Parsippany Firm Raises $3K for Animal Shelter

A holiday fundraiser at the Parsippany branch of New York Life Investment Management resulted in $3,000 that will help cats and dogs served by Noah’s Ark Animal Welfare Shelter in Ledgewood.

As part of a corporate-wide effort called Your Choice Giving Campaign, employees of the firm based at 169 Lackawanna Ave., were given an opportunity to donate $15 to the shelter for the privilege to wear jeans to work on six consecutive Fridays.

The Jeans Friday effort, the brainchild of company paralegal Crystal Corpus,  ran from Oct 10 through Nov. 18 and netted $3,000. Noah's Ark Executive Director Todd Cramer said the money raised will pay for veterinarian fees to cover up to 30 animals.

Cramer had nothing but praise for Corpus.

"She just had this idea and went ahead and did it, and that’s more [money raised] than some of our other fundraisers we would do ourselves,” Cramer said.

The shelter houses an average between 50 and 70 animals and spends about $70,000 annually spaying and neutering. The shelter, which was founded in 1966, can house 39 cats “comfortably" and 26 dogs, according to Cramer.

Corpus said she came up with the Jeans Friday idea after going to Old Succasunny Days, a street fair in Roxbury, and picking up a business card from the animal shelter’s booth. A self-described dog lover, she has an Azores kennel dog, a stray found at a factory in Bronx, N.Y., and a Pomeranian.

The paralegal led the campaign with assistance from fellow New York Life Investment Management employee James Alexis.