Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Grieving Idaho parents organized a pet supplies donation drive in honor of their daughter.
- Kamari Alvarez, who loved animals, died in a tragic accident in May.
- The drive supported six local animal welfare organizations with $3,000 in supplies.
POCATELLO — Two parents have turned their grief into action by organizing a donation drive for a cause their daughter would have been "so excited" for.
Alex Alvarez and Maggie Bradley spent the days leading up to what would have been the fourth birthday of their daughter, Kamari Alvarez, gathering donations of pet care supplies for six local animal welfare organizations. On Friday, the parents met with the staff of Enhabit Home Health & Hospice, which facilitated the donations, and representatives of the benefitting organizations to drop off the final donation items.
Kamari, who was 3 years old, loved all kinds of animals, and would have been more excited for the donation drive than for her own birthday, her parents said.
"She would have wanted this (donation drive) more than anything. … She wouldn't have been able to sleep the night before. She would just have been awake, asking every second, 'Where are we going? Where are we going?' She would just have been so excited," Bradley said.
Kamari died on May 24 at Portneuf Medical Center, due to the injuries she received from a truck hitting her in a Costco parking lot. EastIdahoNews.com reported that she was on an outing with family that day, and before the tragic accident, they had gotten her favorite breakfast at McDonald's and gone toy shopping.
Alvarez and Bradley, who live in American Falls, said that their daughter's love of animals ran deep.
"Ever since the day that she was born, she's just been around puppies and cats, and she's just loved them," Bradley said. "She always thought of them as her best friend(s)."
Bradley recounted their experience adopting a cat from the Pocatello Animal Shelter, saying that Kamari kept looking at the animals for at least an hour, up until the shelter closed.
And when one of the family's dogs had puppies, Kamari would go outside every chance she got to spend time with them.
"We would fight her to get her inside, just to come eat or anything. And the second she was done, or like halfway done, she was gone. She'd run and go back outside," Bradley said.
For Alvarez and Bradley, their free time feels "empty" without Kamari.
"I had Kamari every day, every moment … and now, (especially) when my (older) daughter's not here, it just feels empty," Alvarez said.
"We went from one moment, every second of free time that we had was spent with her or doing something for her … and now without that, we just have so much free time, that it just doesn't feel right," Bradley said.
As months without Kamari passed, the parents decided the best way to honor their daughter's love of animals was the donation drive. They saw it as a way to say thank you to local animal welfare organizations, particularly to the Pocatello Animal Shelter, for the memories they made with their cat.
"My daughter … was so in love with the cat. They did everything together. At least she tried to — she tried to do everything with the cat," Bradley said.
In addition to the Pocatello Animal Shelter, the American Falls Animal Shelter, the Bannock Humane Society, Dustin' Time Rescue, Hope's Place Animal Rescue and Portneuf Animal Welfare Society all received donated animal supplies.
To coordinate the donation drive, the parents teamed up with Enhabit. According to Annique Dayley, volunteer coordinator with Enhabit, the total monetary value of the donated supplies Pocatello and American Falls likely comes out to around $3,000.
Arlen Walker, president of PAWS, told EastIdahoNews.com what kind of impact the donations have on their organization.
"I must get three calls a week from people who are in financial need of assistance to maintain their pets. … This will be a big help, because we've been really low on donations for a long time. So this will help a great deal," Walker said.
The parents hope to make this an annual donation drive and intend to stay partnered with Enhabit. As time has gone on, they've found that caring for animals brings them closer to their daughter.
"I have my moments when I'm out there feeding my animals and I (think about how) I wish she was with me, and it hurts. But I feel close to her, though. I almost feel like she's out there with me sometimes," Alvarez said.
