Jewelry fundraiser to benefit animal control, adoption center - The State Journal-Register
CARLINVILLE -- Real estate broker Rhonda Willman has a love for animals that has fueled her desire to help a no-kill shelter.
Willman has supported the Macoupin County Animal Control and Adoption Center through fundraisers in the past and will do so again today (Sunday), when she offers the public the opportunity to order jewelry from 1 to 3 p.m. at the shelter at 21640 Illinois 4 in Carlinville.
Willman is an independent designer with KEEP Collective, which sells keepsake jewelry that displays symbols of things important to people. Proceeds from Willman’s fundraiser will go to the animal shelter, which on Wednesday housed 57 cats and 42 dogs.
“I owned a real estate office called ‘Mars Realty’ (in Bunker Hill). We’ve just always been very proactive as far as animal welfare goes. That’s just my personal passion. All of my animals have always been rescue animals,” said Willman, whose real estate office now is merged with another company.
“I kind of specialized in the foreclosure market in my real estate office," she said. "Unfortunately, a lot of animals are affected by foreclosures because people leave them behind. When they have to leave their homes, they have nowhere to take their animals, and so, we’ve had to kind of rescue quite a few.”
Willman got to know Buzie Bertagnolli, administrator of Macoupin County Animal Control, while she still owned her real estate office in Bunker Hill.
“We did a bowling tournament every year. We did a silent auction, and we had people bring donations and different things to the bowling tournament, so our proceeds from that went to the Macoupin County animal shelter,” Willman said. “I actually closed my office and merged with another real estate office, but I am an independent designer for KEEP Collective, so I just thought, ‘Here’s another way that I can help Buzie because I can give back my commission that I make.'”
Community help
Bertagnolli said the Macoupin County Animal Control and Adoption Center wouldn’t be possible without the community's help.
“They have been absolutely amazing. They step up every time we come to their door asking for a donation for a fundraiser, memorials when people pass,” Bertagnolli said. “They like the changes, and that was my trade-off from the county was to become self-sufficient, to not be a burden on the taxpayers.
“Not everyone is an animal lover, and they felt if I didn’t want to euthanize, that was my trade-off. I had to become self-sufficient so I wasn’t a burden on the taxpayer.”
Bertagnolli said her department is self-funded in that it doesn’t receive money from the county.
“That means everything that is paid out here — insurance for the building, gas for the vehicle, any vet care, food, my salary, my benefits — everything is done through here, and it is done through fines, fees, donations,” Bertagnolli said. “September was the beginning of the sixth year of no money from the county.”
The animal control and adoption center is designed for long-term care of animals until they are adopted.
“Once we get the building paid for, which we still owe approximately $110,000 ... hopefully, then we can do some different clinics for people. ... Since we have a loan with the county, we have to get that paid for first,” Bertagnolli said.
Animal adoptions
In the meantime, the animal control and adoption center is able to offer the public a monthly program through the Animal Protective League in Springfield to get their pets spayed or neutered at reduced prices.
All animals that are adopted from the center have been either spayed or neutered and microchipped and have appropriate vaccinations.
People adopting pets are charged what it costs the center to prepare the animals: dogs, $100; cats, $75. From 2015 to 2016, the center has placed for adoption 477 dogs and 340 cats.
A cat that Bertagnolli said she “would love” see get a home is the yellow tabby Trooper. He’s been at the center since Dec. 4, 2015, when he was 2 years old.
“Trooper is our three-legged cat. He got picked up in Gillespie. When I took him to the vet, his foot was all mangled,” Bertagnolli said. “The leg was dead, so that’s why when his foot got mangled, it wasn’t a big deal, so he just kept dragging his foot.”
Trooper gets around by hopping.
“He was named ‘Trooper’ because he was such a trooper through the whole thing,” Bertagnolli said.
— Contact Tamara Browning: tamara.browning@sj-r.com, 788-1534, http://twitter.com/tambrowningSJR.
