Special to IFN

PetSmart Charities recently recognized Iredell County Animal Services as a Bronze Medal Status Adoption Partner.

This status was earned by ICAS by having more than 500 of ICAS’ pets adopted at the local PetSmart adoption-partner-center, located at 214 Turnersburg Highway in Statesville in 2024.

Iredell County Animal Services is one of 101 PetSmart Adoption Partner groups to be awarded this honor.

“On behalf of everyone at PetSmart Charities, we want to say thank you for the time, effort, and passion you and your team have invested in saving lives and connecting pets with loving families. We’re celebrating with you and can’t wait to see what success you’ll have in the coming year!” said Luisa Germain, PetSmart Charities Lead Adoption Grants Manager for the Northeast, MidAtlantic, Southeast.

A total of 598 pets from Iredell County Animal Services were adopted at the Statesville PetSmart location in 2024, with cats and kittens making up 554 of these adoptions.

ICAS staff selects those cats and kittens who are to be housed at the retailer’s built-in adoption center of eight kennels. This center is such a vital extension of Iredell Count Animal Services’ adoption program, as it offers an additional location for the more than 3,500 animals taken in at ICAS annually, providing an opportunity for families who may never visit the shelter to find them.

While ICAS staff selects the cats and kittens, ICAS volunteers who comprise the PetSmart Cat Care & Adoption Team play a vital role in this success. This team makes sure that each cat and kitten not only finds their way to and from the center by transporting them, bu they also provide the feline residents with daily care, feeding, cleaning and maintenance of the center during their stay.

The ICAS Volunteer PetSmart Cat Care & Adoption Team is led and organized by Team Lead Nicole Heckemeyer, who transports the cats and kittens to and from the center while also providing the basic care as the other team members do. She also organizes everyone’s daily schedules and communications of eight other team members to keep this center running smoothly.

Six of the volunteers who are on this team could also be considered a team within a team, as they truly make it a family affair. These mother/daughter and aunt/niece teams found a way to not only spend time with one another, but to make a real impact and save lives while doing so.

Those mother/daughter and aunt/niece teams are:

♦ Michelle and Madison Frayer;
♦ Dania and Cara Shea; and
♦ Donna Mason and Clara Wilkinson.

Lee Brawley is the eighth regular team member, with Ashley Cornett filling in as needed.

Between all the members of this small volunteer team, they provide coverage every day that a cat is housed at the center.