This year three very worthy organizations received grants from the Raymond and Elizabeth Baumel and Abernathy Fund for Animal Welfare.
$2,000 for the Humane Society - Pictured L-R: Ellen Post, Foundation Grants Manager and Virginia Schlegel, Executive Director Humane Society of South Coastal Georgia.
$2,000 for Glynn County Animal Services - Pictured L-R: Tiffany Hill, Glynn County Animal Services Director and Ellen Post, Community Foundation Grants Manager.
$1,332 for Coastal Animal Rescue Society (CARS) - Pictured L-R: Ron Fleury, CARS, Paul White, Foundation President and CEO and Matha Grant also with CARS.
The Raymond and Elizabeth Baumel and Abernathy Fund for Animal Welfare annually provides for the care, feeding, medical attention and sheltering of stray and unwanted dogs. This is their story:
For forty years as owner of Sadye's, with locations first in downtown Brunswick and later on St. Simons Island, Raymond Baumel helped to advise and clothe local fashionable women. To them he was the arbiter of good taste, quiet elegance, and style. Many also fondly remember his wife Elizabeth "Billie" Cowen Baumel, with whom he traveled the world in the hunt for the perfect new styles and jewelry to bring back to the women of the Golden Isles. Also remembered was a succession of "Abernathy" Yorkshire Terriers - each one, in his time, a permanent fixture at Raymond's feet by his desk at the store. In Raymond's generosity, he always reached out to those who needed a hand up. He had a special place in his heart, however, for abandoned or abused dogs. When Raymond died he sought through his estate to provide for "dog" welfare here in coastal Georgia for generations to come. He established an endowed fund at the Communities of Coastal Georgia Foundation to do just that. Due to their forethought the Baumels have created a lasting legacy as well as a permanent income stream for the care and sheltering of stray and unwanted dogs.