Animal shelter helps veterans care for pets

Jun. 8—DANVILLE — The cats and dogs seemed a little anxious at Tuesday's pet shot clinic at Cannon Place on the Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care Campus in Danville.

Some owners said their pets were excited about seeing so many people and other animals there for the clinic in Cannon Place'sCommunity Room.

The Vermilion County Animal Shelter provided the clinic at the housing complex for veterans and Vermilion County residents.

According to Melissa Taylor, outreach services coordinator at Cannon Place, "we found that many of our residents were struggling to catch their pets up with vaccines etc. after a prolonged period of (COVID-19) shut downs; and knowing that there may be many others in the same situation we wanted to offer our Community Room to host a clinic to help pet owners help their pets."

Army veteran Derek Vanzandt, with his dog Harley, said he and his wife's dog and cat are a big part of the family.

Harley has helped him through tough times, Vanzandt said.

They were homeless for a while.

Vanzandt is thankful for Cannon Place, too.

"We finally have a home here," he said about living in Cannon Place for six years.

It was a godsend, he said.

Cannon Place was dedicated in April 2017. It has 65 units of permanent supportive housing, including accessible and adaptable one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, for homeless and at-risk veterans and their families. The project was built by Mercy Housing Lakefront. VA Illiana was one of 34 VA facilities to have enhanced-use leases for projects to house homeless veterans.

It's currently accepting applications.

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