Happy New Year to all of you, your teams, and your families! I truly hope we are gearing up for a wonderful year ahead full of peace, prosperity, and good health. We’ve been through so much as a community. Despite the awful news cycle and hectic conditions, we’ve continued to work hard, we’ve experienced incredible loss and exhibited strength when we didn’t think we had any more. As we reflect back on 2021, we should be proud as a community that we continued to serve our customers and clients and most importantly, those in need and each other.
This year’s opening issue of the Metropolitan Airport News is featuring an activity that happens every day at EWR, JFK, and LGA airports. That is the travel of rescue animals destined for amazing homes here in the New York Tri-State area. They come from all over the world, but mostly from High Kill shelters down south and from the streets of Puerto Rico. There are networks of kind people all over the place that each do their part. There are volunteers that are checking the high kill shelters, dedicated people picking up dogs and cats from squalid conditions all over Puerto Rico, those participating in the transportation of the cats and dogs via air travel and car travel and so many more that are fostering here in NY, NJ, CT or PA. There are others that are part of the rescue organizations that interview potential families and make sure they will provide the best home possible. All the roles that these volunteers play with love for the animals in their hearts really save so many lives. It takes a village, there are expenses all along the way and so many help financially when they can’t put boots on the ground.
I have seen myself the sacrifices these wonderful people and their families have made with their time, their homes, their careers, and their finances. As a friend of mine who has fostered over 100 dogs and cats says, her heart breaks a little each time she has to let one go so that their hearts will never break again! I thank her for her wonderful work all the time. She takes in these scared animals, teaches them how to be loved by a family and her pack, and then finds them the best forever homes, including one amazing boy that came to my home all the way from Puerto Rico!
Animal rescue is near and dear to the team at the Metropolitan Airport News. Collectively, we have five rescue dogs and several rescue cats that would have died if it weren’t for all the dedicated volunteers involved in saving and homing a deserving pet. When the time is right and your home and heart is open to welcoming a pet, please consider adopting instead of shopping! You will have a grateful and loyal friend for many years.
Cheers to a fabulous 2022! Let’s remain patient and positive with ourselves and one another. I look forward to seeing you around the airport!