Paws Crossed Animal Rescue, Inc.: REDI Training Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
From the beginning, when we originally applied for the grant for the REDI classes, while taking the course online and also applying for a life-changing and -saving grant that we were invited to apply for, we continue to find ourselves returning over and over again to your description of “when everyone who can care for a pet is able to adopt, regardless of their age, race, ethnicity, or income, more pets will find loving homes.”
This is our expected result that will continue to grow each year as we break down barriers. We have always prided ourselves on our vision statement: "We believe in always working to create a better world for pets and for people as a unified community!" and finds it aligns with your description perfectly.
The important thing we took away from our training, and one that we have written about in our follow-up grant application, was that, through this process of increasing REDI throughout Paws Crossed (or any organization for that matter), change does not happen overnight. Paws Crossed is invested in making changes each and every day. In the last few weeks since we have all completed the course, we have begun some completely new initiatives and also instilled new aspects to our current programming, while still brainstorming many more.
Here are a few that stand out:
(1) The addition of a Spanish Language Adoption Application has been discussed in the past. This class moved the process along and that application is now available.
(2) Senior for Senior Program: While this program has been in place officially since 2021, we are now looking for better ways to promote it and educate our staff (and beyond) on the positive benefits that can happen for the pets and the people who love them when you adopt to a senior.
(3) Community Kibble Program: A program that has been in place since 2019 and helps those who cannot afford food and supplies for their pets. In 2021 alone, during all of the additional challenges that Covid unloaded on people, we shared more than 25,000 lbs. of food, treats, and litter, as well as other pet supplies, with our community. We work with the local food bank, Feeding Westchester, which donates thousands of pounds to this program yearly. We are now going to the source and have added a suggestion box to the container asking people for their ideas on how we can improve this program that they themselves are using.
How many pets did this grant help?
2,500
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Please meet handsome Bingo! This dapper gentleman came to us as a senior (13 years old) when his owner died during Covid and there were no friends or family to take him in.
Bingo is a fan favorite of staff and volunteers! We recently celebrated Bingo’s 14th birthday in style. He loves food! Look at his cheeky face with his birthday cake! Together, we “Make Our House Their Home Until They Find Their Very Own.”
Bingo is still looking for his forever home. There is nothing like the love of a senior. Bingo is posted on Petfinder here.
Thank you so much for this tremendous opportunity. We are very grateful to be able to attend the course and to also apply for the lifesaving grant. Please feel free to reach out to me with any and all questions. THANK YOU!
