This holiday season, the Elizabethton Carter County Animal Shelter in Tennessee was granted a special miracle.
On Christmas day, the community got word that a woman named Glenda Taylor DeLawder, who passed away in November 2015, had bequeathed a small fortune to helping the local shelter’s homeless pets.
Described as “an avid animal lover” in her obituary, DeLawder’s bequest will enable the shelter to undergo some drastic improvements.
“The administrators of Mrs. DeLawder’s estate have bestowed a gift of $540,000 to the Elizabethton Carter County Animal Shelter to expand the dog and cat holding areas and to purchase a van to use to transport the Shelter’s cats and dogs to off-site adoption events and to spay and neuter clinics,” explains the Elizabethton Carter County Animal Shelter on Facebook.
The selfless gift of Mrs. DeLawader will help homeless animals for years to come, and for that, the community is truly grateful.
“Carter County and the shelter are truly blessed and honored to be given such a tremendous gift, one of the largest private gifts ever given to the county for our citizens (human, feline and canine),” said Mayor Leon Humphrey in a story by Johnson City Press.
“Mrs. DeLawder’s family asked me to share with you that she loved her cats and dogs so very much and wanted her love and care of them to be her everlasting gift,” he said in a closing announcement, according to the article.
“I think Mrs. DeLawder would be very pleased that her gift will be able to provide for future cats and dogs at the shelter for as long as the shelter exists,” he continued.
“I want to personally thank Mrs. DeLawder and her family for their gift and thank each of you for your continued support of the shelter,” he said.
We know that Mrs. DeLawader would be thrilled to know that her selfless gift has gone to the dogs …and to the cats, too.
(h/t: Johnson City Press)
