Animal Welfare Professionals

Hey everyone,
This past weekend our rescue hosted our Healthy Pets Event, we provided free rabies vaccines, distemper vaccines, microchipping, pet supplies, and spay/neuter vouchers to our communities pet owners that have limited access to affordable vet care.  This was the first one we have hosted since 2019, prior to the pandemic,  the turn out was good and we were able to engage with new pet owners, provided them with resources and answered general questions regarding pet health/care. We did get some resistance with our spay/neuter efforts, which is to be expected, and the microchipping the primary concern was if it would cause any lasting pain to the pet or have any long term affects. We expressed the pro's and con's of microchipping and most, if not all, opted to do it. 

For those who have hosted events like this, did you notice any new needs of your community that wasn't prevalent prior but that you may have noticed after hosting and gathering feedback?  Also how did you engage with other community centric organizations to help promote resources and information to the community?

Thank you
#CommunityPartnerships*
#PetSupportServices*

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Auriana Brown
Director of Client Services
LifeLine Animal Project
Atlanta, GA
404-490-1427

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice and
Pet Support Services Specialist
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A couple of things I noticed when we held our last event like this:

• We did block appointments (kind of like COVID vaccines where you were scheduled a 30 minute window) and had a lot of no shows. I think that reduced our impact and next time I think we need to not do appointments because the previous event was slammed and it was first-come first-serve.
• Our last event was at the shelter and previously we had gone offsite. I think at the shelter was less effective.
• A lot of people came for just one thing (like just a microchip or just a rabies shot) which surprised me. I would have thought people would have wanted everything.

I don't think we did enough to engage with other community orgs as you mention, so that is definitely something we need to do better next time around!

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Alexis Pugh
Director, Memphis Animal Services
www.memphisanimalservices.com

Organizational Management
& Pet Support Services Specialist
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Original Message:
Sent: 10-03-2022 11:42 AM
From: Auriana Brown
Subject: COMMUNITY OUTREACH EVENTS

Hey everyone,
This past weekend our rescue hosted our Healthy Pets Event, we provided free rabies vaccines, distemper vaccines, microchipping, pet supplies, and spay/neuter vouchers to our communities pet owners that have limited access to affordable vet care.  This was the first one we have hosted since 2019, prior to the pandemic,  the turn out was good and we were able to engage with new pet owners, provided them with resources and answered general questions regarding pet health/care. We did get some resistance with our spay/neuter efforts, which is to be expected, and the microchipping the primary concern was if it would cause any lasting pain to the pet or have any long term affects. We expressed the pro's and con's of microchipping and most, if not all, opted to do it. 

For those who have hosted events like this, did you notice any new needs of your community that wasn't prevalent prior but that you may have noticed after hosting and gathering feedback?  Also how did you engage with other community centric organizations to help promote resources and information to the community?

Thank you
#CommunityPartnerships*
#PetSupportServices*

------------------------------
Auriana Brown
Director of Client Services
LifeLine Animal Project
Atlanta, GA
404-490-1427

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice and
Pet Support Services Specialist
------------------------------