On the football field, Browns left tackle 
As part of Thomas and his wife Annie’s commitment to animals, they joined Q104’s Rebecca Wilde and Allan Fee as well as representatives from the APL at St. Bartholomew Elementary School in Middleburg Heights last Friday to thank the 400 students for raising nearly $1,750 dollars to help the animals. The students participated in Q104’s Pledge for Pets Radiothon and were the top Q Cash School.
During the school assembly, Thomas held a question-and-answer session with the students.
“It was really a lot of fun,” said Thomas. “I like going to school assemblies, seeing the energy of the little kids and seeing all the little Browns fans that’ll be in the Stadium hopefully in the fall.”
The Thomas’s both sponsored the Q Cash School Program and Annie also serves as a Cat Enrichment Volunteer with the Cleveland APL.
While Thomas enjoyed spending time with the students and signing a few autographs after the assembly, his help was greatly appreciated by those hosting the event.
“It is so absolutely incredible to have both he and his wife Annie involved because, for lack of a better word, it gives it credibility,” said Wilde, the co-host of Q104’s morning show. “There are certain people that may look at animals and the APL sort of as an afterthought. Now, all of a sudden, some people like Joe and Annie Thomas are involved and they want to do it. I am completely grateful for them getting involved. It means the world to me.”
“We care for about 15,000 animals a year and we do it all through donations,” said Judy Hunter, Director of Development for the Cleveland APL. “Rebecca Wilde and Allan Fee from Q104, we’ve had their support of this radiothon for five years and then, this year, we were lucky enough to have Joe and Annie Thomas involved and it’s just amazing. To have a school raise $1,700 is just awesome.”
Over the course of the two-day, 18-hour event, more than $140,000 was raised for the Cleveland APL.
“It is my ultimate passion,” Wilde said of helping animals. “I have two cats and a dog and they are my children. They’re my furry little kids and I don’t think I could care one ounce more for them if they were human. They’re my world and I feel someone has to help look out for these homeless animals. Along with the APL, I hope to do my absolute best in helping them.
“To know that these young kids want to help animals on their own, to pick up the cause without someone pestering them to do it means everything and they are the future,” she added.
The Cleveland APL provides lifesaving services, including spay/neuter, to 15,000 animals each year. Located in the Tremont District, the Cleveland Animal Protective League is the largest nonprofit humane society in Northeast Ohio and relies solely on donations to fulfill its mission of fostering compassion and ending animal suffering through adoptions, cruelty investigations, spay/neuter, and education.
For more information on how to help the Cleveland APL, visit www.theapl.org.
