To make the holidays extra special for pets at a Lewisville shelter, PetsHotel leaders Lacy and Katelyn decided to organize a donation drive providing gifts for the pets, including toys, beds, food and treats.
To inspire donations, the two visited the shelter and took photos of nine pets who had been there the longest then placed the photos on a tree in the PetsHotel lobby. Under the tree was a large, wrapped “gift box” for customers to drop off donations.
In the span of just a week and a half, the entire box was filled to the top with different items for each pet, including toys, beds and treats. Nancy, another PetsHotel leader, said, “Our customers loved buying toys and treats for the dogs and cats at the shelter. They even wrote Christmas cards to the shelter pets wishing them happy holidays.”
To both the leaders’ amazement, one of the dogs on the tree got adopted while the drive was going on, and Katelyn was able to surprise her and her pet parent with her new goodies. “She actually came into the store and I recognized her, so I went ahead gave her the picture from the tree and all of her gifts.”
Once the drive was over, Lacy and Katelyn brought the presents to the shelter to give to the pets. “All the shelter pets were so sweet,” said Katelyn. “We showed them their gifts and read their Christmas cards to them. The volunteers at the shelter loved it, too.”
