Today’s post is part of Blog the Change for Animals, an event in which bloggers blog (that noun-verb combo gave me pause for a moment – it’s awkward but accurate) about animal causes. At the end of this post, find out how you can participate in Blog the Change (sponsored by our friends at Be the Change for Animals).
You will also find links to all of the other blogs participating in
Blog the Change. I encourage you to check out these blogs – many great
causes out there. Finally, if you’re interested in reading my entries from past Blog the Change events, check them out here: Protecting People & Their Pets and Share the Love & Rescue a Pup.
I spent a great deal of time agonizing over what to write about for today’s Blog the Change event. Should I revisit an earlier topic, like the Pets and Women’s Shelters (PAWS) Program, pet adoption, or the importance of buckling up your pup? Or should I focus on something new? Lucky for you, dear reader, I recently read a post by CindyLu’s Muse that made my decision for me. As soon as I read that post, I knew that I had to write about this cause for Blog the Change. It’s a natural sequel to my post on the PAWS program.
That cause? Pets of the Homeless, a nonprofit organization that provides pet food and veterinary care to the homeless and less fortunate in local communities across the United States and Canada. I imagine that you, like me, may have felt your heart break a little when you pass a homeless person with a pet. Sometimes the love between the two can take your breath away. Given that winter is a particularly dangerous time to have no shelter, I thought that Pets of the Homeless was the perfect cause to feature during the frigid month of January.
Learn more about this organization and how you can help, after the jump.
Before I go on, I want to quickly address an argument I encountered while doing research for this post. Some argue that homeless people should not have pets – and that the best solution is to take these pets away. I’m not going to engage in that debate here. However, I do want to share the following quote I found on the Pets of the Homeless blog:
“There are those who will say that homeless people should not have
pets. But they will have pets. There are those who will say that people
should not be homeless. But there will be homeless people. This is the
real world. And as someone who works in that real world, I have
seen abuse and neglect of the pets of wealthy and impoverished alike,
just as I’ve seen wonderfully loving and supportive relationships
between animals and people on every rung of the economic ladder. One
issue, of course, is that economics can and often do contribute to an
inability to provide what can be costly services.”
– Ken White (President, Peninsula Humane Society)
Pets of the Homeless cites a sobering statistic from the National Coalition for the Homeless. NCH estimates that 3.5 million people are homeless. Between 5-10% of these homeless people have pets. (In some areas of the country, this number may be as high as 24%.) For a variety of reasons, many are forced to choose between keeping their pets or having a roof over their heads. (Many shelters are not equipped to house pets. For a list of those that do and groups that will provide temporary foster care for pets of the homeless, please click here.) As a result, the majority choose to stay on the streets with their pets rather than abandoning them.
Pets of the Homeless aims to help this population in a variety of ways. It has established collection sites to accept donated pet food and distributes this food through partnerships with homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other entities. The organization also makes two types of grants: one to veterinarians that go to where the homeless congregate and provide veterinary care such as vaccines, spay/neuter and other needed treatments; the other to homeless shelters looking for ways to allow pets sanctuary with their owners.
If you have tissues handy, I urge you to read some of the success stories and view the touching photos on the Pets of the Homeless website.
Want to know how you can help? If there is a collection site near you, donate pet food and supplies. (If there’s no collection site near you, find out how to become one.) Pets of the Homeless also provides a list of other ways that you can donate your time or money to this worthy cause.
I hope you’ll take the time to check out this organization and learn more.
