News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
All About Rescue and Fixin’, or A.A.R.F, and the Cookeville Petco are partnering to renovate the store’s cat adoption habitat.
Executive Director Ariel Marengo said the secure meeting area will help create more adoptions.
“Actually provide a way for people to be able to interact with the cat in an enclosed manor,” Marengo said. “Because right now when you go to meet a kitty, you have to meet them in the grooming area or you have to meet them in the store.”
Marengo said a $40,000 grant awarded to the organization Tuesday makes the upgrades possible. Marengo said the funds are the most A.A.R.F has ever received through a Petco grant.
“We have been a Petco partner for quite some time,” Marengo said. “We’ve gotten several grants from Petco, but this is our biggest grant that we’ve received so far. It was quite a shock and honor to be selected. It will make a big difference for the animals in our care and community.”
Marengo said the organization is in the first phase of designs with no time line on completion. Marengo said the space will be similar in size but new and improved to comfort the cats.
“This is a huge chunk of money for us and for the animals, and it has been a very strange year for the past 12 months, we haven’t really had any adoption events,” Marengo said. “We are just now starting to get back into the Petco store.”
A.A.R.F. is a non-profit organization formed by volunteers that foster rescued animals. Marengo said Petco serves as the sole adoption site for the organization, which returns this Saturday. For more information, visit aarf-tn.com
