The goal of PetSmart Charities is simple: to find a lifelong, loving home for every pet. At PetSmart stores across the country, we work towards this goal by offering adoptions centers and events, pet rescue programs, and supporting worthy organization that share our same mission.
One such charity is Joyful Pets Animal Rescue, a nonprofit organization in Massachusetts dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming abandoned and homeless animals. Thanks to their hard work, PetSmart Charities issued them a grant in 2018.
According to Lauren McCaron, executive director with Joyful Pets Animal Rescue, the organization is foster-based, with volunteers taking in animals all over the area. The organization and its volunteers is frequently on-call for sudden emergencies.
“Our challenge is to be better prepared for emergencies: for emergency calls for help and for medical emergencies for the animals in our care,” she says. “Financial support from partners like PetSmart and the community allow us to focus on the little lives in our hands instead of the never ending vet bills and other expenses.”
The grant from PetSmart will be used to veterinary aid to the animals in care. The money comes in handy for those sudden calls, like one McCaron received recently.
“We received an urgent call from a local farmer who found 4 orphaned kittens in his barn. We could not find the mother, so we took in the four kittens and started bottle feeding them every four hours,” McCaron explains. “They were less than 1 pound each, but with around-the-clock care, they gained strength and grew into healthy, playful and loving kittens.”
Once they were strong enough for adoption, they made appearances at adoption events at PetSmart and quickly found their own forever families.
“The PetSmart grant helped us make these and other happy endings possible, not only for the animals we serve, but also for each adopter who is adding a new member to their family.”
