Bark Avenue Foundation Receives $75,000 Grant From Petsmart Charities® To Help Keep Pets And People Together

LOS ANGELES - Jan. 25, 2021 - PRLog -- As the face of family changes over the years, what remains constant is the role pets play in our lives. Many people consider pets family members and it can be challenging to find resources when facing life changes and issues such as homelessness, lack of pet-friendly housing or fleeing domestic violence in search of a safe-haven. Pet parents in these and other at-risk situations often determine they have no options beyond surrendering their beloved pet to a local shelter.

With this grant, Bark Avenue Foundation will help preserve the bond between pets and their people by expanding our Unsheltered People and Pets program to include those that are struggling financially get access to veterinary care in the greater Los Angeles City and County areas.  Veterinary services such as spay/neuter, emergency, wellness/preventative medicine, and basic veterinary care such as infections, dental and wound care will be able to be provided to owned pets at a low cost or subsidized rate. This grant will provide subsidized veterinary care to approximately 600 pets so they can remain safely with their people.

"The people we meet choose their pet's needs over their own; choosing to stay on the streets if their pet is not allowed in housing; choosing to go without meals so their dog can see a vet, or they can feed their cat. When people have trouble providing for their pet, they often go without s or consider surrendering them to an animal shelter believing they will live a better life with someone else. But a pet just wants to be with their person that loves and cares for them. Keeping pets safely with their people reduces the shelter population, which is vital. Thanks to the generosity of PetSmart Charities BAF can continue to help people so they never have to make these impossible choices and supports the love and bond a person has with their pet.  This is a highly collaborative and community-based program that helps the most vulnerable pet guardians by overcoming not only financial barriers to veterinary access but many others including language, socioeconomic and transportation" said Christy Schilling Executive Director.

"We are proud to once again support Bark Avenue Foundation in its work to keep marginalized communities, such as the homeless, unsheltered and under-resourced, with their beloved pets," said Jenny Aho, regional relationship manager at PetSmart Charities. "We know many people consider pets as family, and this work ensures Los Angeles area pet parents can provide their pets the necessary care without having to forgo their own resources to do so."

Since 1994, through its partnership with nearly 4,000 humane societies, SPCAs and pet rescues across North America, PetSmart Charities has helped more than 9.5 million pets to find loving homes via its in-store adoption program in over 1,600 PetSmart® stores. The leading funder of animal welfare has also donated nearly $430 million to improve access to veterinary care, to positively impact communities, to connect people and pets and to help preserve families through initiatives like this with Bark Avenue Foundation.

About Bark Avenue Foundation
Bark Avenue Foundation (BAF) is a Los Angeles nonprofit organization dedicated to animal welfare and protection by keeping pets with their people housed, healthy, and safe, reducing the number of animals entering shelter systems.

BAF partners with communities and other nonprofit organizations, understanding that collaboration is critical to success. BAF's focuses on pet guardians, who are financially struggling, at-risk and under-served populations (including those experiencing homelessness), prioritizing spay/neuter, to reduce pet homelessness and over population at its source, along with pet wellness, retention, and reclamation.

https://www.barkavenuefoundation.org/about-us/

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About PetSmart Charities®
PetSmart Charities, Inc. (http://www.petsmartcharities.org/) is committed to finding lifelong, loving homes for all pets by supporting programs and thought leadership that bring people and pets together. Through its in-store adoption program in all PetSmart® stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, PetSmart Charities helps to find forever homes and families for more than 600,000 shelter pets each year. Each year, millions of generous PetSmart shoppers help pets in need by donating to PetSmart Charities using the PIN pads at checkout registers inside PetSmart stores.  In turn, PetSmart Charities efficiently uses more than 90 cents of every dollar donated to fulfill its role as the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, granting nearly $430 million since its inception in 1994. Independent from PetSmart Inc., PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization that has received the Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator, a third-party organization that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, for the past 17 years in a row – placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization. To learn more visit www.petsmartcharities.org.

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