Help Us Heal: A Vet Tech’s Plea for Shelter Animals's Fundraiser

For Cornell Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program, a team supporting:

SPCA March for the Animals October 12, 2025

 

40%

funded

$400

raised

$1,000

goal

6

donors

0

days left

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Help Us Heal: A Vet Tech’s Plea for Shelter Animals

I've been working as a veterinary technician at the SPCA of Tompkins County for over five years. Most of my days are spent in high-volume surgery where we do spay/neuter, wound care, and emergency procedures to help hundreds of shelter and owned animals every week. It’s fast-paced, physically demanding, and emotionally intense. But it’s also incredibly fulfilling to be part of life-saving work every single day.

Every day, we help animals who’ve been let down by the world, and we give them the chance they deserve. We see a lot of heartbreak. Animals who arrive unable to walk, covered in wounds, burned, shot, or riddled with infections. We triage, stabilize, operate, and sometimes cry quietly in the treatment room when we can't save them all. But lately what was already hard has been getting harder. Just like everything else, the cost of medical supplies has skyrocketed. Syringes, needles, vaccines, drugs, surgical supplies, the things we use every single day, continue to  surge in price. And yet the animals keep coming, in greater numbers and with more complex needs. We do everything we can with what we have, but the gap between need and resources is growing.

This fundraiser is critical. Donations help us continue our work:

  • High-volume spay/neuter to reduce suffering and overpopulation

  • Emergency surgery for injured strays

  • Basic care for pets in low-income families

  • Cover the cost of medications, vaccines, diagnostics and more for the thousands of local and national animals we intake to our shelter each year 

If you’ve ever rescued a pet, loved a shelter animal, or simply believe in the power of compassion, please give what you can. Every dollar helps us relieve pain, treat illness, prevent suffering, and give animals the second chances they deserve. Please donate to the SPCA of Tompkins County’s annual fundraiser today. Together, we can save lives—thousands of them.

About this Event

Help Us Heal: A Vet Tech’s Plea for Shelter Animals

Our SPCA friends and family event at Stewart Park.

Sunday, October 12, 2025 through Sunday, October 12, 2025


On Sunday, October 12, 2025 at 11:00 a.m., we celebrate our beloved pets by Marching for the Animals with family and friends to benefit the SPCA of Tompkins County.


 

On what will surely be a beautiful fall day, we will be starting at 11:00 a.m. with a 20-minute walk at Stewart Park located on gorgeous Cayuga Lake. 

A relaxed lunch with fellow friends and animal lovers follows the walk in the spacious and historic Large Pavilion, in existence for more than 100 years, almost as many years (123) as the SPCA has been serving Tompkins County!  Comfortable picnic tables inside the pavilion offer generous seating for lingering conversation. There are bathrooms with running water, free parking, and a paved walking path. 

We will have delicious bagged lunches with a sandwich, chips, and a cookie to keep us all sweet!   

To celebrate all things autumn--and upcoming Halloween--this year's March for the Animals t-shirt is a slimming BLACK. Everyone looks good in black!  Maybe bring your witch hat?

Once again, the very talented Rachel, of Rachel Philipson Photography, will capture photos of you and your pet along the walk. Here are a few "Rachel gems" from our event last year.

All we need is for YOU to register and join in on the fun!


Paws down, the March for the Animals is our most important fundraiser of the year.

 

We rely deeply on the funds raised to provide shelter, food and medical care for more than 1,600 animals a year, including these lovebugs. 

That's 365 days a year, 52 weeks a year, all day, every day the SPCA of Tompkins County is helping animals survive and thrive. All thanks to YOUR generosity.





YOU make this possible through your support and fundraising for this flagship event. Gifts of any amount help, and truly add up to support our goal. 

 

Ask your friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors to help support homeless animals in Tompkins County. Ideally, you will raise $100 in addition to your registration fee to really help the SPCA of Tompkins County. Tell everyone why our shelter is important to you and to all those who live in Tompkins County.



Ready to join in on the fun?

Just click on the REGISTER button at the top of the page!

Complete our brief registration form, choose your lunch, your t-shirt size, pay your registration fee, and you are ready to start your fundraising page and build/join a team.

 

Mark Sunday, October 12, 11:00 a.m., on your calendar to join your SPCA animal-loving family.  Support the animals who need our collective love and care. 


Come walk with us!


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