It’s always great when people donate supplies to help shelter animals, but not a lot of people think about the humans who work at these shelters.
Working at a shelter can be a a hard and thankless job. Many shelters are operating on limited funds and resources, and working with so many abused and neglected animals can take a toll on employee’s wellbeing.
But recently, one kind man did something extraordinary to give back to those who help animals, donating thousands of dollars in care packages to shelter employees.
Bryan Tsiliacos, from San Francisco, is in the middle of pursuing a very altruistic life goal: he wants to complete 30 acts of kindness before he turns 30, doing good deeds for essential workers.
Recently, he embarked on his biggest act of kindness yet: donating 118 care packages to animal shelter workers, KRON 4 reported.
Bryan raised $18,000 dollars and personally packaged and delivered the boxes to local organizations like San Francisco SPCA and SF Animal Care and Control.
It’s not uncommon for shelters to receive donations, but it’s usually things like dog food or pet supplies. Very few people think about the human employees who make it all possible, which made this gesture all the more surprising and welcome.
“We never get donations that are centered around the workers,” Virginia Donohue of SF Animal Care and Control told KRON 4. “So this is really great, because this team works really hard.”
“Nothing like this has happened in the four years that I’ve been here so it is really nice to see,” said SFSPCA Animal Trainer Riley Smith.
The boxes contain self-care items like healthy snacks and bath products. Bryan realized how stressful a job working with shelter animals can be, learning that shelter workers are five times more likely to develop PTSD.
“Go through some emotional stresses because it happens when you’re dealing with animals that are abandoned or been abused,” Bryan said.
“No one likes to see a great dog that’s here for four months before it can get a home. That stuff really wears at you,” Virginia Donohue said.
Bryan reportedly turns 30 in February, and hopefully his future good deeds are this impactful. He said that donating to shelter workers was his “biggest one yet.”
“It’s so nice for them to realize that people in the community are really and truly thinking about them,” he told KRON.
Shelter employees work so hard, it’s nice to see someone do something so kind just for them.
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