Grieving pet owner’s fundraiser to benefit county animal shelter

A Weatherly man who lost his dog earlier this year is helping to make a difference in the dogs’ lives that are cared for at the Carbon County Animal Shelter.

On Thursday, Tom Reese, who works as a scale operator for Eastern Metal Recycling in Hazleton, presented the Carbon County Commissioners with a check for $2,747, the proceeds of a fundraiser he and his employment ran in May.

Reese choked back tears when he spoke about his beloved dog, Buffett, a pit bull that was born on Reese’s birthday in 2003.

He said that through Buffett’s passing, depression set in, and it wasn’t until he saw a sign, “Be the person your dog thinks you are,” that he decided to do something for the shelter.

Reese collected scrap metal from people and companies bringing in metal to his place of employment and put it in a roll-off box that the company approved for the project.

He said he was able to fill two roll-off boxes of everything from nuts and bolts to mufflers collected along the highway on his travels.

“There’s not a muffler along the road from here to Ocean City, Maryland,” he told the commissioners.

Reese said that he received a lot of support from both his business and the community and through this hopes to do such a fundraiser annually.

“Maybe next year I could do even better,” Reese said.

Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard commended Reese for helping the animals.