By Sylvia Benavidez
During the Cookie Walk and Gift Wrapping for the Friends of Albion’s Animals at the Albion District Library, 12-year-old Taylor Weston, Clarence Township, brought $240.00 to the event and handed it over to one of the volunteers.
In an interview, Westin’s mother, Kristen Wilkerson, shared that several weeks ago she asked her daughter how she would like to pay it forward to others. Her daughter immediately said Friends of Albion’s Animals. Westin attends Springport Middle School and spread the word on the importance of her cause, Donations, even anonymous ones, kept showing up at the school over a few weeks and a friend of Wilkerson who works there kept bringing envelopes to their home.
Adeia Strong, administrator for Friends of Albion’s Animals, explained that the family lives out in the country and people have been literally dumping cats on their land for years. She said, “There was no way they could afford to fix all of them. I believe it’s been 20 to 25 cats that they have had abandoned on their property and some pregnant. So, we’ve been able to find homes with other rescues for the kittens, the other cats, the friendlies we’ve been able to get in other rescues, and then their own cats we were able to help fix at a very steep discounted rate.”
Weston and her mother brought a card to the volunteers on Saturday also. Her mother wrote, “Thank you for helping me with my cats over the years. I would not have been able to cope without you. Grateful cat mom, Kristen Wilkerson.”
Weston’s portion of the note said, “I really appreciate everything you guys do and I hope this helps you guys take care of your local animals. Love, Taylor Weston.”
Wilkerson was brought to tears when she realized that her daughter recognized the hard work of the Friends of Albion’s Volunteers. The depth of her understanding became clear on the phone when Weston explained, “We live a little outside the zone they (Friends of Albion’s Animals) have, because they are really nice people, they have fixed our cats. Because if they didn’t fix our cats, they would have kept multiplying by now. We would probably have too many to handle and a lot of bad things would happen like sicknesses and stuff, and my mom is disabled so she can’t help with a lot of stuff.”
The abandoned cats and at one point up to three litters of kittens started to show up at the Wilkerson home from 2019 and the numbers got progressively worse after 2021. “From 2019 between 2023 and 2024, it was explosive because people kept dropping them off and I couldn’t keep up. Spring and fall we would get the influx,” said Wilkerson. People would come to her door and ask if they could leave cats with her. Weston said, “We find them in the driveway or roaming around the yard, all ages but mostly kittens.”
Time showed Weston the generosity of volunteers. She explained, “They have fixed almost 30 of the cats dropped off at our house.” Her mother summarized the amount of effort Friends of Albion’s Animals put in to stop the reproduction of the cats. “These people drove out, because I am unable to drive…picked up each cat individually or however many we could do at a time, drove them to Lansing and got them spayed or neutered and drove them back to my home and they only charged me $25.00 a cat. There were times I couldn’t afford that and they covered that for me.”
When Weston explained at school what group she was giving the money to, the reactions were positive. She said, “(They were) happy and they were very appreciative. They felt like the same way I did.”
Wilkerson shared, “I care for 21 cats right now because of these volunteers. I was refused by everybody, and these are the only people that stepped in to help. If it wasn’t for them helping, I would be completely overrun.”
The Friends of Albion Animals have been steadily working toward controlling the cat population in the Albion area. “We fix strays. We fix ferals. The colonies are down. My colony started with 25 cats, and we are down to four,” said Strong.
The group can do that because of grant money, donations, and the help of Eaton County Humane Society and Marshall Animal Hospital. “We are grateful for this money Taylor raised to pay it forward. That’s at least two more animals that will be fixed that aren’t reproducing that wouldn’t have been fixed otherwise. This child is just amazing.” Strong shared, “It’s heartwarming because they were helped and they want to help others in their same situation. That to me is the true spirit of the season.”
Weston wants people to understand the value of Friends of Albion’s Animals, she said, “They changed a lot of people’s lives and pets’ lives…”
