One of my favorite things that happens when people walk into our Robins-Starr Humane Center or our Susan M. Markel Veterinary Hospital for the first time is how our space, our staff and our volunteers immediately open their minds about what the Richmond SPCA is.
We are a resource. A resource in action in our community. A resource that invites our community to join us in our lifesaving work.
Our résumé is no doubt impressive. Since our fiscal year began on October 1, 2016, we have adopted more than 3,215 pets in need to loving families. Our veterinary hospital is now seeing more than 10,000 four-legged patients belonging to guardians of modest means and Richmond SPCA adopters. More than 400 children will have attended our Critter Camps by the end of the summer, where they have learned about current issues in animal welfare, helped care for the homeless pets in our shelter, applied learning theory to dog training to teach dogs new skills using positive reinforcement and made dog beds and cat scratchers.
Yet absolutely none of this lifesaving would be even remotely possible without our community’s support.
In my role at the Richmond SPCA, I am the luckiest “middle man” in the world. Each day, I help people and companies support the pets in our care. The ideas our friends have are exciting and creative, and crucial to making our work possible. For example:
- This summer, Savannah and Zoey hosted a lemonade stand to benefit our homeless dogs and cats.
- On August 10, you may have enjoyed some chips and guacamole at Chipotle restaurants all over Richmond, and 50 percent of proceeds from your meal came to us.
- And until August 31, our friends at Fetching Apparel, a family-owned Virginia business, are donating 40 percent of all sales to the Richmond SPCA. (Use our coupon code, SPCA, to get free shipping!)
You may have heard our recent amazing success story of Diamond, an adorable dog with a challenging physical disability whom we rescued from Kuwait. Once we had prepared Diamond for adoption, giving her extensive medical treatment and training, a young man named Zack made her a permanent part of his family. Our love and care for Diamond collided with Zack’s generous heart to adopt this sweet girl, and Diamond’s story became one of celebration rather than despair.
While these events and fundraisers are fun ways to celebrate RVA’s love of pets and the generosity of our community, above all they are essential to helping us continue to save thousands of homeless animals each year like Diamond. We depend on the community to collide with us, just like Zack did when he adopted Diamond, to continue to save as many animals in need as we possibly can.
Thank you from all of us here at the Richmond SPCA and on behalf of all the animals who have been guaranteed a bright and happy future!
You can learn more about our upcoming events and opportunities on the calendar on our website or on our Facebook page. Please contact me at 804-521-1320 or [email protected] if you would like to join us by hosting a fundraiser supporting the Richmond SPCA.
Gray Miller is the manager of community development for the Richmond SPCA. To read the biographies of our regular bloggers, please click here. Before posting a comment, please review our comment guidelines. Please note that our comment policy requires a first and last name to be used as your screen name.
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