Stevie Wonder — in this case, a dog and not the famous singer — was just three months old when he was found abandoned on the streets of Fort Morgan, blind and barely able to walk.
A Good Samaritan took him to the local shelter, where he was discovered by a volunteer from PawsCo and placed in a foster home in Denver.
Scott Walker and Sean Van Arkel, co-owners of Alan Perry Productions, saw Stevie’s photo and biography on the PawsCo website, and were so smitten with the adorable Chihuahua-miniature pinscher that they decided to adopt him.
Cool as that may be, it’s not where Stevie Wonder’s good fortune ends.
Not long after he joined the Walker-Van Arkel family, Stevie’s sight and ability to walk was restored. Without medical intervention.
“One day he could see again,” Walker said. “Then he could walk. And when he walks, he prances.”
Walker, Van Arkel and Stevie Wonder were among the 250 animal welfare enthusiasts attending Dog Days of Summer, a buffet supper and auction held July 15 at Space Gallery on Santa Fe Drive.
PawsCo is an all-volunteer organization started by Tiana Nelson, daughter of 7News chief meteorologist Mike Nelson, and Kristin Des Marais, whose involvement in animal welfare dates back to 2004, when she established the Four Paws Pet Center of Colorado.
PawsCo volunteers scour shelters in rural communities throughout the region for dogs and cats that will have a better chance of being adopted in a metropolitan area such as Denver. The animals then are placed in foster homes until they are adopted. In the three years since its start, PawsCo has helped find forever homes for 1,200 dogs and cats.
In addition, partner veterinarians have performed 300 spay and neuter procedures in outlying communities throughout Colorado. And, since the first of this year, the ongoing PawsCo Food Drive has given 20,000 pounds of pet food to Food Bank of the Rockies to help feed the pets of its low-income clients.
Serendipity Catering provided the vegan dishes served that night and Kristi Pohly of Fleur Decor used brightly colored blooms — including pin cushion protea, orchids, gerbera daisies and roses — to create centerpieces that enhanced the evening’s tropical theme.
Among the guests: Sharif Abdelhamid and Marissa Vasquez, who work at Denver Health and serve as foster home volunteers for PawsCo; Melissa Kinney, an attorney and Colorado/Wyoming foster coordinator for the National Great Pyrenees Rescue; Kelli Brown, community relations manager for Imaginarium, the Denver Public Schools’ innovation laboratory; criminal defense attorney Leslee Barnicle; Cindy Nelson; Karen Robinson Rosenthal; Roxanne Sims; Natalya Kuskin; Shannon Winters and Gina Brekke.
