Crestwood Animal Shelter: Beggin' Pet Parade Grant Report

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

The Crestwood Animal Shelter is operated by the volunteers of Friends of Animal Control and Rescue (FOACAR). Formerly Crestwood Animal Control, the shelter is now run independently of the City of Crestwood, completely by volunteers. In late 2013, the city wanted to close the shelter in order to save the expense of an Animal Control Officer. The volunteers were not going to let that happen and went before the city, asking to run the shelter on their own. After much back and forth, permission was granted in early 2014. The tenacity of the volunteers earned the shelter the nickname “The Little Shelter That Could.”

The Crestwood Animal Shelter used the $780 grant towards our veterinary bills this summer, which were $683.63 in July and $334.51 in August. Vet care is our largest expense, so having just over 75% of our vet care covered by the grant was tremendous. July was a particularly expensive month for us because we were caring for a litter of motherless kittens as well as a new mama cat and her litter. All eight kittens were adopted and are in happy homes.

How many pets did this grant help?

1+

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

This is a photo of Summer. It was this photo that captured the attention of an adopter on Petfinder. When the family came to meet her, they also fell in love with Yogi, another shelter dog, and adopted them both. Without the exposure from Petfinder, Summer and Yogi would have had a harder time getting the attention of their forever family.