Animal Welfare Professionals

We just started our non-profit in January 2024.  We have had UNBELIEVEABLE success in the first four months of the year.  We are, however, finding that our services are being used by people who do not fall within our category of eligibility.

We were too vague when we started out with just saying, "anyone who is experiencing financial difficulties - whether that's permanent or temporary."  (Our aim was to attract low income individuals and also anyone who had a sudden job loss.

We provide free pet food and free spay/neuter services.  We are finding that people sign the form saying they fit the criteria but there's a ton of evidence they don't.

Normally we wouldn't care because the greater good is taking place - feeding an animal or sterilizing an animal again overpopulation.  However, currently it is just me and the other co-founder handling everything (along with a small number of volunteers helping here/there).  We're working 24/7 to run the programs, do the administrative work, track the finances, organize the inventory, write the grant proposals, and create and staff the fundraisers -- and we both have full time jobs doing other things.  We do all of this to raise money for these services to help the animals and the community.  We need a better system.

What types of eligibility are others who offer Pet Food Pantries or Spay and Neuter Services using?

#PetSupportServices*

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Karen Kirsch
Founder
Spayed and Aid
KY
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We don't evaluate individual people. We evaluate the whole community, find out which areas are the most under-served and in need of services, and then provide services to anyone who lives there.  It can be by zip code, neighborhood, an whole small town, etc.

While there will always be a few people who take advantage of free stuff, most people don't. People who can afford pet food and spay/neuter surgeries just go buy pet food and take their pets to their vet. They don't waste time hunting for freebies. We try not to make assumptions about who needs services and who doesn't, because it's impossible to say for sure from the bare minimum of information someone gives out or from what we see. 

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Maria Saucedo
GIS Analyst
Pets for Life at HSUS
Baltimore, MD
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I checked Pet fixers/ great river rescue here in Mn .  They have a list of criteria for eligibility  for the spay neuter low cast clinic. Your organzation needs to have some criteria to preserve those resources. People do take advantage. Our local food shelf does not provide pet food. We do not have an open food pantry per say. People can call and request a bag of food if they are short in a given month or payday. We have them sign a log. We discourage frequent flyers whom we suspect are playing us ( not judgmental) .99.9% of the time it is a one time assistance and folks are appreciative.

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Rochelle Hamp
Executive Director
Headwaters Animal Shelter
MN
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In Vermont, Pet Food is distributed via the Vermont Foodbank- It is a tremendous success and incredibly helpful and a solution that makes sense.  PAWSitive Pantry, VDART Animal Shelters and Meals On Wheels works to fill the gaps where needed but it is pretty minimal.

For s/n- using targeting is the best way to go for programs.  On May 18 the Community Cats podcast is offering a free webinar on targeting TNR:  https://www.communitycatspodcast.com/ which might be helpful...  

I have been helping fund programs in MA for targeted owned s/n in key communities and it is really helping keep the numbers down.   We pretty much feel like we are in maintenance mode in eastern MA.    

There is a lot of info at www.unitedspayalliance.org too

Thanks for creating this group- congratulations.

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Stacy LeBaron
Head Cat
The Community Cats Podcast
Warren VT
978-239-2090
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Hello Karen-

I completely agree with the necessity of preserving resources for low-income pet-owners. Persons living in poverty do not always have the means/resources as others in the community (with a higher socioeconomic status).  Rural, small nonprofits do not receive funding that national, urban, nonprofits do. Therefore, we have more critical choices to make. 
Our nonprofit is located in Southwest Virginia (Central Appalachia like you?).  In order to truly make an impact, we first assessed where the highest shelter intake was coming from based on the local shelter's intake data.  We then began to target our Pet Retention/Shelter Diversion services (spay/neuter, vet assistance, outreach) to those specific Census Tracts (interestingly the areas with highest poverty rate).  Our local shelter does not have an intake diversion plan...nor do they have the manpower to support one, unfortunately. 

By performing "targeted spay and neuter" and collecting constituent demographics (simply by asking whether or not the pet owner receives government services...i.e. SNAP, SSDI, etc) we can be better stewards. We do not usually have to ask to for "proof".
Targeted s/n is an evidence-based method of making an impact on population, not only for TNR, but also for community-owned pets. 

Keep up the great work.

Charlene Farthing

www.frcva.org
 

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Charlene Farthing
President
Friends of Russell County Animals
VA
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Karen,

We have a small pet food bank at our sanctuary. We are in a very rural area with many low income families. We do not evaluate the individuals. We do require they register and self-certify. We too are looking at a better way to determine eligibility. The idea is to help these families make ends meet but several have told us how they have "adopted" new animals since starting our program. I am not even sure how to respond to them. We currently have wording in our registration that says we can help up to three animals per household a month. I'm wondering if we need to limit the amount of consecutive months they can receive help as well. 

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Lisa Burn
Co-founder/VP
Farmhouse Animal & Nature Sanctuary
Myakka City, FL
https://farmhousesanctuary.org
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Have you asked them how/where they got the new animals? We track this in our program and noticed that only a tiny percentage were acquired from breeders, shelters, or otherwise purchased.

On average about 25% of pets were strays/found, which means people are helping pets who need help even if they might struggle to do it. Another 55% of pets came from neighbors/friends/family.  It's common for folks to take in pets for others who can no longer keep them. Neighbors who got evicted, people who were forced to move into housing where pets aren't allowed, their cousin went to jail, dad went into the nursing home, dog was now too strong for an older person to care for, daughter found a puppy on the street and two years later is going off to college and can't take it, a neighbor found yet another kitten and already has 5 cats and doesn't want anymore, etc.

