Findlay Acura teams with foundation for adopt-a-thon

Findlay Acura in the Valley Automall partnered with All The Same Wild and Tame Foundation recently to find new homes for several animals during a two-day adopt-a-thon.

During the event, there were 19 adoptions; new homes were found for 12 dogs, three cats, two hamsters, a snake and a turtle.

Foundation founder and native Las Vegan Mary K. Miller said she was ecstatic with the results.

The idea for the adopt-a-thon at Findlay Acura was the result a chance meeting.

“I was running an adopt-a-thon at Petco one Saturday and Michael Brady (Findlay Acura’s marketing director and sales manager) walked into the store,” Miller said. “Not long after talking to Michael, Kevin Hicks (Findlay Acura’s general manager) called to see what he could do to help with the foundation. He offered to host an adopt-a-thon event — and the rest is history.”

Working with a car dealership was not a foreign idea to Miller; her late stepfather, James Kain, owned a Chevrolet dealership in Southern California .

“You might say that this particular adopt-a-thon was meant to happen,” said Miller, who has been finding homes for her pets for 15 years. “As (author) Charles F. Doran once said, ‘Folks will know how large your soul is by the way you treat a dog.’ ”

Hicks also praised the event and invited the foundation to be part of a car show scheduled for April 20. In the meantime, he also picked up a big portion of the adoption fee for the pet adopt-a-thon.

“I, too, am an animal lover,” said Hicks, who raised rattlesnakes when he was a youngster. “Considering what happened to our economy five years ago, there is a never-ending need to find homes for animals and we’re proud to be a part of the solution.”

Volunteer Meeghan Lennon adopted a cat named Jinx and a dog named Marmaduke the week of the event .

“I wanted to be able to make a difference,” Lennon said. “I found my passion by helping animals.”

Xena Martinez, a student at Foothill High School, said she volunteers because animals deserve a second chance.

“Animals are the most important thing to me,” said Martinez, who will enter College of Southern Nevada’s Veterinarian Technician Program after completing high school. “Working with the foundation helps prepare me for my future studies. I’m going to spend the rest of my life with animals .”

Hicks said Findlay Acura had one of its better sales weekends, with at least a part of the success attributed to the adopt-a-thon.

For further information about All the Same Wild and Tame Foundation, call 866-882-5327 or by visiting www.allthesamewildandtame.com or at www.facebook.com/ATSWAT.

Contact Findlay Acura at 702-982-4100 or www.findlayacura.com.