One East Texas auto shop’s mission to help local stray cats has been met with overwhelming support from the community, reports KETK NBC.
Gary Stewart, managing partner at Stewart’s Donnybrook Automotive of Tyler, Texas, is well aware of the number of stray cats in the area. Though he’s busy running an automotive business, he still wanted to find a way to help those who are working to save these animals.
“They take care of these animals that nobody else wants to take care of, so I can’t do that, I don’t have the facilities or the time to devote that to those animals, but they do,” explained Stewart.
So, Stewart spread the word that his shop would be accepting donations of cat food for two local animal shelters: one in Kilgore, and another in Henderson. Before he knew it, the initiative blew up: people he’s never seen in the shop before have come by to donate food. He’s even seen Amazon deliveries of cat food dropped off at the shop.
“People I don’t even know show up with food that just love animals, like we do,” said Stewart.
Richard Duncan of the Duncan Home for Wayward Cats described the number of stray cats in the area as an epidemic, and Cat’s Meow Rescue Owner Heather Payer-Smith shared that vet bills, supplies, and other shelter needs often rely on donations.
Having recently filled his entire car up with his first food donation delivery, Stewart intends to accept cat food donations for the foreseeable future, with hopes to expand his services to other local shelters sometime.
