News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
A new grant will allow The Putnam County Humane Society to keep its subsidy program going for low-income pet parents.
Director Jennifer Farley said a $36,000 grant from PetSmart Charities will allow a partnership with Copeland Veterinary Hospital to continue. Farley said without this partnership, pets that had underlying issues like heart worms, would have limited options because of costs.
“These people could not afford to have it resolved, to have it fixed,” Farley said. “Now, we have the option to say, ‘hey, your animal has a problem, we are here and we’re going to help you fix it,’ money should not be a barrier to getting the animals the care that they need.”
Farley said grants like this have been a blessing, during a year where fundraising has been wiped out by the pandemic. Farley said this partnership provides a low-cost option for customers that cannot afford to treat their animals at a veterinary.
‘We have basically lost our ability to fund raise due to the pandemic,” Farley said. “We typically have multiple fundraisers a year, we do a lot of lobby sales, of little items for pets, our treat bags or magnets or cat toys, biscuits, things like that. We’ve lost all of that fundraising revenue this year.”
Farley said while they are taking a funding hit, the need is growing for assistance towards low-income pet owners. She said being able to keep pets at home, is a main goal of the partnership with Copeland.
“It’s something we’ve wanted to implement and felt like we needed to implement, but we needed the financial resources to do that,” Farley said. “I’ve been working with Dr. Copeland’s office for the last year to come up with some ideas and payment options and things like that for our clients that we refer. I think we’ve finally come to a decision on everything, the grant was approved, we’re all very happy.”
Farley said they still have options for those in need of spay and neutering. This provides an option for pets diagnosed with something beyond the Putnam County Humane Society’s Clinics capabilities.
