes.”
According to Wells, the project began when the ladies found some stray cats in their neighborhood at Laguna Shores. They decided to round up each one they found and had them fixed and vaccinated.
“This become a problem when people decided to abandon cats on the Beach,” said Wells. “People, who didn’t care about spay or neutered cats or didn’t know about it, were not nice enough and dumped them. That’s how we got the feral cats.”
Having S.P.A.Y-L.E.E help the Beach Realtors is a blessing.
“Luckily, there are some great people who dedicate their time in taking care of the stray and feral cats that overpopulate Lee County,” said Wells. “A program is in place to spay and neuter feral cats and return them to their colony in order to avoid euthanasia and starvation.”
To date, the Beach organization has placed close to 10 cats in good homes with the latest being four kittens that were sent to a foster home in Naples. The organization is currently accepting local donations to help with the vaccinations, neutering and spaying. The ladies are willing to work with adopters to make sure they are satisfied in the adoption.
“We are taking the time to help these great creatures and hope you will find a little place in your heart for them, too,” said Wells. “We are also looking for some people who would like to foster pets until they get adopted.”
For more information, visit www.FindaHomeGiveaHome.com, e-mail at pets@findahomegiveahome.com or call Wells at 281-0739 or Schwartz at 239-218-1875.
“There is a great need to help these animals,” said Schwartz, who has two cats of her own. “It’s really important to me because I have always loved animals and had dogs and cats while I was growing up. Unfortunately, people are not always able to keep their pets. They surrender them or they dump them here on the Beach. It’s really sad because there are ways to get low-cost medical help and food. We’re there to see if we can help these cats who are roaming around.”
Beach locations for food collection boxes:
– Century 21 Tripower Realty, 2001 Estero Blvd and 5689 Estero Blvd.
– Coldwell Banker Real Estate, 7205 Estero Blvd
– Ft Myers Beach Real Estate, 2801 Estero Blvd
– Lahaina Realty, 6035 Estero Blvd
– Loffreno Real Estate, 2100 Estero Blvd
– Chapel by the Sea, 100 Chapel Street.
– Publix Supermarket, 4791 Estero Blvd.
The shelter wish list:
– Cat food (dry or canned)*
– Dog food (dry or canned)
– Cat litter (clay or scoopable)
– Cat carriers
– 13 and 55 Gallon trash bags
– Towels, blankets, comforters, pillow cases, sheets
– Clorox wipes
– Toilet tissue
– Kleenex
– Bleach
– Dawn dish detergent
– Airwick Lavender Scented oil refills