BOURQUE ROAD RESIDENT Melanie Lovell (left) accepts the Lighthouse Award from Cape Ann Animal Aid Executive Director Sunniva Buck during the 19th annual Winter Ball at the Danversport Yacht Club. (Courtesy Photo)
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Bourque Road resident Melanie Lovell was honored earlier this month for going above and beyond for animals in need.
Lovell, who serves on Gloucester-based Cape Ann Animal Aid’s Board of Directors, was presented with the Lighthouse Award during the no-kill animal shelter’s 19th annual Winter Ball at the Danversport Yacht Club.
“Cape Ann Animal Aid gives the Lighthouse Award to a ‘shining light in the community’ every year,” said Lovell. “It is usually given out to a volunteer who did something of note that year for the shelter. I was awarded the prize based on my Howl-O-Ween fundraiser that took place last October. I was completely unprepared to receive this award. This is the first year that I haven’t been on the Winter Ball’s Planning Committee in a long time, so I wasn’t really privy to any of the planning of this year’s event. And I was having so much fun at the gala that I didn’t read the program until after they announced the awards. Once I got over the shock, I was so grateful to the staff and Planning Committee for thinking of me. I’m just so thankful to have Cape Ann Animal Aid in my life. I’ve met so many kind and generous people who are connected to the organization. Plus, without the shelter, I wouldn’t have my dog Picasso.”
Lovell recalled that Cape Ann Animal Aid was forced to cancel last year’s Winter Ball due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She noted that the event is the shelter’s “biggest fundraiser of the year.”
“The shelter’s Development Team asked members of the Board of Directors to hold smaller fundraisers to make up for the loss of revenue,” said Lovell. “I waited until October 2021, and then hosted a Halloween-themed fundraiser at The Black Box in Peabody. It was a lot of fun. The Lisa Love Band played live music, we gave out prizes for costumes and raffled off a lot of cool stuff. The Howl-O-Ween fundraiser generated over $10,000 for the shelter, which was the best part. Lynnfield resident and fellow board member Kirk Mansfield was immensely helpful in planning the event. We even recruited some other Lynnfield residents, Robin Tiro-Kinnon and Ann Powers, to dress up like homeless pets and sell raffle tickets.”
Lovell was thrilled that the Howl-O-Ween fundraiser was incredibly successful because it benefited the animals staying at the shelter.
“COVID-19 was a huge challenge for the shelter for numerous reasons,” said Lovell. “It was not just the standard business issues in terms of staffing and public safety, but also the fact that most of our animals come to us from the South after they were picked up as strays or after they were pulled from high-kill animal shelters. These animals would normally be transported via van to Gloucester from places such as Texas, Alabama and Georgia. So when everyone was in lockdown and interstate travel was discouraged, our inventory of available animals to adopt diminished, which was unfortunate because when everyone was home due to the pandemic, the demand for pets skyrocketed. Not only were we unable to place homeless pets into loving homes, we weren’t able to generate as much revenue from adoption fees, which was scary because we still had bills to pay.”
Lovell recalled that her history with Cape Ann Animal Aid goes back over 30 years.
“I grew up in Gloucester and my parents adopted a cat from the shelter in 1989,” said Lovell. “As an adult, I was living too far from Cape Ann to volunteer there regularly until I moved to Lynnfield in 2012. It was important for me to reconnect with the organization because I knew I wanted to get involved with animal rescue on a local level. I also hoped that my professional experience as an attorney might help guide the shelter administratively as a board member, so I joined their board in 2014. I previously served a one-year term as vice president on the Board of Directors and then spent four years as president until I stepped down last September. I’m now a regular board member, and I still volunteer at events and fundraisers.”
Lovell said she is incredibly proud of Cape Ann Animal Aid’s “Spay Mama Program.”
“The program is designed to assist families should their animal become unexpectedly pregnant,” said Lovell. “Through the Spay Mama Program, Cape Ann Animal Aid will cover the cost of a spay surgery for cats and dogs that have recently given birth. The mother and her babies are fixed and the mother is returned to the owner while the puppies and/or kittens are adopted out through the shelter.”
Lovell said volunteering with Cape Ann Animal Aid is incredibly enjoyable and rewarding.
“The most rewarding aspect is seeing older animals go home with their new families,” said Lovell. “Adult dogs and cats — especially senior dogs and cats — can be very hard to place. Many potential adopters come to the shelter looking for puppies or kittens, but those are the animals who spend the least amount of time at the shelter, which makes sense because they’re adorable. But the seniors need homes too, and they often have a hard time acclimating to shelter life. Sometimes the best dogs are the ones that don’t present well within the walls of the shelter because they’re frightened or uncomfortable, but once you get them home, they can be wonderful. Many are already house trained or know how to walk well on a leash. We recently had a 5-year-old hound mix named Terry who was tough to place. She’s large and her white muzzle makes her look older than her years, but finally after two months, her new family met her and fell in love. That’s the type of situation where, had she been in a kill shelter, she probably would not have been given two months to wait. Sometimes those dogs only get a few days.”
For more information about Cape Ann Animal Aid, visit https://www.capeannanimalaid.org/.
