McKenzie Community Honors Animal Rescuer Toni Ray
This Saturday at the McKenzie Treasures Market, in spite of the extreme heat and heavy smoke in the air, the local community gathered to show their appreciation for one very special lady and the contribution she’s made to so many people in the valley over the past year.
Since the fire, Toni Ray has worked tirelessly to reunite over 100 missing pets with their owners. To show how much that meant to everyone, Janicé Myers, the owner of Iron Forest, organized a fundraiser for Toni via Facebook which raised $1800 from grateful members of the community.
In her post, Janicé explained how Toni had always worked as a volunteer, and used her own resources and funds to carry on her animal rescue activities in spite of having lost her job due to the COVID shut-down.
“She has gone as far as helping to cover pets vet bills for Fire recovery when their owners couldn’t, to fostering animals in her own home until owners could be found, to literally driving up and down the McKenzie Hwy and hiking far into the woods to search. She has followed every tip, lead and “I think I saw a pet” comment sent her way. Every. Single. One.”
Janicé went to great lengths to keep the whole thing a surprise, so Toni was overwhelmed with emotion when this morning everyone gathered around to present her now only with the $1800, but also a check for $500 from the McKenzie Community Development Corporation for a donation to an animal charity of her choice, as well as a lovely array of goodies from McKenzie Feed and Tackle and a beautiful chainsaw sculpture.
The sculpture of a cat was sponsored by the McKenzie River Chamber of Commerce, and carved by Nick Myers of Little Bear Sculptures specially for Toni, using wood from a local McKenzie tree that had to be taken down after the fire.
That was something that Toni had long wished for, and she burst into tears when the piece was unveiled. Nick had also been involved in carving some of the stumps in Blue River Park, and as an extra surprise it was revealed that a sponsor had come forward to commission a larger sculpture for the park. Nick will now work with Toni to realize her vision for that piece, which will hopefully sit in a specially designed memorial garden for the pets lost in the fire and to celebrate the rescuers. Nearly a year after the fire, Toni is still searching for lost pets – and finding them. Her efforts have helped many in our community heal, and those positive stories of hope have also helped us get through some incredibly difficult times. We thank her from the bottom of our hearts.
