Anderson Humane comes up with creative holiday gift ideas for humans who love fur babies.
The South Elgin-based animal shelter is selling keepsake ornaments with images of the buyer’s pet laser-cut onto finished wood that can be hung or displayed.
“This is a great way to celebrate the animals you have or remember the animals you’ve lost,” said Kimberly Gifford, Anderson’s director of special events. “They’re really beautiful. I love the details.”
They can be ordered for $25 each through the shelter’s website, ahconnects.org, until Dec. 13.
All proceeds will go to the shelter thanks to employee Janet Mendel and her husband John, who create the decorations for free and donate all materials.
“It’s a very moving and rare opportunity for someone to come up to you and say, ‘I have this talent and I want to give it freely to support you.'” Gifford said. “That was a great blessing to us.”
Janet Mendel was talking with a colleague at Anderson when she came up with the idea for the ornament. She began working with Gifford to develop a fundraiser.
“We’re just creators in general. I’m the idea guy.[John]goes and makes it great,” Janet said. “(He) can make anything we ask.”
Janet Mendel worked in the medical industry for 27 years before deciding to change careers to fulfill a lifelong dream of working with animals. She joined Anderson Humane in August. John works in the IT industry and has been woodworking since childhood.
“This guy can literally build you a house,” Janet Mendel said.
The couple lives in Aurora and is starting a new business, Urban Shire Enterprises, that offers custom woodwork, furniture, laser printing, and some 3D printing. “If you can dream it, we will do our best to make it a reality,” said John.
The decorating process begins with photos and a laser printer that are sent to the couple online as part of their order.
According to Janet, the better the photo, the better the ornament. John edits the photo to make sure the image is clear and laser prints it onto the wood.
“The first year we tried to simplify it as much as possible,” she said.
It can print 6 to 7 images at a time, and each print takes an hour and a half. They’ve made about 120 so far, and their goal is to sell 400 and raise $10,000 for the shelter.
“But we want to exceed (that number),” Janet Mendel said. “I am very happy with the response so far and want to continue to grow. …My goal is to save as many (animal) lives as I can, The more money we can raise, the more lives we can save.”
Gifford said the ornaments have been very popular so far. “It’s so much fun and it looks beautiful,” she said.
Anderson Humane cares for more than 4,000 livestock annually. The nonprofit also took over the Fox Valley Wildlife Center in Elburn several years ago, where it is able to shelter an additional 3,500 animals a year, including hawks, owls and small mammals.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
