BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Kern County Animal Services recently received the money they needed for a special event in the Spring and the animals at the Kern County Animal Shelter are really feeling the love, all thanks to one Bakersfield woman's love for them.
Chrystal Blanco recently submitted a photo of her cat, Miley, to the Happily Furever After contest through the Arm & Hammer Feline Generous Program. Out of more than 5,500 submissions, Blanco and Miley were two of the winners of the contest, meaning Blanco got to nominate an animal shelter to receive $10,000.
“I was excited. I was excited but I wasn’t going to believe it until I saw the actual real stuff,” said Blanco.
She did eventually see it when a large check arrived at the Kern County Animal Shelter. Kern County Animal Services Director Nick Cullen says that the staff at the shelter were shocked.
“Our business manager, her name is Dianne, she said 'hey you know what this is for? We got $10,000 and it says it's from the Arm & Hammer Corporation,'" explained Cullen.
Cullen also says that support from community members like Chrystal is encouraging.
“Anytime we realize there are folks in the community that are supporting us on their own, it’s just one of those things where we’re like 'okay we’re doing good work here,'” he said.
Blanco hopes her love for cats is contagious.
“I’m a crazy cat lady, so I love cats. If I could take them all home, I would.”
Thanks to her contest submission, the Kern County Animal Shelter can help those cats all find homes.
“We just didn’t have the funding to put something on real special," explained Cullen. "This funding is going to be used to create what we're going to call a Catapalooza event to coincide with kitten season, really just to help push out the word that we really need the community's support."
