Founders Corner

As a child, animals were very much a part of me, an

extension of myself.

My cousin Carola and I, born months from each other, lived

with our parents at our grandparents’ home, with other

relatives and with “Lucero”, our beautiful midsize white dog

with a black patch around one of his eyes.

Lucero understood we were two little girls that wanted his

love and attention, and as dogs are, he was kind and patient,

willing to be with us both for our times of play.

We were still in our early childhood when we both moved to

other homes with our parents, Lucero staying behind,

waiting and looking forward, as were we, to our visiting time

with one another, mostly Sundays after church.

Then came other dogs until I left Cuba to go to Mexico and

finally exiled myself in the United States, in Miami, at the age

of 13, with

my parents joining me months later, and dogs returning to be

a part of our lives.

Fast forward, forty years later, my three children, then young

adults, moved to their own places, not before close to 20 cats

had made their way to our home and had found refuge, love,

and a place to reign.

By 2012, I had also gotten myself into feeding a number of

street cats every night, that same year rescuing four mother

cats and their offspring, a total of 22 kittens and their

mothers.

They came to our home; 10 of the kittens adopted and 12

joining the other feline residents of our home that had now

officially become a shelter.

The number kept growing. Often, at Miami Dade Animal

Services, as I was having kitties spayed or neutered, I would

encounter situations of persons that had picked up cats or

kittens, brought them there, found no space, and ended with

me with the hope of finding them homes, something that

many times went unfulfilled and our number of residents

kept growing

Since all our cats had been vagabonds, we lovingly called

them “tramps” and I became “The Lady and Her Tramps”.

Desperately needing help, in 2019, I incorporated as

“PEOPLE FOR ANIMAL WELLNESS” A FLORIDA NON-

PROFIT CORPORATION.

With the help of God and of persons that God placed on my

way, I have helped hundreds of cats and dozens of dogs,

along with other animals.

-Alicia Dimitriou Founder of People for Animal Wellness Rescue