Women Of Wellington Reach Out To Help Animals, Children And More By Deborah Welky
The Wellington Chamber of Commerce added its WOW factor — the Women of Wellington committee — back in 2013 to help women connect with each other and share new business opportunities. But, as so often happens when women get together, the group soon began reaching out to help others. The group has helped a number of nonprofits over the past several years, and in March, WOW conducted a highly successful adopt-athon in conjunction with Palm Beach County Animal Care & Control. “Twenty amazing women came out to film segments with an adoption-available dog or cat at Animal Care & Control,” said Michela Green, executive director of the chamber. “Elizabeth Harfmann, community outreach manager at Animal Care & Control, made this all possible. She met with our group daily and provided us with a dog or cat to showcase.” Harfmann provided all the pertinent information, such as the pet’s breed, age and personality, and then a WOW member filmed the video, introducing herself and the pet she was showcasing. The initiative began on March 1, with a
new video posted each day on the chamber’s web site. In addition, the pets’ photos and bios were distributed through social media and an e-mail blast to chamber members. Green set the goal at 31 pets, hoping to have one pet adopted for each of the 31 days in March. By the end of the month, WOW had successfully found homes for 26 — but no one was stopping there. Calls continue to come in. “This was a new initiative, never before done by our group,” Green said. “Last June, I adopted a beautiful 5-year-old dog, Flower, from Animal Care & Control and was able to see how many incredible dogs and cats were available, and how fantastic the volunteers are and how hard they work to get the dogs and cats adopted.” As it turned out, seeing photos of adorable furballs in need made quite an impact among wellington the magazine | may 2017
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