(Rockwall) July 28, 2013 – Sean and Shannon Lewis had already done more than their fair share. They adopted Delilah, the beautiful but fearful German Shepherd who lost a leg due to a birth defect. (Read Delilah’s story at blueribbonnews.com/2013/06/rockwall-pets-beauty-queen-gets-fairy-tale-ending.) After they changed her name to Ava, the Lewis family suffered through a second puppyhood.

Perhaps due to her traumatic upbringing, Ava brought a sense of ecstatic joy to the Lewis home. She expressed that happiness by chewing up shoes and cooking mitts and by pulling tasty treats off the kitchen counter.

Sean and Shannon happily weathered those puppy-like outbursts, and took Ava on her first adventures, like a romp around the Rockwall Dog Park. In short, they gave Ava the home of her dreams.

But Sean and Shannon didn’t stop there. Since they were so busy around the time of their wedding a couple of months earlier, they never had a wedding reception. They promised their friends that a celebratory party was in the making. But they were preparing a big surprise.

Once the reception was scheduled, Sean and Shannon forbid their friends and family from bringing wedding presents. Instead, they encouraged their reception guests to bring food and supplies for the pets in the care of Rockwall Pets.

Rockwall Pets is a nonprofit rescue organization dedicated to ending the killing of healthy shelter pets nationwide. Shelter killing is the number one cause of death for healthy dogs and cats in the United States, according to the American Humane Association. Rockwall Pets rescues animals at risk of dying in area animal shelters, like Ava. The organization’s volunteers give the rescued pets full veterinary care and find them a permanent home.

Sean and Shannon brought an impressive bounty of gifts to Rockwall Pets volunteers on Sunday, July 21. Standing outside the Rockwall Petco, they presented huge piles of dog and cat food, kitty litter, dog toys and a sizable cash donation to Christina Arriaga, the organization’s rescue team leader. “That must have been some wedding reception,” exclaimed Ms. Arriaga.

Even though the volunteers were surprised and pleased to be receiving wedding presents, they lined up to get the greatest gift of all, an appreciative kiss from an obviously happy Ava.

Story and photos by Michael Kitkoski.