Pittsville Native Carrie Gillaspie to Appear on Hallmark Channel

Gillaspie Shares Importance of Spaying and Neutering on National Cat Day

Pittsville native Carrie Lippert Gillaspie is appearing on Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family program this morning, October 29, to talk about her local cat clinics. The program begins at 9:00am CST and is part of a special segment in honor of National Cat Day. (Watch it here.)

“This past January I went to Los Angeles and through a friend met one of their producers. We stayed in touch and she heard about my sterilization clinics for barn cats via my social media,” said Gillaspie. “The Hallmark Channel is super involved and supportive of animal welfare and pet adoption so she reached out saying she thought what I was doing was amazing and would be a great story for their morning show to celebrate National Cat Day!”

An animal lover and advocate, Gillaspie was excited to share how she started her local clinics.

“They really just asked me about how I got the idea to start my clinics, and what the response has been like from the community. You’ll have to watch the interview for the rest BUT I tell the story of one special feral cat that claimed me as his owner and inspired me to help other cats,” she said.

Having made a career in media as a TV interviewer, active lifestyle blogger, and a podcast host, Gillaspie enjoyed the opportunity to share her message with a national audience.

“It was a ton of fun, truly! Everyone there, from the producers to the talent was so kind and fun to work worth,” she said. “To know that these clinics that I dreamed up about a year and a half ago are now receiving national coverage and media attention is such a testament to the fact that it really doesn’t matter where you start. If you have passion and are dedicated to making something happen it can really sprout legs and take off from there.”

For Gillaspie, her goal in sharing her message was really to drive home the importance of spaying and neutering.

“My entire goal in this from the get go was to help those in my community who desperately need this service, but also to educate on the importance of spaying and neutering. It is the only effective and humane way to reduce the number of homeless pets in our community. Not to mention, sterilized pets live longer and healthier lives than those that are left intact,” she said. “It’s truly the best thing you can do for your pets.”

She added that anyone can make a difference.

“If there’s a problem in your community, be a part of the solution! This all started with me just having the idea that maybe some of my neighbors might want a service to get their barn cats sterilized,” she said. “Since that small idea, I’ve helped facilitate fixing nearly 500 cats in only 1 year. It all started with seeing a problem in my community and coming up with a way to help.”

OnFocus will share the link to Carrie’s interview after it is posted online, here! You can contact Carrie here. UPDATE: Watch the video here! 

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