It was angels to the rescue at Roanoke’s Fire Station #5. . . Angels in Action, that is.
Volunteers from Angels of Assisi took their mission to the Melrose-Rugby neighborhood, offering free rabies shots and vouchers for free spay and neutering services.
Chaz Bousman heads adoption services at the no-kill shelter on Campbell Avenue.
“We got a scholarship to go to the annual HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) conference back in the beginning of May and went down there and they were doing a lot in regards to their national initiative “Pets for Life.”
“Across every socio-economic status everyone has pets. Unfortunately, across every socio-economic status there’s not access to quality care, either geographically or financially.” She said if you look at a map of a typical city, there’s a bubble around the lower income neighborhoods, “in which there’s really nothing. There [are] no grocery stores, there [are] no vet’s offices, there [are] no pet stores and even if these guys had the money and wanted to get to us, if they don’t have a vehicle, public transportation isn’t going to allow you to take your dog or cat in. Cabs aren’t going to let you in with an animal.”
Bousman continued, “For years now we’ve been doing transports out to rural communities that don’t have access to low-cost spay and neuter. And we’re driving an hour or two each way and bringing them back, spaying and neutering everybody and then taking them back out. But six blocks from here, there’s somebody who can’t get here. There’s a high elderly population in some of these communities, and they certainly can’t get out and get their animals here. So we’re taking it to them.”
The program has already been a huge success in such cities as Los Angeles, Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta and has recently started in Camden. Bousman said Angels in Action fits in with Angels of Assisi’s mission to reduce the number of homeless pets.
Firefighters from Station #5 were the first to offer their station to host the new program. Twenty pets were vaccinated against rabies and volunteers handed out several of the free spay and neuter vouchers. There were product samples, bracelets, dog bowls, and pamphlets on animal health and safety. Bousman said they’ll pick another neighborhood in the near future and once the program is in full swing, Angels in Action volunteers will visit a community nearly every Saturday.
“We’re going to go back and we’re just going to keep going back.”
– Beverly Amsler
