Tali and Brie's big day

We are grateful and happy for Tali, who recently celebrated her bat mitzvah. The coming-of-age ceremony for Jewish girls marks the time they become adults in their faith tradition. Tali practiced for this day for weeks. Instead of receiving presents, Tali asked her family and friends to donate to PAWS Atlanta for her bat mitzvah project (raising an impressive $1,700 to care for homeless animals).

Tali and her family have been fostering our senior girl Brie for the past eight months. Tali has poured so much love into Brie, who adores her. 

We were thrilled to be invited to her virtual bat mitvah where eighty two friends and family members beamed with pride as Tali talked about her parsha (a section of the Torah), how it relates to fostering animals, and what fostering means to her: taking care of an animal from the goodness in your heart, even when you know that you have to give it back. Tali told us Brie was the inspiration for her bat mitzvah project and speech. 

The happy tears started flowing when Tali tied different sections of her parsha together, stating boldly,“…Seeking out ways to insert good into our world, like through providing shelter for lost animals, can also help eliminate, or at least reduce, the bad. Small acts of goodness can help eliminate great evil. I’ve been thinking about small acts of goodness in my life that I could get involved with. I like to think that I can do some good things that will help fulfill this idea. Which is why for my bat mitzvah project I decided to volunteer at PAWS Atlanta which is where we got our foster dogs from. It’s an amazing non-profit and no-kill shelter. They provide food, medicine, foster care, and help dogs find their forever home. I think if any of you could donate, even a small amount would make a big impact on a dog’s life.”

Thank you, Tali, for your big, generous heart. Your project will go a long way towards doing just what you said so eloquently: providing food, medicine, foster care, and finding lasting homes for the vulnerable pets.

Mazel tov on your bat mitzvah! You make us proud.