Wedding gifts are commonly given to newlyweds on their magical day. For most couples, they would normally set up wedding registries filled with a bunch of household items as their gift preferences.
While there’s nothing wrong with this age-old tradition, one couple is changing things up a bit in favor of helping out their shelter friends.
This may sound surprising but there’s a heaven-sent couple who did not set up wedding registries for themselves. They asked for donations to give to a local animal shelter instead. Just how heart-pinching is that?
This couple was so unselfish that they wouldn’t bother receiving anything specifically for themselves on their wedding day!
A Wooster, Ohio couple who are about to tie the knot just broke the tradition of a common wedding registry.
Jonathan and Jeananne Wickham didn’t write common household things like coffee maker, kitchen utensils, and sets of kitchenware. They presented their family and friends with an extraordinary list instead. Found on the list were dog biscuits, cat food, kitty litter, paper towels, and other cleaning supplies.
They have decided to donate all that they receive to the Wayne County Humane Society.
“We’d been together for seven years and we didn’t have a need for traditional gifts like the mixers and the toasters. We’re really big into animal welfare and rescue so we wanted to take an opportunity to give back to this shelter specifically because I grew up in Wooster,” Jonathan told The Daily Record.
The couple delivered the good news and the donations they collected to the shelter just a few weeks after they exchanged their vows.
The Wickhams delivered the bountiful animal supplies to the shelter a few weeks after they exchanged their “I do’s.”
The Wayne County Humane Society couldn’t be happier and claimed that it was the biggest donation they have ever received.
“In total, they collected and donated over 1,200 cans of wet food, 750 lbs of dry food, a massive amount of cleaning supplies, and over $2,000 for our medical fund! The funds they raised already helped provide life-saving medical care for two of our kitties. We are so grateful for this amazing display of kindness and can’t thank them enough,” Wayne County Humane Society wrote on their Facebook account to enumerate the donations given by the couple.
The Wickham’s are on a mission – to be foster parents and take care of rescue animals!
Jonathan and Jeananne are proud parents of their six rescue cats.
“It may be seven by the time this article comes out,” Jonathan joked while playing with one of the shelter cats when they were at the shelter. “People like them help the mission and keep the doors open. We survive on donations like this.” Brian Bogner, the shelter’s president, said.
Two rescue kitten arrived that needed immediate medical attention to save both their lives.
The donation given by the couple to the shelter’s fund was right on time and was immediately put to use.
Debbie was one of the cats who had a broken leg and the other cat was Peaches, who had a serious eye infection. Luckily, both cats were treated and are now trying to recover at the shelter.
Nothing feels more rewarding to this couple than paying it forward by helping rescue animals from shelters.
“We accumulate so much stuff in our lives and even if you think in the future, ‘Maybe, I’ll need this,’ if you can do some good with a large or small event, then do that. Truly, there was nothing in our lives that we needed to have a registry so we could get this or get that. We could get those things for ourselves, but this we couldn’t do by ourselves,” Jeananne said.
The couple was able to cuddle with Debbie, Peaches, and many other rescue cats during their visit to the shelter.
The shelter, on the other hand, shared a “Thank you” post on their social media account.
They expressed their gratitude towards the generous and kind act of the newlyweds.
Good Samaritans are everywhere, especially during these hard times. Not all heroes wear capes and hopefully the newlyweds, Mr. and Mrs. Wickham, will inspire a lot of people to also help out their local animal shelters, may it be a big or small help, everything will surely go a long way.
