In working to expand the reach of his Angel of the Forgotten charity, La Jolla resident Bob Cooper could have gone big. Instead, he reached out to La Jollas Stella Maris Academy, ultimately finding a first-grader to help him.
This year, a holiday card designed by young Gia McNeal will be sent to animal shelters and donors as a way of saying thank you and to encourage future donations.
Cooper formed Angel of the Forgotten last year as a way to honor his late wife, Karen, a lifelong animal lover. It soon raised funds to purchase and donate more than 1,000 dog toys and treats to area shelters and humane societies before the December holidays.
La Jolla resident Bob Cooper established Angel of the Forgotten to donate dog toys and treats to area shelters and humane societies. (Helen Woodward Animal Center)
“[Karen and I] were married for more than 50 years, and when you are together for long enough, you go from being two people to one,” Cooper said at the time. “When I lost her, it put me in a vacuum. She was a great, really wonderful person. To help her live out her dream, I set out to provide gifts to 300 dogs.”
Cooper visited the websites of area shelters and humane societies last year and saw hundreds of dogs that could use a gift. The number of gifts was bumped from 300 to 500. Then 700. Then 1,056.
This year, the foundation sought to reach 4,000 dogs in California and out-of-state shelters.
“I reached out to people I know and I found people in other counties and states that love what we’re doing and work with shelters,” Cooper said. That ultimately led him to shelters in Riverside County, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Mexico and more.
To go with the gifts for the dogs, Cooper wanted to create a holiday card for the people who donate and volunteer for shelters.
“I really wanted to send a card but couldn’t find anything for the cover image that we wanted,” he said. “I went to Stella Maris Academy and told the principal I would give money to the art department if they hosted an art contest for the card. It had to include Christmas, a dog and something that makes someone smile. The school picked the top four and we picked the one for the card.”
Stella Maris Academy on Herschel Avenue is the parochial school for nearby Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church. The school serves students in transitional kindergarten through eighth grade.
Gias winning design showing a big Christmas tree with decorations, presents and a dog “is the cutest picture you could imagine — the picture I was looking for,” Cooper said.
My wife and I would smile when we would see children’s art, so we wanted a [young] person to do this, he said. I thought it would make other people smile.”
Gia drew everything we wanted, he added. She went full-on with this. We’re in heaven with what we got.”
Stella Maris Academy first-grader Gia McNeal created the winning design for Angel of the Forgottens holiday card. (Dana McNeal)
Gia said shes also happy with her winning picture.
“I really wanted to win the art contest,” she said, and she dedicated multiple classes to creating the right design. “I liked that it was like a Christmas card theme. I like that there are toys and I think its cool that dogs are going to get toys.”
Her mother, Dana, said Gia “wanted to convey the joy of Christmas. She wanted to draw how happy Christmas is.”
For more information about the charity, visit angeloftheforgotten.org.
(Daniel K. Lew)
The La Jolla Light’s annual Community Heroes series for the holiday period highlights people who aren’t often in the news but make a difference in the lives of others. If you know of such a person, email Editor Rob Vardon at robert.vardon@lajollalight.com. Please limit suggestions to people who live or work in La Jolla or otherwise have strong ties to the community. 