{"id":86982,"date":"2025-12-17T18:44:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T18:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/86982\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T18:44:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T18:44:11","slug":"operation-cold-noses-collects-blankets-items-for-shelter-animals-in-st-pete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/86982\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation Cold Noses Collects Blankets, Items For Shelter Animals In St. Pete"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, FL \u2014 Ever since she was a child, Jennifer Jones loved animals. And as she got older, as a teenager living in St. Pete\u2019s Old Northeast neighborhood, she\u2019d happily care for her neighbors\u2019 pets. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy first job wasn\u2019t even a job \u2026 I had keys to everybody\u2019s house; I had one of those janitor key rings,\u201d she told Patch. \u201cI\u2019d ask people, \u2018You going to work? I\u2019ll come walk your dog.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, as a realtor with the Jennifer Thayer Group, which recently joined real estate firm Michael Saunders & Company as it expands into St. Petersburg, Jones continues to have a big heart for animals by collecting blankets and other supplies for rescue animals. <\/p>\n

Through their grassroots initiative Operation Cold Noses<\/a>, she and her boyfriend, Alex Kaczmarski, a home inspector with Quigley Inspection Services, accept these donated items for no-kill shelters in the area every year from November into early January. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a personal mission for the couple, who have two rescue dogs together \u2014 Doug, a 13-year-old pitbull mix and Eli, an 8-pound Shih Tzu. <\/p>\n

Jones knows how much her pups hate the cold. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they have a shelter \u2026 and all the blankets and snuggles,\u201d she said. \u201cBut there are so many without.\u201d<\/p>\n

At first, they simply collected items from family and friends \u2014 mostly used linens, towels, and blankets, though they\u2019d sometimes accept food, treats, and other items.<\/p>\n

\u201cYear after year it grew a little bit more and a little bit more,\u201d Jones said. \u201cNow this little homegrown thing we started is a lot bigger than us. It\u2019s bigger than what we ever thought it would be to the point where we need storage units and drop-off facilities.”<\/p>\n

She added, “Our businesses both really propelled this little thing.”<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s drop-off locations include: <\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s Book World, 535 16th Street N., St. PetersburgFidelity National Title, 3401 4th Street N., St. PetersburgAlways Dependable Home Health Care, 5503 38th Ave. N., St. PetersburgSpecs Eyecare Tyrone, 1903 Tyrone Blvd., St. PetersburgVapor Road Botanical Tea & Vape Lounge, 3334 Tyrone Blvd., St. Petersburg Ten Pin Lanes, 1453 Pasadena Ave. S., South Pasadena<\/p>\n

In mid-January, the couple divides the donations between the Humane Society of Pinellas, Pinellas County Animal Services, PetPal Animal Shelter and Protecting Cause for Life, a partner of CASA. <\/p>\n

Using laundry baskets \u2014 which they also need donated to the cause \u2014 they use the collected items to create 50 to 100 gift baskets, each for a different animal. <\/p>\n

All donated food gets put into storage bags and given to Hank\u2019s Bark Box.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the shelters have an influx of food,\u201d Jones said. <\/p>\n

Anyone interested in participating in Operation Cold Noses should email her at thayerteam1@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more drop-off locations we have, the more baskets we have, then the more happy, warm animals we have,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

See Also: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, FL \u2014 Ever since she was a child, Jennifer Jones loved animals. And as she got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-86982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}