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Austintown man helps area animals with monthlong fundraiser
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Some patrons of Chinebox Ink tried to buy a bag of dog or cat food after getting a tattoo recently, joked Aaron Chine.
That was because during December, Chine collected dog and cat food and supplies as a fundraiser.
Thursday, five area animal groups came and split the items evenly. Those groups were: A Call Fur Help, Legacy Dog Rescue, Youngstown Dogs, Falcon Animal Rescue and For The Dogs Animal Rescue. Cat supplies were split two ways, and the dog supplies were split into fourths as people loaded up their cars on a chilly afternoon.
Chinebox, 5620 Mahoning Ave., had a walkway through the front which was surrounded by 50-pound bags of dog food, big bags and boxes of dog treats, cans of stacked cat food and an occasional bone.
“It’s going to feel so empty in here,” Chine said with a smile before the supplies were loaded into vehicles.
“I have to fight back tears because this is so awesome,” said Michele Labedz of Youngstown Dogs.
“It takes a lot of pressure off because we’re always scrounging around, looking for people to help out and give us donations,” said Dan Cipriano, of Legacy Dog Rescue. “Having 40-some dogs ... any little bit helps us.”
Chine, owner of the Austintown tattoo studio, said they counted only the big bags of dog food, which came to 600 pounds. He also said the fundraiser probably had 20 percent more items donated than a year ago.
The single biggest donor was Austintown’s Quality Petmarket, just down the road from Chine, which donated all of its samples in one truckload to the cause, Chine said.
Cipriano said his truck full of supplies would help his organization for a few weeks, maybe a month. He said the group has been around for five years. Labedz said her organization has been around for two to three years — she has been with it for eight months — and said their supplies would help for about a month.
The fundraiser enticed donations with a drawing for a $200 gift certificate for the tattoo shop. Chine also had a night of donations at the Horse Shoe Bar, in Warren, with his Trumbull County friends.
Five years ago, Chine had a fundraiser for a family whose father had heart surgery. Later, two family dogs died, and he turned his attention to helping animals.
“It’s easier to keep track [with animals],” he said. “When you’re doing it for a family, it’s someone already bought this kid a coat [and] now we have a second coat. People were overlapping and doubling up. With this, it’s just bring whatever and the more the merrier.”
There were cash donations, which Chine waited until the end of the fundraiser and used for the supplies that were the least donated.
“This is what our dogs depend on; the volunteers and the donations is what keeps our dogs fed,” Labedz said.