Sometimes, if you ask, you will receive – and sometimes you get to receive even when you didn’t ask.
Guilford County Animal Services never applied for a $10,000 grant from the California-based Maddie’s Fund, but the fund is kindly handing that money over so that the shelter can expand Animal Services’ outreach programs offered via the shelter’s mobile unit.
The unit will bring directly to the community offerings such as free one-year rabies vaccines, pet food and pet supplies to the needy, and microchip vouchers so Animal Services can identify the owners of lost dogs – such as the one seen in the poster above.
(If anyone has seen that dog, apparently lost in the Irving Park area of Greensboro, please call the number, 336-929-5044 and notify the owner.)
According to Animal Services officials, the work of the mobile unit also helps keep the county department “visible in our community as we work on keeping pets and families together, and out of the shelter.”
Education about good pet ownership practices is another service the unit provides when it rolls out to different parts of the county.
According to county documentation related to the acceptance of the money, the funds will “go toward enhancing our current community outreach programs.”
For instance: “Our Mobile Pet Assistance Clinic is where we provide pet food for the community and give free one year rabies vaccinations. We provide pet identification tags to reunite lost pets with owners, preventing them from coming into the shelter.”
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners is set to officially accept the funding, on behalf of Animal Services Director Jorge Ortega, at the board’s Thursday, June 6 meeting.
Maddie’s Fund is a West Coast family animal foundation established in 1994 by a husband-and-wife team after the death of their inspirational dog, Maddie. In Maddie’s Fund’s three decades of existence, the fund has awarded about $250 million in grants for saving animals’ lives and making those lives better.
Maddie’s Fund also invests resources in programs that help keep pets and people together and that create “a safety net of care for animals in need.”
This is great. We still need reliable funding for spay/neuter to stop the overpopulation that is overwhelming the shelter. It is way cheaper to fix one animal than to house and eventually kill a litter. And it’s our tax money that goes to kill so many.
thanks for reminding us to donate from our side.