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Maria Saucedo
GIS Analyst
Pets for Life at HSUS
Baltimore, MD
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2024 04:12 AM
From: Lisa Burns
Subject: Setting Eligibility Guidelines for Services

Karen,

We have a small pet food bank at our sanctuary. We are in a very rural area with many low income families. We do not evaluate the individuals. We do require they register and self-certify. We too are looking at a better way to determine eligibility. The idea is to help these families make ends meet but several have told us how they have "adopted" new animals since starting our program. I am not even sure how to respond to them. We currently have wording in our registration that says we can help up to three animals per household a month. I'm wondering if we need to limit the amount of consecutive months they can receive help as well. 

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Lisa Burn
Co-founder/VP
Farmhouse Animal & Nature Sanctuary
Myakka City, FL
https://farmhousesanctuary.org
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Maria,

No we don't but that is a good idea. I will start asking and keeping track as well. I bet we find the same results. I get it, our area shelters are over capacity and there are so many people struggling and needing to rehome their pets. The concern I have is that the idea of the food bank is to help them keep their pets at home and help reduce their financial struggles. Taking in new animals kind of defeats the purpose.   

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Lisa Burn
Co-founder/VP
Farmhouse Animal & Nature Sanctuary
Myakka City, FL
https://farmhousesanctuary.org
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2024 06:31 AM
From: Maria Saucedo
Subject: Setting Eligibility Guidelines for Services

Have you asked them how/where they got the new animals? We track this in our program and noticed that only a tiny percentage were acquired from breeders, shelters, or otherwise purchased.

On average about 25% of pets were strays/found, which means people are helping pets who need help even if they might struggle to do it. Another 55% of pets came from neighbors/friends/family.  It's common for folks to take in pets for others who can no longer keep them. Neighbors who got evicted, people who were forced to move into housing where pets aren't allowed, their cousin went to jail, dad went into the nursing home, dog was now too strong for an older person to care for, daughter found a puppy on the street and two years later is going off to college and can't take it, a neighbor found yet another kitten and already has 5 cats and doesn't want anymore, etc.

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Maria Saucedo
GIS Analyst
Pets for Life at HSUS
Baltimore, MD
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2024 04:12 AM
From: Lisa Burns
Subject: Setting Eligibility Guidelines for Services

Karen,

We have a small pet food bank at our sanctuary. We are in a very rural area with many low income families. We do not evaluate the individuals. We do require they register and self-certify. We too are looking at a better way to determine eligibility. The idea is to help these families make ends meet but several have told us how they have "adopted" new animals since starting our program. I am not even sure how to respond to them. We currently have wording in our registration that says we can help up to three animals per household a month. I'm wondering if we need to limit the amount of consecutive months they can receive help as well. 

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Lisa Burn
Co-founder/VP
Farmhouse Animal & Nature Sanctuary
Myakka City, FL
https://farmhousesanctuary.org

If the pets weren't taken in by members of the community, they would all end up in those overcapacity shelters though. There's nowhere else for them to go. If that  means giving  out more free food to keep more pets in their homes, I think that's a good result! :)

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Maria Saucedo
GIS Analyst
Pets for Life at HSUS
Baltimore, MD
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-04-2024 04:08 AM
From: Lisa Burns
Subject: Setting Eligibility Guidelines for Services

Maria,

No we don't but that is a good idea. I will start asking and keeping track as well. I bet we find the same results. I get it, our area shelters are over capacity and there are so many people struggling and needing to rehome their pets. The concern I have is that the idea of the food bank is to help them keep their pets at home and help reduce their financial struggles. Taking in new animals kind of defeats the purpose.   

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Lisa Burn
Co-founder/VP
Farmhouse Animal & Nature Sanctuary
Myakka City, FL
https://farmhousesanctuary.org
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2024 06:31 AM
From: Maria Saucedo
Subject: Setting Eligibility Guidelines for Services

Have you asked them how/where they got the new animals? We track this in our program and noticed that only a tiny percentage were acquired from breeders, shelters, or otherwise purchased.

On average about 25% of pets were strays/found, which means people are helping pets who need help even if they might struggle to do it. Another 55% of pets came from neighbors/friends/family.  It's common for folks to take in pets for others who can no longer keep them. Neighbors who got evicted, people who were forced to move into housing where pets aren't allowed, their cousin went to jail, dad went into the nursing home, dog was now too strong for an older person to care for, daughter found a puppy on the street and two years later is going off to college and can't take it, a neighbor found yet another kitten and already has 5 cats and doesn't want anymore, etc.

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Maria Saucedo
GIS Analyst
Pets for Life at HSUS
Baltimore, MD


Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2024 04:12 AM
From: Lisa Burns
Subject: Setting Eligibility Guidelines for Services

Karen,

We have a small pet food bank at our sanctuary. We are in a very rural area with many low income families. We do not evaluate the individuals. We do require they register and self-certify. We too are looking at a better way to determine eligibility. The idea is to help these families make ends meet but several have told us how they have "adopted" new animals since starting our program. I am not even sure how to respond to them. We currently have wording in our registration that says we can help up to three animals per household a month. I'm wondering if we need to limit the amount of consecutive months they can receive help as well. 

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Lisa Burn
Co-founder/VP
Farmhouse Animal & Nature Sanctuary
Myakka City, FL
https://farmhousesanctuary.org

Hello Karen,

We also have guidelines to abide by as well as eligibility requirements. Our program is only for cat and dog food. We provide spay and neuter services at our low cost veterinary clinic and the eligibility requirements are not as low. Read here to learn about our Pet Pantry.

For the animals,

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Michelle Schutz
Humane Education Manager
Virginia Beach SPCA
VA
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