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04/27/2016 08:30 AMGina Queiroga has always loved animals, but her passion was taken to a new level two years ago when she and her husband Val were looking to adopt a dog.
“I was sickened by the number of perfectly good dogs who are put to sleep due to the lack of space in shelters,” says Gina. “We started talking and knew we had to do something. I’ve been an animal lover since the beginning of time and I didn’t know it was such a problem.”
The Queiroga family adopted their dog from a rescue, but Gina knew she wanted to help more than just the dog they adopted. They have since adopted a second dog. Once people met her dog, she started getting a lot of questions.
“He’s the best dog, most loyal dog and he’s so thankful to me,” says Gina, a lifelong North Haven resident and North Haven High School graduate. “People would always come and ask how we found our dog and we started getting more involved.”
Gina, who has seven-year-old twins, began fostering puppies for Where the Love Is Animal Rescue (wheretheloveis.org). She admitted that giving up the puppies was hard at first, especially on her son and daughter, but the family knows there are always more puppies in need of a foster home.
Seeing what goes into running a rescue, Gina wanted to do even more. She has a long history with fundraising and remembers the moment when she knew she wanted to help those in need.
“When I was 16, I saw a commercial for St. Jude’s and my heart broke for those kids,” says Gina. “As soon as I was old enough for a bank account, I started donating monthly and then I still thought I could do more.”
A few years later, Gina hosted a fundraiser to benefit her cousin who was affected by cancer. She then held fundraisers for St. Jude’s and to benefit Haiti earthquake victims.
When she met her husband, with whom she has been married for two years, Gina was happy to find out that he was also involved with fundraising. As a North Haven police officer and president of the North Haven Police Union, Val was involved in fundraising for St. Baldrick’s and more.
“I’ve been in other relationships and my partner didn’t understand why I put this time and energy into helping someone else, so him feeling the same way took a huge weight off my shoulders,” says Gina. “The fact he’s on board and wants to help people and animals means so much to me.”
Now Gina and Val are combining their efforts to raise funds for helping rescues as they are producing the North Haven Police Union Rescue K 9-11 Calendar. Not only will the calendar feature rescue dogs, but police officers from local departments, including North Haven, West Haven, Hamden, and New Haven, as well as members of the Regional SWAT team.
“Being a police wife, it’s hard to see what police officers have to go through on daily basis—there really is a war on police so I wanted to do something to show these are good guys, they’re people’s husbands, they’re people’s fathers,” says Gina. “What better way than to put dogs into it and show they don’t just help people, they help animals as well.”
Every month, a different officer will be featured along with a different rescue dog and the dog’s story. Each month will have a theme tied in as well. For example, September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.
“All dogs have a story and it’s important to get all of that out there,” says Gina.
Six months have already been photographed by Chris Foster of Light Thief Photography, who is donating his time and services. Gina hopes the calendar will go to the printers by July. She plans to have a launch party and reveal in September where everyone in the calendar will share their stories.
While the short-term goal is releasing the calendar, Gina is also looking at the long-term, hoping to gain non-profit status for Rescue K-911 so the organization can support rescue animals that are facing emergency situations.
In addition to fundraising through calendar sales, the group—which includes Gina, Val, and Gina’s aunt and uncle, Donna and Rob Bokowski of Wallingford—will also sell T-shirts during the concerts on the Green this summer. She has also seen her children following in her footsteps. Her family delivered presents to the children’s oncology department at Yale on Christmas and her daughter wants to meet with First Selectman Mike Freda about hosting a lemonade stand.
“She wants to raise money for the Police Department, animals, and children battling cancer; they both want to do things for other people. I’m so proud of them,” says Gina, whose dream is having her own farm sanctuary. “I would love to have my own rescue one day—a farm and a rescue where people can come visit and adopt animals. It’ll take me a while, but I’ll get there.”