A girl from Plymouth has taken on a big challenge — raising $75,000 for a new family home that will double as her own bird rescue.
Nine-year-old Evlyn Lyons said her dream is owning her own exotic bird rescue and, with some help from her mom, Evlyn started up a donation page on Facebook.
“My foster home is growing bigger every day, and our home is just too small. If we had a bigger place, we can take in more birds,” Evlyn said. “I love being able to take care of birds, and saving their lives is important to me.”
The Citizens’ Voice first reported on Evlyn’s fostering activities and efforts to find forever homes for her feathered friends, as well as her brother Brian’s efforts to raise money for area first responders with his lemonade stand, in June.Bird cages housing 55 birds of varying types lined about a third of the downstairs walls of the family’s home.
“Right now, we rent a small single home, and every room downstairs is overtaken by birds, cages and supplies. Soon, we will be living outdoors so the birds can have the indoors, as Evlyn jokes so often,” her mother, Linda Uren, wrote on the donation page.
A family relative heard about Evlyn’s fostering for My House of Wings bird rescue in Nanticoke and her dream to start her own bird rescue, and offered to give her some property that he inherited, Uren explained.
“He wants to pass the land down to family and Evlyn’s rescue. We couldn’t be any more grateful for his kindness and generosity,” she said.
SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
A blue-throated macaw sits among other birds in Evlyn Lyons’ home in Plymouth.
But, even with the land donation, the family will have a lot of expenses to cover.
“There’s a trailer on the property that our grandparents once owned that will have to come down, as it’s in terribly bad shape. There’s trees to be cut down. There’s legal expenses,” Uren wrote.
The family would then need to find a modular home, or something similar, big enough “to add a large indoor bird sanctuary” as well as allow Evlyn to reside with her family, who also help work on her rescue, and have the room she needs to expand, Uren explained.
Uren said people travel “miles and miles” to surrender their birds into Evlyn’s care or to adopt a bird, and her daughter spends most of her free time feeding and watering her birds, scrubbing and painting cages, going out on the road and doing rescues and vetting birds that need help.
“This is her passion, and we 100% support her in every way we can,” Uren said. “But to build her dream at such a young age, we ask for your help. Anything you can give would be a blessing, and we would be so grateful.”
