PAS awarded $50K to expand H2H
“Sadie” is one of several success stories of Panhandle Animal Shelter’s Home to Home program, which was recently awarded $50,000 from Maddie’s Fund to expand across the nation. (Courtesy photo)
PONDERAY — Home to Home is a program created by Panhandle Animal Shelter in response to an unexplained increase in animal surrenders to the shelter.
The program, which started in August 2016, gives people the opportunity to find new, loving homes for their pets without having to surrender them to the shelter.
“By the end of the year, we were really impressed with the way the community embraced it and the success of the program, so I started thinking funding for the option to take it to a national site,” said Mandy Evans, PAS executive director. “We were able to do that, and we launched the national site in August of last year.”
To aid in that expansion, Maddie’s Fund recently awarded PAS a Maddie’s Idaho Lab Phase 4 research project grant of $50,000.
Home to Home is an interactive website that provides owners with the ability to create a short pet profile. With the support of Maddie’s Fund, shelters throughout the nation can have their own Home to Home website that is networked with other Home to Home participating organizations throughout the country. As each organization has their own branded URL in the network — a task done by a programmer — there are onboarding fees, as well as a hosting fee each month, Evans said.
“So by Maddie’s fund providing us with the financial support, we were able to add 50 shelters to the network without having to charge them,” Evans said. “It takes away a barrier so that more people feel they can do it.”
Currently there are seven shelters on board and 10 in the pipeline in several states, Evans said, including Idaho, California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Virginia, Mississippi, Montana, Indiana, Tennessee, and Ohio.
On the website, animals are listed for free by owners and their profile is shared through their member shelter’s Facebook page. Adoptable animals stay with their current owner until a new owner is found. Potential adopters work directly with the pet’s owners to ensure a perfect fit, giving the owner complete control of the adoption process. Home to Home also frees up necessary space in the shelter for animals who truly need the help. The stress animal shelters face every day include staffing resources, funding and space in their shelter, shelter officials said in a statement.
The program goes beyond dogs and cats, as any legal animal can be rehomed through Home to Home.
The program has a positive impact on the community as well, according to the statement. It allows the surrendering party to have a voice, and gives those who typically would be critical of someone surrendering a pet the opportunity to learn that some people don’t have a choice. As their minds change, they become advocates to support them in their effort to rehome, thereby creating a more compassionate community.
With more than 200 adoptions made through the local Home to Home program, several success stories have come out of the program. Sadie, for example, is a pup whose owners knew she was not 100-percent happy as she was lacking the space she needed to be active, and she needed to be an only dog. They wanted to be able to choose the home Sadie would go to, so she was placed on the Home to Home website. Her owners were able to find the perfect home for Sadie where she could have the room she needed to be active and receive the one-on-one attention she deserved.
Sadie’s former owners followed up with PAS with the following statement: “Just wanted to let you know we were successful in finding an amazing home for our Sadie girl via Home to Home with your wonderful organization. Sadie went to her new acreage today and her new family absolutely loves her. Thanks again for all your help.”
Evans said the shelter is “extremely grateful” to Maddie’s Fund for the opportunity to expand the Home to Home to more shelters and rescues across the country.
“The organizations that are the most eager to join are those who want to do more to support their community, but are struggling with the significant number of animals in their shelter,” Evans said. “We are so excited to add new organizations knowing the lifesaving impact it will have on their community. We have already started to see this grant in action.”
Maddie’s Fund is a family foundation created in 1994 by Workday co-founder Dave Duffield and his wife, Cheryl, who have endowed the foundation with more than $300 million. Since then, the Foundation has awarded more than $225.7 million in grants toward increased community lifesaving, shelter management leadership, shelter medicine education, and foster care across the U.S.
The Duffields named Maddie’s Fund after their miniature schnauzer, Maddie, who always made them laugh and gave them much joy. Maddie was with Dave and Cheryl for 10 years and continues to inspire them today. Maddie’s Fund is the fulfillment of a promise to an inspirational dog, investing its resources to create a no-kill nation where every dog and cat is guaranteed a healthy home or habitat.
Information: home-home.org
Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.