Humane Society of Summit County: COVID-19 Operation Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

Grant support from the Petfinder Foundation was used to support our foster program, which quickly expanded to include available animals following the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Specifically, funding from the Petfinder Foundation provided the means to purchase essential foster-care supplies such as large crates, bedding, bowls, food, and toys to support our foster families while they temporarily cared for our animals.

How many pets did this grant help?

19

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

During the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, our available dogs needed foster families, and our organization was lucky to have many families reach out to us willing to open their hearts and homes to an animal in need.

Ryker, a young pit-bull terrier mix, was one of our available dogs in need of a foster family. He was soon matched with a generous family, and Ryker settled in well to his new temporary home.

Things didn’t remain temporary for long though!

Ryker immediately bonded with the family’s resident senior pit-bull terrier mix, Panda, who was adopted from HSSC in 2016. With his silly and playful personality, Ryker helped to bring out the puppy hiding in Panda, and the pair became inseparable.

Ryker also won over the heart of his new dad, who, when making his initial decision to foster, insisted that the arrangement would be temporary. The two became best buds.

Ryker fit into his foster family so well that they officially adopted him!