Animal shelter honors local Fern volunteers with latest puppy intake

Cheatham County Animal Control (CCAC) honored the core group of South Cheatham’s Winter Storm Fern volunteers by naming its latest puppy litter after seven community members who were organizing, cooking and chainsawing for their neighbors in need. 

Meet Whitney, Bubba, Jeremy, Amy, Chrisitina, Scott and Deb. CCAC dubbed the 6-month-old mixed breed puppies as “ice storm survivors” after they were found in the midst of Winter Storm Fern without food, shelter or water. 

“In the aftermath of the recent ice storm, while so many in our community were stepping up to clear roads, deliver meals, and help neighbors without power, seven little lives were waiting in an outdoor pen frozen shut,” CCAC wrote on Facebook. “Thankfully, they’re safe now – and inspired by the incredible humans who showed up for others, this litter has been named after some of those local helpers from the south part of the county.” 

Winter Storm Fern left a lasting impact on South Cheatham County, with thousands of residents enduring prolonged power outages during bitterly cold temperatures, hazardous road conditions and widespread disruption for nearly two weeks. Power was restored to the final home in Kingston Springs on Jan. 31 – seven days after it first went out. Pegram’s power was fully restored 14 days later on Feb. 7. 

Whitney Gorbett is a local organizer in Kingston Springs who used her prior crisis management experience during Hurricane Helene to quickly organize supply needs and chainsaw groups. Public Works Director Bubba Parker, often dubbed Kingston Springs’ “local hero,” was out nearly every hour of every day clearing the roads. Kingston Springs Police Department Sergeant and Fire Chief, Jeremy Vaughan, helped lead rescue missions through the town’s hardest hit areas and escort families to warming shelters. 

Amy Davis-Bruce is the owner of local restaurant SKYKING PIZZA and its sister coffee shop, Turnbull Provisions. She quickly jumped into action, organizing a soup kitchen that served nearly 300 free, hot meals to community members and gave out free pizzas to first responders and volunteers. Deb Paquette, owner and chef of several Nashville restaurants, helped Davis-Bruce with the three-day soup kitchen. Christina Caccamo, owner of Grounded Roots inside of Jollifrogs, was not scared of a chainsaw, hopping in alongside Scott Nelson to clear roadways of debris and deliver hot meals to neighbors without power and Dickson Electric Service workers. 

All seven of the ice storm puppies found foster homes within 24 hours of CCAC’s call for help.