IN FOCUS: News from Sutton Studios

Issue No. 22

April 2009

SPOTLIGHT

Lilli and Isabella
(click to enlarge)

The Girls and the Kids

Nicole and Aaron Charfoos have "the Girls" (two Golden Retrievers) and "the Kids" (daughter Isabella and son Jack), but "the Girls" were "the Kids" for quite some time. "Emma and Lilli (the Girls) were our kids long before we had either of our children."

Nicole and Aaron have noticed that, as their children grew older, the kids' relationship with "the Girls" has taught them many valuable lessons. "They learned about respect, love and the care animals deserve. Isabella and Jack have experienced the true, steadfast friendship a pet can provide and the joy a best friend can bring. Now that Isabella and Jack are old enough, they are having as much fun with "the Girls" as we are."

"We wanted David Sutton to capture their special relationship in photos and we were especially excited about this particular picture, which truly shows the lovely bond between our daughter Isabella and her beloved pet Lilli."

Our framing partners

REFLECTION & REFRACTION

Animal Rescue: Pilsen's Dynamic Duo (Part 1)

When animal lovers Francisco and Yvette Piña first met, neither of them had any pets. Now they have six - if you limit your count to the ones they consider "permanent residents" of their home in Pilsen.

If you consider animals in their care, well, that's a different story. Now you have to count the cats in their home waiting for adoption. You would add to those the feral cats living in their yard and the abandoned house next door. You'd consider the cats that wait for Yvette every morning in the field down the street. Oh, and let's not forget the feline residents of "Tamale Alley" or the "Convent Kitties."

You get the picture.

* * *

Yvette and Francisco

As a boy, dividing his childhood between Chicago and Pilcaya, Guerrero, Mexico, Francisco got to know a lot of animals, but his pets tended to come and go. "I always liked animals," he says, and you feel that affection as he recalls some of them by name - Aurora the cat, a dog named Tuffy, Blanca Nieves the duck, and two roosters named Lalo.

But, as Francisco puts it, "I was really disappointed with my parents. When we moved, and I think this one of those things that actually does change my life, it was easy for my parents to just dispose of them, as if they were just property." Throughout childhood, young Francisco could never be sure when his father might get tired of one of Francisco's dogs and dump it in another neighborhood - or when a beloved rooster or duck might end up on the dinner plate.

Yvette on the other hand spent most of her Logan Square childhood as a one-dog woman. A puppy, Cindy, born at her house when she just a week old, became Yvette's constant companion. "I used to style her hair. I pushed her around in a stroller. She was like my sister."

When she visited her grandparents' plantation in Puerto Rico, Yvette enjoyed the company of animals there, too - chickens, ducks, pigs, and a community of stray dogs and cats. She admired her grandfather's gentle way with his cows.

When Yvette reached high-school age, her mother decided to move the family out of Logan Square. In order to make finding an apartment on Chicago's Northwest side easier, her mother found another home for Cindy. After thirteen years, "She gave Cindy away." Yvette was heartbroken.

As luck would have it, the family found an apartment that took dogs. Yvette and Cindy were reunited a year later when Cindy's new family decided to give her back.

Yvette and her "sister" Cindy had a few good years together in the new apartment. When Cindy and Yvette were both 17, however, Yvette was to lose her friend a second time.

Cindy had been sick and the family was going to Pureto Rico for the summer. Her mother said, "Yvette, we need to put her down. She's old and she's very ill." "We went in to the vet and I sat with her while they put her to sleep," says Yvette, welling up at the memory. "Then we literally drove right from the vet to the airport. That was my summer."

* * *

Pixie

When Yvette and Francisco met in November of 2000 they found they had a few important things in common - neither likes to dance and neither Yvette nor Francisco wanted to have children. Their strongest bond, though, had to do with their mutual love of and compassion for animals.

Things moved quickly for the couple. Within just two months of meeting in November of 2000, Yvette and Francisco had a condo in Evanston and had adopted their first pet - a black cat they named Bucky Bloo - through Animal Care and Control.

As adults Yvette and Francisco finally got to have pets on their own terms. In their first year of marriage their household expanded to include three cats. When Bucky seemed lonely they decided to get him a companion, so they responded to an ad for free kittens and came home with Smudgy. Later that year, strolling Navy Pier, the couple fell in love with a beautiful white cat at an Anti-Cruelty adoption. "She's just so beautiful," said Frank. "She's a super-model," Yvette agreed. Pixie came home with them that day.

The three cats had a bit of a time sorting things out among themselves, but it wasn't too long before they had another creature to consider.

"We were going to visit my mom in the Spring of 2002 and that's when we saw Scruffy going down Western Avenue, he was just crossing the main street."

"Frank was not for Scruffy. He was like, I don't want that dog, and I said, I want that dog and that dog is comin' and that's it. Frank was so upset."

Scruffy

"She pulled the, 'he reminds me of Cindy' strategy," Francisco recalls. They scooped the dog up and took him to Anti-Cruelty. He was wearing a collar. Not knowing anything at the time about animal rescue, they knew the dog would be safe there while they looked for the dog's owners. "Anti Cruelty held him for ten days and I called every day to see how that dog was doing. After ten days they said, the dog is healthy, we're going to neuter him and put him in the window. I said 'I'll be right there'."

Soon enough, Francisco came around. "For the record, I was never mean, and it didn't take too long," he says. Yvette adds Francisco, "saw that Scruffy's a pretty good dog . . . he's actually a very smart dog and very intuitive."

So the Piña's Evanston condo was pretty well populated when they took a trip to Puerto Rico in early 2002. In San Juan they shared an experience that both of them recognize as the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.

Francisco explains: "We went to Puerto Rico for a wedding. We were there for a week. That was in early 2002. As we are in San Juan, we're confronted with a situation that there's this little dog that's smaller than scruffy, a brownish cute-looking dog, that clearly has the mange. It starts following us for a week. We don't want to befriend the dog, we don't want to feed the dog. Long story short we didn't take the dog. And that became a regret of ours later. We should have helped the dog," he says, "but we didn't know how."

Next Month: We'll learn how that one regret became a spark that ignited Francisco's and Yvette's passion for rescuing needy animals, and how a "service vacation" at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah became a tipping point in terms of their commitment.

David Sutton
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COMMUNITY FOCUS

Service Vacation

Planning a "staycation" this summer? Consider this instead: A "service vacation" volunteering at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.

Best Friends is a leader in animal rescue efforts large and small. These rescues have included saving companion animals from natural disasters (like Hurricane Katrina) and even from war zones. They've provided support in cases of animal hoarding and even rescued animals from failed shelters.

On any given day the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, at the heart of the Golden Circle of National Parks in southern Utah, is home to about 2,000 dogs, cats and other animals who come from shelters and rescue groups from around the country for the special care they can only receive at Best Friends.

Best Friends depends heavily on volunteers. People from all walks of life schedule working vacations at there. When you arrive, a volunteer coordinator meets with you and helps you plan your work schedule. Best Friends offers cabins and cottages for volunteers who take full-day or half-day shifts in the sanctuary. You'll work with other volunteers feeding, grooming and socializing with the animals, cleaning their living areas, or taking them for long walks. When you're not busy volunteering, you can enjoy the spectacular natural beauty of Utah's national parks.

Please contact their Volunteer Department at volunteers@bestfriends.org or by calling (435) 644-2001 ext 4119 to make arrangements prior to your visit. For a closer look, visit www.bestfriends.com.