Dana Mayer - Committed to a Life of Saving Cats & Dogs

A three-legged dog was the first thing I noticed as Dana Mayer walked over to meet me for this story. It was instantly obvious that this dog was lucky to have someone like Dana in her life. 
 
Baylon, the dog, was an instant hit with customers at Openroad Coffee Roastery as we sat outside to talk. Baylon rotated between giving dog kisses and slurping her puppachino provided by the coffeehouse. Baylon’s story is heartbreaking and you can read all the details on the Paws, Prayers & Promises blog on their website linked below. But just so you know, a mail carrier in Landrum spotted this dog clinging to life with a gunshot wound to the leg. The mail carrier was able to get word to Dana Mayer and Dana and Baylon have been inseparable ever since.

Dana Mayer lives and breathes compassion. She is the driving force behind Paws, Prayers & Promises- a local non-profit animal rescue and adoption organization. Dana can’t do it alone and is thankfully backed up by a small army of volunteers that help in every aspect of the almost three-year-old non-profit organization. Last year alone Dana and her like-minded volunteers helped over 500 cats and dogs find a better life. This doesn’t even include providing food for some of our area’s neediest animals.
 
Dana has loved, rescued, and taken care of animals all her life. For ten years she worked with the Foothills Humane Society as a board member and coordinator of the rescue, foster, and Po’ Kitties programs before leaving to form Paws, Prayers & Promises.

Dana took over the Po’ Kitties program for the Foothills Shelter. If you’re unfamiliar with the program it is a local success story but Dana points out that there is still so much work to do. During the past twelve years over 5,800 cats have been saved from euthanasia by the Po’ Kitties program which helps capture and then provides for spay/neuter service by a local veterinarian. The problem of feral cats breeding and breeding is one of Dana’s biggest challenges. She’s says, “There’s no excuse with so many free spay/neuter programs around including the one offered by Paws, Prayers & Promises. It just takes a call to start the process.” Landrum Veterinarian Hospital has been very generous to the organization in providing this service, which includes the surgery as well as a rabies shot for very low cost to Dana’s rescue group. The service is free to area residents when they ask for help from a sponsoring organization like Paws, Prayers & Promises. 

Paws, Prayers & Promises has no paid staff and that includes Dana as director. The organization depends on volunteers and donations to help these animals in need. They have no shelter and rely on foster families to help house the dogs and cats until they get adopted. Dana skillfully uses the organization’s Facebook page and other web animal adoption sites to help get animals placed. She’s also very thankful to Kelly Vinesett (on the right with Gabe) and Yvonne Bebber of P3 Consignment Shop in downtown Landrum as devoted supporters of animals in need. All funds raised by P3 Consignment Shop go to animal rescue organizations including Paws, Prayers & Promises. But they go a step beyond by providing storefront living quarters for two or three kittens ready for adoption. (Look for a future story about P3.)
 
Kelly Vinesett says of Dana, “She is the most generous, hardworking, dedicated woman we have ever met. It is an honor to stand beside her and help her in every way we can.”

​Dana’s future plans include doing even more if that’s possible. She already shares a home with four dogs and several cats including one that is blind. Dana will often keep the hardest-to-place animals. “They all need our help and love and I want to be there for them.” 

We are lucky and grateful in this community to have so many people willing to give of their time, talents, homes, and money to help others in need—including our animal friends. Dana Mayer is just one of many – but she’s also one of a kind. The Paws, Prayers & Promises website says, “We believe in miracles.” There is one happening every day with the help of Dana and her volunteers. 

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More to Know
 Go to the Paws, Prayers & Promises website at: http://www.PawsPrayersandPromises.org to read about the organization. There you can also learn how to help the organization. Check them out on Facebook where you can get updates on new animals coming into their care and those finding their forever homes. Call Dana for additional info at 828/ 243-1852. Do visit P3 Consignment Shop at 112 East Rutherford Street in Landrum to see a couple of kittens looking for a home as well as some resident shop cats ready to welcome you as you peruse this amazing store.

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