Animal Friends plans to increase presence, programming in Sharpsburg

Animal Friends, an Ohio Township-based nonprofit dedicated to helping pets and their owners, wants to expand programming in Sharpsburg.

Discussions are underway between leaders of the no-kill shelter and borough entities including the Sharpsburg Community Library and Roots of Faith, a nonprofit ministry of Faith United Methodist Church in Fox Chapel.

Penny Paich-Caraway, community programs manager at Animal Friends, said the goal is to have more educational opportunities, clinics, veteran connection with adoptable pets and an overall increased presence.

“We have had an extremely warm welcome from everybody within the community,” Paich-Caraway said. “We attended a borough meeting. We have visited with business owners in the community, and most recently the library. The enthusiasm and cooperation that we have received has been absolutely amazing.

“We have been reaching out to residents in a few different ways to get their feedback.”

A survey was launched in early December to help gauge how many residents had pets, what kind of pets are in the borough and what programs and pet-support services they would like to see in town.

Flyers were posted throughout Sharpsburg with a QR code to the survey. A link can also be found on the Sharpsburg Pa Only Facebook page. There is no deadline to fill out the survey.

Programs being considered for Sharpsburg include vaccination and microchipping clinics, humane feline box trap rentals and affordable vaccination/spay/neuter of community/feral cats, pet-friendly transportation for veterinarian visits and supporting local veterans with pet adoption and care.

Animal Friends distributed 2,644 vaccines last year through at least four community clinics in Allegheny County.

“We want to bring these programs to the area because we want to help the community keep their pets where they truly belong, which is in their loving homes,” Paich-Caraway said.

In 2019, Animal Friends named Sharpsburg a Compassionate Community, a designation in recognition of the borough’s efforts in addressing he feral cat population. It also hosted a dog, cat and rabbit adoption event in July of that year.

Faithful friends

Animal Friends and Roots of Faith have been partners for the past few years with the nonprofit sharing hundreds of pounds of pet food and other supplies monthly along Main Street through its Chow Wagon pet food pantry.

Animal Friends also participates in Roots of Faith’s community dinners a couple of times a year, where they provide residents with information on how to take care of their pets.

There were some discussions about program offerings in January. Another meeting between Roots and Animal Friends was scheduled for Feb. 4.

The partnership helps Roots “take care of both sides of the leash, the human and their pet,” according to Roots executive director Kathleen Stanley.

“Our programming addresses the social determinants of health,” Stanley said.

“These are things that decide what keeps a person physically and emotionally healthy. One of those areas is owning a pet. The research has shown that people who own pets are more physically active because they have to walk them and take care of them.

“They also have more community interaction, and that’s obviously helpful for people’s mental health on many levels. There’s research done showing people who have pets have less depression and anxiety.

“We want to support the people who have pets, and we started asking ourselves how we could do that.”

Roots of Faith’s pet community inquiries found some residents had to choose between buying food for their pets or themselves. Animal medical care also was being put on hold for financial reasons.

“Going to a vet is really expensive,” Stanley said. “For most of these people, they can’t do it. We wanted to help them keep their pets healthy, and that’s why we have free veterinary care here as well.”

Roots of Faith hosted a free pet clinic last year in partnershipwith Allegheny Health Network and the Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh. Animal Friends brought pet food and supplies.

At the library

Paich-Caraway and library officials met on Jan. 20 to talk about introducing more youth activities, as well as building on the success of the monthly Therapets program.

The list of new programs has not been finalized, library branch manager Sara Mariacher said on Jan. 30.

“They do a lot of educational programs for the community at various age levels,” Mariacher said. “We are hoping to schedule some of those where we learn about how to interact with pets, and possibly have some information on obedience training and how to keep your pet if you’re struggling financially.

“We’re also going to be expanding the visits from animals. Everything is very nascent. I can’t really speak to when any of those things will happen. We are very excited to expand our partnership with Animal Friends and very impressed with all of the offerings that they plan to bring to the Sharpsburg community, both through our organization and other organizations in the community.”

Last year, Mishka, an elk-hound mix and certified therapy dog, visited the library on the second Friday of each month with her owner, Alejandra Bernal.

The pair are part of a free children’s literacy program, Therapets, that will continue this year.

Mariacher said it was regularly attended by just a handful of people. The hope is to raise more awareness of the program and possibly add a cat on another day of the month.

“The goal of this particular program is for children, especially reluctant readers, to read aloud to Mishka for 10 to 15 minutes,” Mariacher said. “Dogs are nonjudgmental and it encourages children to practice speaking (and) reading.”

Both sides came away from the Jan. 20 meeting feeling positive about their possibilities.

Paich-Caraway said it’s not a matter of if, but when more would be coming from Animal Friends.

“That depends on when our programming can fit into the curriculum of the library,” Paich-Caraway said “Once we have worked that out, we will make it known through their resources and contacts and through ours as well.”

More information about the organization is available at thinkingoutsidethecage.org.