PAWS Tinley Park reopens after January fire
TINLEY PARK, Ill. — After being shut down for months following a fire, PAWS Tinley Park is back and ready to help animals find their forever homes.
PAWS president Terri Buckley said it is their mission to make sure that every animal that comes to the shelter is well taken care of, but that mission was disrupted back in January after a fire broke out inside the laundry room of the southwest suburban shelter.
“The damage started in the laundry room, but the whole shelter filled up with smoke. Until you have smoke damage, you don’t realize, I was thinking we would open in a few weeks,” Buckley said.
But when the community learned about what happened, they stepped up. Midwest Animal Hospital treated nearly 100 animals for smoke inhalation and public donations began coming in.
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“Just so grateful to Midwest and our volunteers that night that saved all our animals,” volunteer Brenda Nelson said.
Since then, a lot of hard work has gone into repairing the ceilings and walls that were damaged by the smoke.
“They should come here and take a walk through the place. It’s absolutely beautiful. It’s so sad what happened to them,” Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz said.
A grand reopening celebration was held on Sunday and shelter leaders said it was all possible thanks to the public donations.
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“A shelter is a hard place to work when you see all this going on but when something devastating like this happens and the community comes forward, we are just so excited to be back,” Buckley said.
Tugging on leashes and cat strings, many came to visit the animals and show their support, and PAWS hopes to welcome many more.
“Please please adopt give some of our animals that are overlooked a chance,” Nelson said.
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