Catchafire | Eileen S
Biography
In January 2008, I saw puppies shivering at an animal shelter near my home. Disturbed to think of my first pet, Ginger, a four-month terrier mix that I adopted in 2003, lying on a cold, hard cement floor, I expressed my concern to the head of the shelters. The following day I met the shelter manager. She explained that there is no budget to purchase much-needed blankets and towels. I offered to help and in just a few weeks I collected over 800 blankets and towels. When I learned that animal rescue groups needed not only blankets and towels, but other comfort/care items (e.g., leashes/collars, carriers, crates), I established 20 drop-off locations and collected over 3,000 more items in several months. Operation Blankets of Love (OBOL) was born.
Buoyed by the success, I dedicated myself full time to the cause. This passion and compassion motivated me to later form Operation Blankets of Love as a nonprofit in March 2009. Since that time, with the help and dedication of my husband, Brad, and volunteers, OBOL has gained incredible momentum, meeting the comfort and care needs of tens of thousands of homeless animals in California as well as out-of-state and internationally in Mexico.
We have grown by leaps and bounds and have an extensive Humane Education Learning Program (HELP). I wrote a 60 page bi-lingual (English/Spanish) coloring workbook called "How To Care for our Pet Pals" that is given out to the kids, shelters and humane educators across the country and. Plus we have posters and flyers I designed for our anti-cruelty campaign called "We Dream of Justice, Too" also in English/Spanish.