LIVE from The Travelers Championship: No Animal Left Unfed Inc

LIVE from The Travelers Championship: No Animal Left Unfed Inc
Shonya Harrison shares the importance of her work in Hartford.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I her communities. I'm Renee Denino. We are here at the Travelers Championship
in the fan zone next to themini golf. I'll tell you what.
This is, Day two of ourbroadcast with Verdies for Charity. Proud to
be the media sponsor for Birdies forCharity. Webster Bank really hitting a home
run on this one. Wait?Is that a golf term? I don't
think so. But you know whatthey're doing. They're making sure charities earn

(00:20):
a fifteen percent donation on every dollar. That's what they're matching through end of
play Sunday. Go to Travelers Championshipdot com. You can scroll through the
charities, pick a charity that resonateswith you. Pick one, two,
three. It is up to youTravelers Championship dot Com to make a difference.
But I've got one charity that's seatednext to me that has a personal
connection. She's from the city ofHartford. Her name is Shania Harrison and

(00:44):
shown you from no Animal left unfed? Uh how long if he? Oh
my god, Oh my god,Renee, we've known each other for fifteen,
sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, twentyyears. Maybe who even knows,
But this is a charity that youstarted just like roots right, absolutely,
yeah, and tell me read aboutit. I will say where. But
I started as a volunteer with afellow rescue knew I just wanted to do

(01:08):
more, knew I had the abilityto do more. So we actually started
well, No Animal Left Unfed becameincorporated in twenty fifteen. The pan remember
that didn't start. It took thefollowing year, and then it just sort
of expanded over the years, basedon conversation, based on feedback, and
based on need. So we've beendoing this for officially nine years. So

(01:33):
I've been saying a lot of thisover the past few days. Actually even
a month ago when I was talkingto my friend Jason from Connecticut Food Share
about the need in our state anda lot of times when people don't realize.
And I know people always call methe crazy dog lady, I wear
it. I'm fine, me too, and cat lady for you or something.
But with the hunger insecurities that weface in our state, a lot

(01:57):
of our senior population are choosing tofeed their pets, their cats, their
dogs because they are isolated, that'stheir only companionship, and they're sharing their
cat food. They're sharing their they'reeating. It's it's if you don't believe
me. I don't know how tomake you believe this is a true story.
You've seen it, Shan Yah,I've seen It's unbelievable. No,

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we have the story so really quickly. I'm not a rescue, I'm an
animal welfare organization. And what wequickly realized long ago is that in order
to stabilize the pet, you haveto help the owner. So we are
very unique in that there's a humanservice component. So we provide pet food,
pet supplies. We now give grocerycars, we do, we pay
rent now, we do a lotof stuff. We literally have to stabilize

(02:44):
that home rescues are full. Yeah, so we recognize the lead long the
well before COVID, well before thisinflation. Do you remember I don't know
how many years ago it was whenI said, oh, I want to
donate it, I want to help, and I talk to you. You
said, well, I'll take thisbag of food and then I need plastic
baggies And I said for what AndYou're like, oh, we divide this
dog. I said you wait,one person doesn't did I said, oh

(03:09):
no, No, I was likeI was like I'm calling, I'm making
a call, and I was like, we're getting bags of food. I'm
like, you kid, I waslike in my head, I'm like we
started, we did you have toput the dog and cat food up like
one bag between three families. Andthen I was like, no, no,
no, we did, because I'llnever forget we just didn't have enough.

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Now, now, of course webegin one month of pet food,
but to know, because like Isaid, we haven't seen each other in
a really long time. So asof today, we do pet food,
pet supplies, and medical grants.Yep, we officially we have. We
have a website we officially put upby application, and so as of today

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we do pet food, pet supplies, and we provide one access to care
medical grant for pets. Decide thehome. So through the end of play
with the Travelers Championship, you canchoose no animal left unfed. They're gonna
earn those extra birdy books as Ilike to like to call it from Webster
Bank. But on Monday they goback to being no animal left unfed.
They go back to being you know, feeding the needy in in Hartford,

(04:17):
I mean, honestly, the people. It is overwhelming it's extremely overwhelming.
You know. Look, we tryto do the best that we can.
We really try to help everyone.The majority of our family members are seniors
with fixed incomes and real quickly,I'll just share a story with you because
it sort of speaks to what ourorganization does. We get a lot of

(04:40):
referrals. Now got the referral fromtwo to one one. There was a
veteran living in the woods. Yeah, I know, with his service dog.
Those are the types of calls thatwe're getting. There was a senior
who called us for pet food.She had no food. Those are the
types of calls that we get.So we supply both. We give the

(05:02):
pet food, We make referrals forthat singer, we put food in their
house. That's that's who we areand that's what we do. And I
love, you know the fact thateven if we don't talk for a while,
we can pick it right back up. And I'm always like, all
right, I'm sending these people yourway. I'm sending these people your way.
I'm like here, just get there, Like, do you know anybody
that we can give money this year? I'm like, yes, hold on,

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And then I don't even tell youyou don't I don't know. I
just like it's like a surprise toyou. You're like, how did you
hear that? Out a call?Like I got that nice email from Tom
and I'm like who He's like hi, and I'm like, well hello,
you know, like how are youso? No? Renee? No?
Thank you? Yeah, so youdo. I know this isn't easy work.

(05:45):
It just isn't. You make itlook so easy, but I know
how incredibly hard it is. Weare extremely grateful for the support and assistance
over the years. We need it, we need you need it, You
do it, You give back,you live in the community, you serve
you. Uh, you're a trooper, You're a good human being. Thank
you, you're human being. Ilove you and I think you're the best.
And it's it's so cool that youtake advantage of Bertie's for charity because

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it's a try. It's easy money, you know, it is it is.
I'll be honest, like, look, I mean, are we a
powerhouse. No, That's why it'simportant that I do these types of interview
on site interviews, radio interviews.But for anyone who know us, anyone
who support us, know we aresmall, but we have a really great
footprint in a community that I'm veryproud of. We have a little mighty

(06:31):
punch and I'm very proud of thework that we do and you should be.
Thank you, bless you. SonyaHarrison from No Animal Left Unfed make
sure you're gonna go check them outonline. Hey, what's that website?
So? Our website is www.No Animal Left Unfed? I see all
one word dot com, No AnimalLeft Unfed, Ink Inc. Dot com

(06:53):
dot com. All right, Sonia, thank you so much, thank you,