Big Props to Kerry Gilbert!

 

Our story actually goes back to Steve Holt's tenure as the mayor of Florence. Each month, Steve would visit the Florence-Lauderdale Animal Shelter and have his photo made with a dog/cat of the month. Sadly, Andy Betterton chose not to continue to work in a positive manner with the shelter. What could be done?

We began to ask around for various local officials and celebrities; sadly, no one seemed interested in continuing this program. Months passed, then the county confiscated almost 70 animals used in a dog fighting ring. The shelter was in a crisis mode. Initially, these dogs could not be adopted or fostered for legal reasons. Thankfully, that has now changed.

We presented this situation to the public, as did others. It seemed every adoptable dog who found a home was soon replaced by a new stray. How could more adoptive families be reached?

This blog's current readership hit 13.2K this past week, but there are many in the Shoals who are not even aware of our publication. How could we reach more to help the shelter? The idea of messages from celebrities again presented itself, but who?

We wrote a script for a brief public service announcement and began to contact anyone who had a large public following. Of the ten or so we reached out to, only three replied to our cry for help.

One of the three was our friend Kerry Gilbert. Kerry immediately videoed a message to his followers, many of whom don't follow our blog. His 60 second message concerning the shelter's plight was a tremendous boost to the morale of the workers and any who had been pleading for help in this overwhelming plight.

Just as Kerry's message hit Facebook, the shelter secured legal control over the confiscated dogs, making them eligible for fostering and adoption. The situation is still critical, but each day now brings more relief as the shelter's census begins to diminish. 

Do we still need spokespeople for the shelter? Absolutely. You don't have to be Brad Pitt to make a video or to stop by to have your photo taken with an adoptable dog or cat. We're hoping for more to step forward in the weeks and months to come.

After all, don't you really want to be able to say you were in a celebrity ad campaign?