AFA celebrating 40 years in pet rescue | Local News … – latrobebulletinnews.com

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Updated: January 30, 2023 @ 12:11 pm

There will be a lot of love at Action For Animals Humane Society’s first fundraiser of the year when their annual “Love Is in the Air” event celebrates 40 years since the organization was officially founded.
“This one is special and our theme and entertainment will be celebrating 40 years of love,” said board vice president Leanne Rubino of Lloydsville, who is co-chairing the event with board member Linda Ruby of Lawson Heights.
The event will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Feb. 11 at Rizzo’s Malabar Inn Reception Hall in Crabtree. It will feature an Italian fare dinner and dessert, cash bar, basket raffle and other prizes.
Although AFA marks 1983 as the official start (the nonprofit was incorporated in 1984), the organization had its beginnings in 1981 when Carol Boerio Croft, who now runs Cozy Inn Pet Resort in Stahlstown and Plum, started rescuing dogs on her own. She teamed up with Michele Beane Boggio of Bradenville, who later founded Purrfect Purr Cat Rescue and has a grooming studio.
“I knew that Michele was rescuing dogs, so we got together,” Croft told the Bulletin.
Other local people stepped in to help what was then called just Action For Animals, and the homeless dogs and cats were fostered by members. Croft and Boggio eventually left AFA after their initial involvement.
The group’s first shelter was located north of Latrobe and years ago moved to a property on state Route 217 in Derry Township. The facility has undergone several expansions in size and programs.
Shelter manager LuAnn Hutcheson has been with AFA since 2001.
“We’ve not only grown in size, but we can do a lot more for our animals,” she said. “They get spayed or neutered and tested and treated. We also do outside spays and neuters and we’re usually booked two to three months ahead. We do about 3,100 of those a year.”
Dr. Trish Mucci and Dr. Mary Bowser are the resident veterinarians. The low-cost spaying and neutering that they do for the public, plus vaccine clinics, raise funds for AFA. The organization also is supported by adoption fees and several major fundraisers throughout the year, and receives grants and donations, including monthly support from donors in its Angels program.
They also have Smokey’s Fund, an outreach that was started around 2007 when they helped a person whose dog was hit by a snowplow. When the owner could not afford surgery on the dog’s knees, the veterinarian she took her to called AFA for help.
“We started a fundraiser called Hey, Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime?” Hutcheson said. “We raised enough money to take care of the needs of eight dogs.”
Ted Prettiman, then board president and still on the board, took over managing the fund and named it after one of the dogs that he and his wife Mary (who previously served on the board) had adopted.
“Smokey’s fund allows us to help people who cannot afford care at a vet’s office,” Hutcheson said. “The owners do not have to surrender their pets.”
This month, a veterinarian referred a case of pyometra, a serious infection of the uterus. The woman who brought her in did not realize that all of the emergency surgery at AFA would be covered.
“I heard her talking on the phone asking her grandmother who was in hospice to loan her the money for the dog. There was $500 available on a credit card,” Hutcheson said. “I told her that she didn’t have to ask her family for money. We have had the privilege of saying many times, that we will cover it under Smokey’s Fund.”
Those are the kinds of outreaches that attracted David McCleary of New Alexandria and his wife Kelly to join AFA five years ago. He now serves as board president.
“We fell in love with the animals and the people who work there and who are on the board,” he said. “We really believed in their mission and their accomplishments. They have literally helped tens of thousands of animals. AFA has quite a history.”
That includes adding Lauren’s Wing, an affiliate that will be celebrating its 10th anniversary at the Love Is in the Air event. That group was founded by Karen Highlands of Jeannette, in memory of her late daughter Lauren Thompson who loved animals. The funding is used for specialty care and surgeries for dogs, cats and a few rabbits that AFA takes in from other shelters that cannot afford the care.
“We are very excited about all the animals and families that we have been able to help in the last 40 years,” McCleary said.
The celebration will feature a show of AFA’s history and accomplishments, and also photos and stories from Lauren’s Wing. Hutcheson and Highlands will be among the speakers.
“It’s called ‘40 Years of Love’ and we will be looking back at where we came from and where we are going,” Rubino said. “We have grown in the numbers of animals that we have been able to care for, and with the people who have been willing to donate and make our mission possible.”
Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased online by Jan. 30. Info: afashelter.org.
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