A disaster was averted Friday at the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County.
A total of 70 dogs and 150 cats were without water due to a faulty water pump on the AWL grounds.
AWL employees had noticed the water pressure dropping earlier in the week. Finally, after lunch Thursday, there was no water feeding into the building.
“We believe the pump was original, meaning it was 24 years old,” AWL Director Nickee Sillery said. “We have a lot of animals right now and of course they have to have water.”
Sillery placed a plea on thei group’s Facebook page. The first to answer was Kurt Kesling who operates Kesling Well & Pump Solutions in the county.
“Kurt was awesome and he went right to work for us,” Sillery said. “He was a true hero.”
Within 30 minutes of posting a plea on social media, people started to bring water to the facility.
When AWL workers showed up to work Friday morning, they were amazed at how much water local residents had donated and placed in front of the door.
“We were completely overwhelmed when we got to work this morning,” Sillery said.
Besides individuals the shelter received a full pallet of water from LSC Communications and Walnut Township Fire and Rescue showed up with a tanker to fill tubs of water.
Kesling had the new pump replaced and operating by Friday afternoon.
The shelter is accepting donations to pay for the work Kesling did to restore water to the building. Anyone wanting to donate to help cover expenses may leave a check at the AWL office.
“Our staff was talking about how lucky we are to be in this community,” Sillery said. “We let a need be known and people go into action. We are constantly reminded that we have a very caring community.”
