Connie's words: I'm always thinking, what can I do next? We can't adopt every single homeless dog in the world, but we can do this.
When the couple pulled into the park- ing lot of their Huntsville, Alabama Stanley Steemer location for the first time, Connie heard dogs barking. She walked a few feet and looked around the corner and said, “Are you kidding me?” Like kismet, the Greater Huntsville Humane Society was located next door. A huge country music fan and
Mark's words: When I put my head on the pillow each night, I know I did all I could do. And I'm thankful there is always another day to continue doing what we're doing for the community.
Close your eyes And see
what matters.
–from the song Island Rain by Kenny Chesney
member of No Shoes Nation, the Kenny Chesney fan club, Connie often travels around the country to catch his shows. She has developed corporate partnerships between Stanley Steemer and Orlando’s 103.1 The WOLF, K92.3 Country and WFTV 9 Family Connection for fundraising events. She was instrumental in making sure Pet Alliance of Orlando was part of the 23rd Annual Ocoee Founders Day this year with The WOLF. Athletes and Animals is another Stanley Steemer fundraising event that was, at first, an unheard of partnership between Special Olympics Florida and Pet Alliance of Orlando. With a growing group of community partners like Franklin’s Friends and corporate sponsors like K92.3 Country and WFTV 9 Family Connection, Athletes and Animals has raised $114,000 since 2012. To reconnect as a family, the
Gellners love to vacation in St. John, USVI. As fate would have it, their get- away spot, the St. John Inn, is right around the corner from the island’s animal shelter, Animal Care Center of St. John.“We can hear the dogs bark- ing when we visit,” said Connie. She and the couple’s two daughters, Madison and Morgan, make walking the shelter dogs part of the family vacation routine. The shelter’s animals were the first
Top photo: Clover, adopted from Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando.
Above: Mark and Connie Gelner with one of the Hurricane Irma dogs rescued from St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.
42 THE NEW BARKER
thing on the family’s minds when Hurricane Irma, a Category 5 hurri- cane, blasted the island in 2017. After doing some research online, Connie managed to connect with Kenny Chesney’s tour manager, Jill Trunnell, via social media. Within days of the storm hitting the island of St. John, Chesney, who has a home there,had set up the Love for Love City Foundation,
to raise money for relief efforts. Chesney was already bringing in
medical supplies, food, water, equip- ment and crews to clear out debris. After 30 days of focusing on
relief efforts for the people of St. John, Kenny looked at Trunnell and said, “Who is helping the animals?” Soon, she was communicating with Connie, who helped coordinate the rescue efforts between Love for Love City and Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando. Big Dog Ranch Rescue was also part of the rescue relief efforts, as were 22 other rescue groups and shelters in West Palm Beach, Miami, Jacksonville, Charlotte, Virginia Beach, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and St. Louis. To date, more than 1,000 of the island’s homeless animals have been transported to Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando and their partner shelters and rescue groups. “Without the help of Pet Alliance, we would not have been able to bring back nearly as many dogs,” said Trunnell. Once she knew the dogs were on
their way to Orlando, Connie called The WOLF radio station. “They knew about Love for Love City Foundation and told us to bring some of the dogs to the station,” said Connie. Thanks to the exposure, more shelter dogs were adopted, making room for the new arrivals. Stanley Steemer also paid for the adoption fees of the dogs that came to the shelter from the island. “At first, they asked me and I said sure,” said Mark. “Then, they stopped telling me how many dogs were being adopted,” he smiled. At the time Hurricane Irma hit,
Chesney was also in the midst of working on a new record deal with Warner Music Nashville, moving from Sony after more than two decades. He called John Esposito, the chairman of Warner Music Nashville, and told him he was ready to work with Warner, but he had a caveat: The first record Chesney wanted to do would be one for charity, with all proceeds going to Love for Love City to help rebuild the British and US Virgin Islands. Esposito agreed.
www.TheNewBarker.com
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