Humane Society of West Michigan: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
This is an overdue grant report for a 2020 COVID-19 Operation Grant received in May 2020.
The COVID-19 Operation Grant from the Petfinder Foundation was intended to assist Humane Society of West Michigan (HSWM) in covering operational expenses at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time of historic unknowns. Specifically, this grant helped us purchase urgent food for the animals in our care. This grant came at a critical time when our organization was still navigating increased demand and reduced fundraising capacity due to pandemic-related restrictions.
Humane Society of West Michigan received $750 to assist in feeding the hundreds of animals in our care in summer 2020. HSWM used this funding to purchase Hill's Science Diet formula, our preferred food for the animals awaiting their forever homes. We purchased primarily dry kibble for our adult dogs and cats, as that is what we go through the most of in the summer months. This allowed us to allocate our normal food budget to our kitten needs, which we anticipated would, per usual, heavily increase in the summer months.
The 2020 Covid-19 Operation Grant came at a critical time when there were many unknowns about what fundraising, capacity, and staffing would look like during a pandemic. HSWM is incredibly grateful to the Petfinder Foundation for providing our animals this security so we could continue to assist the West Michigan community.
How many pets did this grant help?
255
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
The 2020 Covid-19 Operation Grant was critical in purchasing food for all of the animals in our care. One animal impacted by these funds was Hamilton, a 4-year-old mixed-breed dog who came to our shelter for the second time in June 2020. Hamilton was with us for the remainder of 2020 until he was finally adopted in January 2021.
Hamilton (or Hammy, as we affectionately called him) was an incredibly loving boy, but he had the energy of 15 dogs all rolled into one tiny little bulldozer of a body. He preferred to be the only dog in the home, so he spent a little more time with us than many dogs do. We are so happy when he found his forever home, in which he continues to thrive!
