Sat 10/9 @ noon-3pm
Few people in Cleveland have a passion for animals like Becca Britton and almost no one has done as much about it.
In 2003, she founded nonprofit Friends of the Cleveland Kennel, which helped care for and adopt out homeless animals who ended up in the Cleveland Kennel. In 2016, she started an offshoot program called Neighborhood Pets to provide services and supplies to low-income pet owners so they wouldn’t have to surrender their four-legged friends to a shelter or rescue.
Then last year, a new nonprofit CITY DOGS was formed to take over the work of Friends of the Cleveland Kennel, while Britton focused all her energy on Neighborhood Pets, with plans to greatly expand the Slavic Village-based organization.
“The ultimate goal of [Neighborhood Pets] is to keep pets in their homes, healthy and happy,” says Britton. “And, while our plans for this expansion started well before the recent COVID-19 crisis, this challenging time has underscored how important it is to support our growing client base and their pets. Never have we seen more of a need for our city’s residents to have the support of their pets, or for the need of access to basic services and support.”
A lot has happened since that transition occurred in the late spring of 2020, including a brand new and much larger space to provide even more services. And they’re inviting people to drop by this Saturday to check out what they’ve done, learn about the work they’re doing and celebrate their 5th anniversary
Local businesses such as Saucisson, Rudy’s Strudel and Daisy’s ice Cream will be providing free refreshments and Dj SquareBiz will be spinning tunes. There’ll be kids’ game with prizes, a raffle and 50/50 drawing as well. But mostly you’ll want to check out the great new space, with room to provide more services and murals created by local artists Sean Kelly, Rafael Valdivieso-Troya, and Scott Pickering and get a sneak preview of their new wellness center, under construction and scheduled to open next spring.
The event is free and open to the public, whether you think you might need their services (or someone you know might) or you want to contribute to their work to help others and their pets. Note that this is a people-only event; dogs have to stay home this time.