Tinley Park family raises $10K in donations for P.A.W.S. through holiday decorations

TINLEY PARK, Ill. - A popular south suburban home lights display is now a holiday memory, but it is still bringing joy to a worthy cause.

The Hirsch Christmas Lights of Tinley Park raised money during the holidays and the family presented P.A.W.S. Tinley Park Animal Shelter a check for $10,000.

It comes a week after the shelter sustained a fire that forced the evacuation of 100 cats and dogs from the shelter.  The animals were checked out by veterinarians at Midwest Animal Hospital. 

The five-figure donation will go toward the animal's medical bills. 

"This is amazing. We can’t thank you enough for this, for the community, everybody who donated, who came out to see the lights. [The Hirsch family] won the lights display contest but we got the real prize here …. This is going to come in really handy with all the vet bills and helping with the fosters," P.A.W.S. board member Rae Ann Perry said.

Chris Hirsch, his wife, Jori, and their sons, Joshua and Kyle, constructed a holiday lights display that won a local competition last month. They started collecting donations for P.A.W.S Tinley Park, which generated a lot of interest.

"The turnout was phenomenal. The Village of Tinley Park helped us with the traffic control. It’s just going to get bigger from here, and it’s going to be exciting," Chris Hirsch said.

Mayor Michael Glotz was on-hand for the presentation of a ceremonial check. 

The shelter will be closed for about a month while repairs are made. 

Volunteer Nancy Mulvihill said the shelter is able to find homes for the cats and dogs by arranging for potential pet owners to meet with the pets being fostered by volunteers. 

"We have 91 animals, so we can’t rescue any more right now, so if people could start adopting, that would be really helpful and we really appreciate the community support as always, for all the donations they’re giving us," Mulvihill said.