Dreams really do come true. Just ask Isabella Gullö, co-founder and president of C.A.R.E.4Paws, whose organization was recently awarded four major grants totaling $66,000.
“This money will allow us to do much, much more for the local animal population in 2012, and we will be able to expand our outreach into the community immensely,” Gullö said. “Two years ago, our budget was just a little over $50,000, and, this year, our income more than doubled. It is a great honor for such a new organization, and a dream come true for us.”
Grants from the Santa Barbara Foundation ($28,500) and the ASPCA ($10,000) will be used to fund the work of the organization’s community outreach coordinator Carlos Abitia, who is bilingual and trained as a veterinarian, and who works closely with the Hispanic community to spread the message of responsible pet ownership through spaying, neutering, vaccination, and licensing. Neighborhoods that have a high volume of non-neutered animals that disproportionately end up in local shelters will be saturated with information and services, including onsite spaying and neutering using C.A.R.E.4Paws’ new mobile spay-neuter unit.
The $2,500 grant received from the Hildegard H. Balin Charitable Foundation will help fund C.A.R.E.4Paws’ Fix-a-Pit/Train-a-Pit spay-neuter and education program.
“Pit bulls and pit bull mixes make up roughly 40 percent of the dogs in our shelters,” Gullö said in a recent press release. “We spay or neuter eight to 10 pit bulls a week at no charge.”
The “Train-a-Pit” portion of the program provides training classes to teach pit bull owners how to better manage their pets. Free dog training classes have been offered since 2009.
Low-income residents will now have a chance to receive assistance with veterinary care, thanks to a $25,000 grant received from the Wendy P. McCaw Foundation.
“Access to veterinary care when illness first appears allows pet owners to get help before it turns into a big problem and the expenses force them to put the animal down.” Gullö explained.
C.A.R.E.4Paws was founded in 2009 by husband-and-wife team Isabella Gullö and Carlos Abitia to help put an end to pet overpopulation and to also prevent animals from ending up at shelters. They provided nearly 700 spays and neuters to low-income pet owners in 2011 alone.
For more information, or to make a donation, visit care4paws.org.
Intern Pamella Wood compiled this week’s Community Corner. Send comments or ideas to the Sun via e-mail at intern@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 12-19, 2012.