WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Editor's note: The dog pictured above is not one from the local dog rescue
A woman in Polk County who runs a local dog rescue has been getting hundreds of well wishes after posting on Facebook about her family's troubles with COVID-19. Stefanie Badillo founded Crossed Paws Pet Rescue about 5 years ago, and normally she's posting about dogs she's saving. She's taking care of about 80 right now, including 10 litters of puppies.
Earlier this week, hundreds of people lifted her up after she shared how her father is in an Arkansas hospital getting treatment and several of her family members in Polk and Highlands Counties have also tested positive.
“They send lots of prayers and I think prayers work. Everybody's doing well. My dad surprisingly because my dad is totally dependent on everybody. He can't walk. He can't talk. He had a massive stroke about two, three years ago so having them saying the prayers for him improving, it helps out a lot. My following is great. If I didn't have them, I'd probably go another route in life,” Badillo said.
She says there's been some vaccine hesitancy in her family because of some other health issues. But, no matter your vaccination status, she says it's all up to each person to do their part to stop the spread.
“People need to stay home. They need to stop spreading it. People need to stay home. They’ve got to mask up. They’ve got to sanitize. But the most important thing is if you’re sick, stop going out in public.” Badillo added, “The person next to you that you give it or pass it to could die from it because you didn’t protocol or procedure,” Badillo said.
Both Polk and Highlands Counties have had lower vaccination rates than other parts of the state. In both counties, 55 percent of those 12 and older have been vaccinated. The number of cases have increased 38 percent in Polk County and nearly 66 percent in Highlands over the last 7 days according to the CDC.
Donations and the number of dogs adopted have slowed during the pandemic. She didn’t want to allow people working from home to adopt and then potentially turn the dog back over to her when they went back to work.
“I don’t have fosters. I physically take care of every one of these dogs.”
She says she thought about stopping the rescue when she left the previous building she was using to kennel the dogs because she was overwhelmed.
“We struggle every month. If we don’t get donations, we don’t have rent. We don’t have electric. We don’t have water. I spent $60,000 of my own savings. But someone’s got to do it I guess,” Badillo said.
Polk County has topped the list for the number of dogs euthanized here in Florida according to the Jacksonville Humane Society, so she often felt she had to take in dogs no matter what. Even though she contemplated discontinuing the rescue, she says God wasn’t letting her stop.
Her new location is in Winter Haven right near where it borders with Auburndale. The address is 2720 Havendale Blvd., Winter Haven, FL 33881. Right now, potential adopters are not allowed to come inside, but a grand opening is in the works. Proceeds from Goin' to the Dogs Thrift Shoppe in Auburndale benefit the rescue.