Saving lives with the help of the Tulsa Community Foundation’s “Charity of Choice”
A couple of years ago, Andrew and Tracy Turner lost their beloved Bekah, a four-year-old German Shepherd, when tragedy struck. The absence of Bekah’s presence within their daily lives inspired the Turners to take action in order that other individuals might be spared the devastating loss of a loved pet. As their first project, they are providing local fire departments with pet rescue oxygen masks to help pets suffering from smoke inhalation in house fires.
Nearly every house fire involves smoke inhalation. The best treatment for smoke inhalation is the quick and efficient delivery of oxygen. Since nearly every home also includes pets, many pet lives can be saved when oxygen can be effectively delivered. Saving pets’ lives in house fires is not only good for the pets and their owners, but it also improves fire fighter morale. However, oxygen masks for pets generally retail at $200 per set and are extra equipment which many fire departments simply cannot fund.
The Turners herein recognized a noble cause which could give some measure of meaning to Bekah’s untimely loss.
Desiring to create a non-profit charity, the Turners contacted Tulsa Community Foundation, an organization that is involved in charitable giving at every level of the community as well as working with individuals and families. Andrew and Tracy created and funded Bekah’s Helping Paw Fund personally but have since held fundraising events and received charitable donations to expand the reach of the charitable activities of their Donor Advised Fund.
The Turners next found an animal oxygen mask distributor in Florida who would sell them the reusable flexible-flange mask sets, which come in three sizes for small snouts to large snouts, for a non-profit price of $75 per set (www.helpanimalsinc.org). These masks fit a large range of animals from all sizes of dogs and cats, to birds and other exotics as well. Bekah’s Helping Paw Fund has subsequently provided the masks to all the Tulsa County Fire Departments, the Owasso Fire Department, Bixby Fire Department, Northwestern Rogers County Fire Protection District (in Oologah), and all the fire departments in Pittsburg County (through a grant of equipment to the Pets Are Working Saints, PAWS, group in McAlester) and they are currently working with Stillwater, Broken Arrow, and Sand Springs.
The Owasso Fire Department put their masks to use within the first few days when they were called to a mid-morning house fire where all the humans were gone from the home and several pets suffered smoke inhalation. Owasso Fire Chief Brad Clark states that the rescue of a small dog at that residence allowed firefighters to experience a positive outcome in an otherwise awkward situation. Just one week prior, the fire fighters had responded to the overnight fire at the One Stop Pet Shop where a number of animals died of smoke inhalation when an over-night fire had gone undetected and self-extinguished when the aquarium burst. The damage was discovered by the store manager upon opening the following morning and he immediately called for fire department assistance.
Chief Clark states, “The Owasso Fire Department now has the tools necessary to sustain life until the victim can reach professional care and that is very cool. We are well-equipped to manage human traumas but animals require a different level of support and equipment is very expensive. This project deserves recognition for their genuinely right intentions. Saving pets who are also members of a family is pretty big and certainly one thing that cannot be replaced.” Likewise, Dr. Chris Kelley of the Small Animal Hospital of Owasso and who also treated many of the One Stop Pet Shop animals, states, “We are very excited about the oxygen masks being provided by Bekah’s Helping Paw Fund to local fire departments. These masks give animals suffering from smoke inhalation a much greater chance of survival.”
Bekah’s Helping Paw Fund is the first entity in the Tulsa area working to provide pet rescue oxygen masks free of cost to local fire departments. The Turners hope to get the oxygen masks in the equipment lockers of every fire department in Northeastern Oklahoma and in doing so, hope to encourage other communities across the country to do the same. Donations can be made to: Bekah’s Helping Paw Fund, c/o Tulsa Community Foundation, 7030 South Yale Avenue, Suite 600, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74136. All donations are tax-deductible. For more information please email: bekahhelpingpaw@gmail.com or jwolfkill@tulsacf.org.
In addition to Bekah’s Helping Paw Fund, Tulsa Community Foundation (TCF) donors have made grants throughout Oklahoma and other parts of the United States to assist various animal welfare organizations. Over the past 12 months, TCF has supported organizations such as Best Friends Animal Society, H.E.L.P. Animals, Inc., Washington County SPCA, Humane Society of the United States, Animal Aid of Tulsa, Tulsa SPCA, Morris Animal Foundation, Forrest and Jenny’s Place, Alaska Raptor Rehabilitation Center, Humane Society of Tulsa, Oklahoma Alliance for Animals, Spay Oklahoma, Inc., Animal Rescue and Kare, Developmental Wings and its partnership with a therapeutic riding center near Sallisaw, Oklahoma, and the American Therapeutic Riding Center in Sand Springs, which has a marvelous center for children, youth and adults with disabilities. In particular, the therapeutic riding is a win-win, with the horses assisting children and families while the riders in turn give the horses a sense of pride and purpose.
Recognizing that we can all do more working together than is possible individually, Tulsa Community Foundation maintains a goal to assist donors to accomplish their charitable objectives in the most effective and efficient manner. TCF is a tax-exempt, public charity organized in 1998 to be a recognized, community-owned organization that initiates, teaches and encourages personal and corporate charitable giving today to ensure that the philanthropic needs of Oklahomans can be met for all generations. Tulsa Community Foundation is the largest community foundation in America. Please visit their website at www.tulsacf.org for more information.
Story by Carolyn Arkison
