Mario Van Pibbles was rehabilitated with the help of the FWAS.
“Animals are my passion,” Ms. Jackie Richo said when asked about her role as the founder of Friends of the Wallingford Animal Shelter (FWAS), a 501c nonprofit organization established to provide support for the local animal Shelter. Ms. Richo, who once dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, created the nonprofit in August of 2021, when the Wallingford Animal Shelter experienced short-staffing and a shift in leadership after the previous director went on maternity leave.
Ms. Richo, who has served on various nonprofit boards and volunteered with the Meriden Humane Society, took inspiration from the Friends of the New Haven Animal Shelter and wanted to recreate it locally. She proposed a new local organization to work in tandem with the Wallingford shelter. “You can’t run a shelter with just animal control officers. There’s not enough time in the day for them to do everything that needs to get done,” she said. “It takes a village.”
While FWAS works closely with the Wallingford Animal Shelter, it is an independent organization. Decisions on the allocation of funds raised by the nonprofit are made by its board members, and funds sometimes go to other local projects related to FWAS’s mission, like the “trap, neuter, release” program, which aims to reduce the feral cat population.
The nonprofit is still in its early stages; Ms. Richo said that her goals so far have been fundraising and promoting. The group commissioned a logo and sold car magnets to promote itself and raise money.
Though only a few months old, FWAS has already made a notable impact on the Wallingford community. Ms. Richo said, “Everybody is very engaged and very active, so this is very exciting for me.”
