January 14, 2020
Barclay Friends has always maintained a great relationship with the Brandywine Valley SPCA. Every month, puppies from the SPCA visit our residents to sit in laps, snuggle, kiss and bring joy. “It’s always the highlight of the week for both residents and staff” said Elsabet Haile, Barclay Friends’ Recreation and Volunteer Director. This collaboration has been going on for four years and has even resulted in five adoptions by our staff and resident families.
The SPCA also helped raise funds for Barclay Friends. Honors students at West Chester University coordinated a “Winter Puppyland” fundraiser in December 2017 in conjunction with the SCPA. The event raised over $2,500 to help our residents after our tragic fire.
With all this goodwill, it was natural for Barclay Friends to make Brandywine Valley SPCA the focus of our latest “Give Back” campaign. They asked employees, residents, friends and families to donate items for the SPCA. The community answered the call with blankets, towels, leashes, bags, kongs and peanut butter.
As the Give Back campaign entered its final week, however, Hurricane Dorian started to gain momentum, and headed towards the United States. The hurricane left the Bahamas in devastation and made landfall in the Carolinas. While the toll Dorian took on the people of the affected areas is unimaginable, thousands of animals were also displaced. Brandywine Valley SPCA received over 200 shelter evacuees from South Carolina and was in desperate need of supplies. Barclay Friends ended the campaign early and was able to donate twenty large bags full of donations to the shelter.
If you have been thinking about adopting an animal, the SPCA is now waving adoption fees for adult dogs (1 year old and up, over 40 lbs) and adult cats (over 6 months old). If you are not looking to make an addition to your family but would like to give back to your local shelter, learn other ways to help out at https://bvspca.org/.