Petfinder.com Foundation Receives $25,000 Grant
Thanks to the Animal Planet ROAR Campaign, the Petfinder.com Foundation received a $25,000 grant which we awarded to Petfinder.com Member, Animal-Lifeline. With these funds a mix of students and Professionals traveled to Braxton, Clay and Ritchie Counties in West Virginia to provide shelter repair, training, and finally the transport of approximately 35 adoptable dogs.
Working 12 hour days, from sun up to sun down, the volunteers, including Petfinder.com Foundation’s Program Assistant, Devon Lowry, got a tremendous amount of work accomplished. 
Ritchie County Humane Society experienced a fire in January and was in need of major reconstruction. The volunteers poured concrete and constructed a roof for four new kennels for the dogs, made chain link fencing for the kennels and planted trees and flowers for the memorial garden. The memorial garden was placed around the graves of the animals whose lives were lost in the January fire.
At Braxton County Humane Society the volunteers poured concrete for two new exercise runs for the dogs. The new runs will not only give the dogs an area to run and play but will also be used for extra kennel space in the case of an emergency. They also planted five evergreens to help block the new kennels from rain and snow.
As part of the rescue efforts, an educational program was conducted for the shelters. Among the educational presenters: an animal behaviorist, a veterinarian, a veterinarian technician, and an adoption and transportation specialist. The animal behaviorist taught the groups how to temperament screen dogs. The veterinarian discussed the importance of establishing shelter protocols regarding vaccinations and sterilization and the veterinarian technician on how to understand the basic nutritional needs of puppies and adult dogs. The adoption and transportation specialist taught the shelters how to use Petfinder.com to market their animals. Attendees were given a lot of information about grass-roots fundraising and everyone who attended left with crates, kennels, food, leashes and collars. 
While the student volunteers were busy building and reconstructing, the professional staff was busy temperament testing and choosing dogs for transport back to the Northeast. As a result, 25 animals are going to rescues and into homes. The majority of dogs, who were taken to Pennsylvania, are now listed on Petfinder.com. A lucky few of them found homes with student volunteers who decided to adopt them while working on the outreach trip!
To check out a video of the trip and see the profiles of the adoptable dogs, visit the Petfinder.com blog.
In Success Stories
- Housing for Horses
- The Virginia Beach SPCA
- Animal Friends Rescue Project
- Bloomingdale Regional Animal Shelter Society
- Felines Friends, Inc.
- Humane Society of Missouri
- The Humane Society of Southeast Texas
- Animal LIfeline
- Animal Relief Coalition for Haiti
Foundation in Action
- $1,000,000 in generator grants to over 500 shelters in 2009
- Over $300,000 in vaccination grants in 2008 and 2009
- Over $1,000,000.00 in Disaster Relief grant awards since 2003
- Disaster preparedness grants awarded in 2008:
$134,023 - Over $150,000 to shelters through our Sponsor a Pet program
- Over $350,000 for Hide, Perch & Go boxes for care and feeding in 2008/2009
Petfinder.com Foundation Photo Store
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