We have one of our own who needs help. She goes above and beyond in our community and now it’s our turn!!

Takara Hawkins has been a pillar in the animal welfare community in Junction City. She has also helped in multiple surrounding towns, dedicating her life to it since February 2019. For 6 years, she has given everything for the betterment of animal welfare. She is one of the best vet techs I’ve ever met. If you’ve met her, you know this.

She founded and runs the pet pantry, so pet owners who have fallen on hard times can receive the resources they need to care for their pets instead of rehoming them.

She has done extensive search and rescues for dogs that owners have dumped, rain, snow, or shine. She’s the mailman of pet procurement in the worst of situations. She has saved countless pet lives.

She also works tirelessly with Friends of Animals, a local rescue, personally fostering, training, and rehabbing them till they are healthy and ready to go to their new homes. She has organized hundreds of transports to rescues all over the nation.

She also heads and admins a local page to help owners rehome pets when they cannot keep them. Sometimes there are cases where she is able to offer support to keep the pet in the home and guides owners through everything they need. She has spent hours meticulously documenting every pet so that they don’t fall through the cracks. It has alleviated a lot of stress on not only the Junction City shelter but also the Fort Riley one.

She has done all of this with the support of her husband, who also works right alongside her to help.

She has helped the less fortunate people in our community, giving those who have had no home a place to stay, and food/resources when they need it. She goes out of her way to help all beings. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do what you can with what you have where you’re at.” Takara and her family embody that. They give unconditionally and have never asked for help.

If this community didn’t have her, you would definitely notice. She has helped lessen the impact on the local shelter and has even provided them support where many wouldn’t.

As we know, winter is creeping up on us. The temperatures in Kansas can be downright brutal. They turned the furnace on last week to make sure everything was good to go. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. The heating unit is unrepairable. Not only is it unrepairable, but whoever originally installed the unit put it in a crawl space, and after getting two different companies out, they have given her the same answer: It needs to be completely redone, ductwork and all, solely because of how it was installed. This is not her fault at all, but now it is her problem. A big one. Repairs are beyond costly. Around $12,000 to $14,000!!! They are trying desperately to find a cheaper option. There is the option of mini splits; however, the breaker box needs to be updated to accommodate. That is still a total of $6,000 to $10,000. Not everyone has spare thousands. For her to go without heat means more than it does to the typical family. They need it fixed for their well-being. But also, she cannot continue helping in animal welfare without heat, which in turn puts a burden back on the community.

I believe with all she has given of herself, it is now our responsibility and opportunity to give back to her!!! If we all do a little, we can do a lot. I am hoping as a community we can meet this goal for her and in a timely manner as temps are about to drop drastically. Please consider helping out a pillar in our community. I can’t think of a better and more deserving person to help!!!