Local Woman Offers Help
When Hurricane Ida hit the Villalobos Rescue Center in Louisiana, local Union City Ohio resident and councilwoman, Chiane Tedrow wanted to try and help them out.
Most well-known from the Animal Planet reality television series Pit Bulls & Parolees, the Villalobos Rescue Center (VRC) focuses on rescuing dogs, specifically pit-bull dogs and providing employment for parolees.
Starting in California in the 90’s, the VRC relocated to Louisiana in 2011 and has evolved in to an all breed rescue with the main focus still being on pit-bulls. Adopting dogs all over the continental United States, the center has an annual budget of $4 million and adopts out 40 to 50 dogs per month.
Tia Marie Jones, VRC founder, states their mission is twofold: to combat misconceptions about pit-bulls and other similar dogs (often referred to as “bully breeds”), and to provide employment and a stable transition for recent parolees who are trying to return to society.
The reality show Pit Bulls & Parolees first aired in October 2009 and depicts the day-to-day operations at the Villalobos Rescue Center. Episodes generally feature several stories, and usually include both a dog rescue as well as an adoption.
When the second-most damaging and intense hurricane on record to strike the U.S. state of Louisiana, AKA Hurricane Ida, landed in August 2021, the Villalobos Rescue Center was faced with severe damage, power outages, and lack of clean water.
“When I saw their post from the damage they endured from Ida and thought I wish there were a way I could help. So, I messed around and came up with a logo. I wanted to send them 100 decals for them to sell and I emailed it asking what they thought.”, Tedrow stated.
Tedrow had just started designing a month before and the VRC logo was her first design other than doodling. The VRC was exited with the design and posted it to their Facebook page right away. Thousands of requests of the logo soon followed.
Tia Marie Jones herself called Tedrow to get permission to mass produce merchandise using the design Tedrow had made. “That’s the most famous person I have ever talked to.”, said Tedrow laughing.
When messaging with Tedrow, VRC stated, “We can’t thank you enough. It’s a ray of sunshine in a hard time.”
For more information on the Villalobos Rescue Center, visit their Facebook page or website.
And be sure to check out the show Pit Bulls & Parolees on Animal Planet.