ALIVE Rescue: KONG Toys Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

ALIVE Rescue was very grateful to recently receive the KONG donation through the Petfinder Foundation. We plan on using the donated KONGs in our Community Pet Day program event in October. This program promotes pet best practices in high-need communities in the Chicago area and supports families by giving them access to spay/neuter appointments, vaccines, microchipping, and other pet wellness tools such as KONGs and leashes. As Chicago's shelter system is extremely overtaxed, our mission is to decrease the euthanasia rate. We do this primarily by rescuing dogs from local shelters. Last year, we expanded reach by teaming up with two other community organizations to create Community Pet Days, which aim to keep pets happy and healthy in the home and decrease owner surrenders in our shelter system.

As mentioned, the shelter system in Chicago has many challenges. Decreasing owner surrenders is a direct way that the euthanasia rate can be lowered. Our Community Pet Day program educates community members about the importance of spaying and neutering, microchipping, and ways to keep their pets happy and healthy. 35% of animals in our first CPD in 2014 had never been to a veterinarian, which demonstrates the need for education and awareness-building. This grant will help our community event be successful and support our mission.

How many pets did this grant help?

We plan to help 30+ pets with the grant during our October Community Pet Day.

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Over 120 animals received support during this past Community Pet Day. We hope to meet or exceed this goal during our fall CPD. Attached are photos from our June 2015 event.