By Kate Karp
Friends of Long Beach Animals (FOLBA), Long Beach’s most venerable animal-welfare organization, was happy to receive a whole lotta love on Tuesday, April 27, when Timmons Subaru presented them with a check for $37,447.40.
Subaru of America’s Share the Love events are designed to pay it forward to local and national communities. Over the past 13 years, the dealership has given more than $200 million to national charitable organizations such as Meals on Wheels America and the National Parks Foundation and to local ones. Timmons Share the Love efforts have included distribution of personal protective equipment to local small businesses, providing toys for children at MemorialCare Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, and giving funds to local charities. In the space of two months—November through December 2020—the recent Share the Love event collected enough money to make the ride a lot smoother for FOLBA and Honoring Our Fallen, a program celebrating war heroes who died in combat and offering support to their families.
“A part of every purchase goes to the customer’s choice of charities,” said Timmons general sales manager Rocky Ghahary. “We try to keep it local.”
FOLBA board president Lauren Campbell expressed gratitude on the part of the organization and said that the money would be put to good use. The organization has a notable history of working with the community, beginning in 1998 when their Spay/Neuter Incentive Program (SNIP) was launched, up to the present, when they collected a literal ton of pet food for people having trouble feeding their animals during the pandemic, matched $10,000 in Long Beach Gives donations for the Long Beach Little Paws Project and refurbished and furnished the surgery room and other areas of Fix Long Beach’s newly acquired clinic. FOLBA board member Tom Hanberg said that Timmons’ donation will help introduce new projects like kindergarten and first-grade humane education through the school district, assistance for emergency pet care, and funding for the Bonnie & Dooley program, which helps community members pay adoption fees for selected rescues.
“During COVID time, it’s tough for people, so we do one rescue a month,“ Hanberg said. “So far, we’ve done Long Beach Animal Care Services, Live Love and Little Lion (The Little Lion Foundation). This month, we’re doing Sparky and the Gang.”
