Project POOCH, Inc.: Orvis Dog Enrichment Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The generous $1,000 Orvis Operational Grant received through the Petfinder Foundation enabled us to increase our community outreach through dog-adoption events. Thanks to this support, we were able to pay for staff to transport available dogs to two adoption events in April: in Lake Oswego and Clackamas; and two adoption events in May in Raleigh Hills and Sherwood – all towns in the surrounding Portland metro area.
Our kennel is unique in that it is located in a youth correctional facility. This facility is about an hour away from the Portland metro area. What this means is our ability to gain exposure for our available dogs can be limited. One of the best ways for our dogs to find new homes is to be seen by the public and for the public to have a greater awareness about our program and available dogs.
By providing funding that allowed us to participate in more adoption events, we were able to extend our reach farther into the Portland metro area than we otherwise would have had been able to afford.
How many pets did this grant help?
We take in and care for about 12 dogs at any given time. Through adoption events, dogs like Toby and Luna found, after waiting quite a while, their forever homes. For each dog adopted, space is made for another dog who might otherwise be euthanized at another shelter. All of our dogs come from area shelters where they have been waiting a while to find their forever homes, or they just need the extra attention and training our program provides.
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
We’d like to share Luna’s story. Luna is a special girl and she needed just the right home. Although she is beautiful and sweet, she had some specific needs that only the right home and human could provide. Luna is a Husky. She needed a person who understood her breed. She also needed a home without small animals or female dogs. So we set out to get her and her story out into the community. She was always a big hit! We knew she would be as she’s just gorgeous and loves meeting people. Luna attended both of the adoption events in April and generated a ton of interest. I think people couldn’t believe such a beautiful and well-mannered dog could come from a rescue. By having the funding from the Orvis Operational Grant through the Petfinder Foundation, we were able to bring our dogs out into the community more often so people could interact with them more easily. This in turn helped dispel some of the negative myths people have about shelter/rescue dogs.
We’re thrilled to report that, as a result of this additional exposure, Luna found her forever and perfect home. Please enjoy the photos we uploaded of Luna with her new Husky brother, Odin. We think waiting for the right home was the right decision. The Orvis Operational Grant made this possible by allowing us to continue providing Luna and all our dogs the care and training they need and deserve, and by allowing us to staff adoption events out in the community where our dogs get the exposure they need to find their forever homes.
