Giving Tuesday 2022: $2,000 CHALLENGE MATCH

Giving Tuesday 2022: $2,000 Challenge Match

Helping animals and community members in need: Our Public Assist Program

Today, with the help of matchmakers Bob and Sharon O'Brien, we would like to tell you about this keystone program of the SPCA.

Chapter One.

Meet Joe Hoffer and Lee Consolo, SPCA Animal Control Officers

These two cheerful, yet serious and compassionate humane officers are the front-facing staff who facilitate the entry of publicly-owned animals into our Public Assistance program. 

The SPCA Public Assistance program is designed to help people--and their pets--when they are in a crisis situation and have no one to care for their animals.  Hospitalizations, eviction, domestic violence, relationship disintegration, fire, flood, incarceration, incapacitation and plenty more.  The list of the woes is long and varied that can overcome us as human beings. 

And, since we help the animals who cannot help themselves, we step in to provide housing and medical care while they are with us.

We partner--and work closely--with Ithaca Housing, St. John's Community Services, Tompkins County Department of Social Services, The Cayuga Medical Center, Ithaca Police Department, Tompkins County Sheriff's Department, and the New York State Police.

Once their pets come into the shelter, we make them comfortable and allow them to settle in before being given an exam by our medical staff.  We give vaccines, offer routine medical care, and cover all boarding fees for the animal while in our temporary care.

We do this because it is the right thing to do--helping someone in need care for their animals while they are unable to do so.  These animals have no say in their circumstances, so we help. Our Animal Control Officers stand ready to help backfill the sometimes giant hole that opens when people's lives are in disarray.

So far in 2022, we have helped:
29 individuals with 17 cats and 22 dogs.
We have cared for these 39 animals for 451 boarding days.
The cost to do this--for all medical care, medicines, vaccines, boarding, and spay/neuter surgeries--totals $15,020. 

And, in the last five years, including the $15,020 above, we have spent $78,207 on public assistance with literally thousands of days of boarding and medical care for these animals.  

None of these costs are covered by any other entity than the SPCA. Because there is no other organization in Tompkins County capable of providing the care that is needed.

We have been fortunate to have a generous, loyal, and compassionate donor who helps fund part of the care each year.  But there still is a gap in the funding. Recently, our generous matchmakers and longtime SPCA supporters, Bob and Sharon O'Brien, have stepped in to issue a challenge to raise additional funding for this program of helping people AND animals.

Chapter Two.

In a perfect world, the animals return to their loving owners.  But this is not always the case.

Because of the many reasons that community members need our services initially, not all of them are resolved in the positive outcome of their pet returning to their home after the hardships they have been enduring have passed.

Sometimes, the hardships continue, and they need to surrender their pet.  It is always under difficult conditions that this occurs but usually the owners know that their beloved pet will be in a better place than they can provide. 

Other times, the situations are just, in a word, tragic, and the animals must come to the shelter because of the conditions in the home itself or in the life of the owner.  In the past year, a handful of animals were surrendered to us in this way. 

The medical, behavior and adoptions staff work in tandem to get the animals the care they deserve, the behavior assessment to understand what kind of home they will need, and the adoptions staff support these efforts to identify the home in which they will thrive. 

Time and again we use the phrase "it takes a village."  It is indeed true that from the beginning of public assist intake with Joe and Lee, to the passing through the skilled medical hands of Lena, Erin, Aly, Ashley, Karen, Kathy, Kelsey, Emily, Abby and more on the shelter medicine and SPCA medical teams; to the entire Animal Care Team who ensure they have clean and warm housing and nutritious food; to the behavior assessment team of Emme, Marisha, and Hannah; to the hand off to the entire Adoptions staff of Doug, Emily, Hiedi, and Joe; to Sam, Karen, and Mark for highlighting the animals on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; and to the dozens of devoted volunteers who offer their time and love while the animals are at the shelter--the SPCA of Tompkins County village is well-populated and working collectively to facilitate these animals being home for the holidays.

Can you please help support the Public Assistance Program and all its components at the shelter?  

We would be so very grateful if you could.  And so would Bob and Sharon O'Brien, our matchmakers, who support this fundamental program.  Gifts of any amount will make a difference.

Thank you for being a part of our SPCA family, and for supporting the animals who all just want to live happily ever after.  

The End.

Drawing by Lee Consolo, Inktober 2022.