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Our Unexpected Visitor: Leonor the Pigeon!

Sometimes at Community Initiatives, we have the opportunity to support our projects in unexpected ways. One such story happened last month, and it so fun and heartwarming, we just have to share it with our community. As many projects use our mailing address, we sometimes get unexpected visitors. Leonor showed up and needed a helping hand with her pet pigeon!

Palomacy is a fiscally sponsored project that rescues, fosters, and provides homes to domestic (unreleasable) pigeons in need. Since 2007, Palomacy has rescued over 600 birds! Leonor rescued her pigeon a year ago, but she had to give her up when her landlord let her know that pets were not allowed. This is unfortunate because Palomacy has taught our team that pigeons make great apartment pets because they are very clean and quiet.

Leonor brought her beloved pigeon to our 7th floor suite in hopes of finding a new home for her friend. She knew that going to a shelter would likely result in euthanasia, and she just couldn’t bear the thought.

As you can imagine, Community Initiatives is not used to this kind of visitor! As we sat down with Leonor to work on a solution, her feathered friend decided to help herself to a self-guided tour of our office swooping over the heads of staff before finding a safe landing spot! Our team was a bit startled by the unannounced aerial visitor, but we ultimately had a good laugh.

Amanda Scheper, Palomacy’s Program Specialist, happens to be a pigeon lover herself, and took the bird home for the evening until she could connect with the project director for a safe transfer. The bird is now with one of Palomacy’s dedicated foster families while looking for her forever home. Ultimately, Palomacy decided to name the bird Leonor in honor of her loving former owner who went the extra mile to make sure her friend was in safe hands.

Just last week, a volunteer brought Leonor (the bird) back to the office so that her former family could check in on her. We were so happy to provide Leonor (the person) with a final goodbye visit to her dear feathered friend. Having worked closely with Palomacy for years, we are confident the story will have a happy ending.

Who knew our Pine Street office would be a safe haven for domestic pigeons? It may have been an unexpected interaction, but it reminded us of the interesting and meaningful work our projects do.

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