Around 12:15 p.m. on Oct. 2, 2013, a school bus lost control in Niles, Ill., and crashed into Wright-Way Rescue leaving dozens of pets homeless.
At the moment of the accident the animal shelter had about a dozen employees and 15 animals. Fortunately no one was hurt.
“The school bus literally drove through the middle of the building,” shelter founder Christy Anderson told The Chicago Tribune.
The bus usually transports special need students but when the accident happened there were no students on the bus. Niles police said the bus driver is a 62-year-old woman. She was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid the accident.
Wright-Way Rescue housed about 25 animals but over the weekend they held an adoption fair where many pets found loving forever homes. The organization was getting ready to welcome 75 dogs scheduled to arrive this week, but without a facility to house the incoming pets the organization has no way to help the animals they pull from high-kill area shelters.
After the bus crashed, volunteers along with police officers and firefighters rushed to evacuate the building. They placed the dogs and cats in crates and used the parking lot temporarily until all pets went to foster homes.
Wright-Way Rescue asked the community to step up and offer temporary housing and by late afternoon all pets found foster families. Some lucky four-legged friends, like miniature pincher mix Annie, found forever homes as well.
Vicky Sfikas came to help Wright-Way Rescue offering to become a foster parent, she took Annie and since then decided to adopt her.
The plan now is to relocate the shelter to a new facility and continue to save as many pets as possible. However Wright-Way Rescue needs the community’s help.
The following message was posted on their Facebook wall:
Wright-Way Rescue does not own the property where our Adoption Center resides. Over the past five years it has become operational, we have poured thousands upon thousands of dollars into our facility for renovations. This is to ensure we have enough housing for the thousands of animals we care for each year. Simply relying on insurance to help us get back to work is not an option.
We are looking for donations to re-home Wright-Way Rescue and to provide care for the animals in our facility. Wright-Way Rescue operates solely on donations, grants, and adoption fees. Without an Adoption Center, we have no location to complete these adoptions, house the animals in our care, or provide funding for our non-profit organization.
Without the community, we wouldn’t be on track to save 5,000 animals this year. We still hope to make close to this goal, but we need the Wright-Way Rescue community to pull together so we can continue our mission.
If you are interested in helping Wright-Way Rescue please consider making an online donation at http://www.firstgiving.com/wrightwayrescue.
