The Pet Ministry began at Unity in Chicago over 20 years when a mother cat and her litter of kittens were found in a building being renovated to become a church. One of the ministers was an animal lover and rescuer who thought the best way to find them homes would be to introduce them to the congregation. Mama cat and her kitten were brought to the Sunday services and quickly adopted – the Pet Ministry was born.
The volunteers for the Pet Ministry donate their time to finding homes for lost and abandoned dogs and cats and raising money for their medical care and spaying and neutering by hosting bake sales and other fundraisers. As a member of Unity in Chicago, Ginny Weissman devoted many hours as a volunteer for the Pet Ministry while living in Chicago. When she moved to the Palm Springs area in 2008, she started attending the Center for Spiritual Living (CSL) in Palm Desert, CA and began the Pet Ministry CSL there in February, 2009.
The all-volunteer ministry is committed to finding forever homes for “angels in fur coats” that are lost, abandoned or surrendered by their owners or rescued from high-kill shelters.
“Since we are not a shelter, we look for foster homes to care for dogs and cats or keep them in no-kill shelters until they
can be placed in a new forever home. Pets available for adoption are introduced to the congregation one Sunday each month at the church where new potential “pet parents” fill out an adoption application and are screened by our volunteers to determ
ine the best home for each pet. We hold bake sales each month and the proceeds and donations are used for medical care and spaying/neutering”.
Ginny adopted her precious Chihuahua, Poppi, a former puppy mill dog through the Pet Ministry CSL. “I believe we not only choose our pets, they also choose us. I am so happy Poppi chose me. She is the joy of my life and my angel in a fur coat.” Over the past three years many dogs and cats have found happy new beginnings in forever homes found for them by the Pet Ministry.
If you are interested in starting a Pet Ministry at a church in your community and would like more information, please contact Ginny Weissman at info@PetMinistryCSL.com
Ginny Weissman is a free lance writer and a publisher. Her company Transformation Media Books is dedicated to publishing innovative works that nourish the body, mind and spirit, written by authors whose ideas and messages make a difference in the world. TMB is a boutique imprint of Ginny Weissman, a former body/mind/spirit literary agent based in California, and collaborative book publisher Pen & Publish, Inc. Weissman’s career spans journalism, television and publishing. She is author of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (St. Martin’s Press)
Ginny is a regular contributor to Happy Dog Connections and The K9 Reporter
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