PetSmart Helps Keep Victims’ Pets Safe;
Awards LACASA Center $17,500 Grant
PetSmart Charities is helping abuse victims and their children at LACASA Center by funding our organization’s “Safe Pet Place.”
Throughout 2021, a $17,500 “Preserving Families” Grant from PetSmart Charities will provide food, pet essentials and veterinary care for pets staying with their people at our residential Crisis Shelter.
Abusers commonly threaten the lives of family pets as a way of manipulating victims and preventing them from leaving a violent household. LACASA was the first agency of its kind in Michigan to welcome the pets of abuse victims at its residential shelter.
“We greatly appreciate this generous grant from PetSmart Charities,” said Bobette Schrandt, President & CEO of LACASA. “The funding will help us preserve the bond between abuse victims and their pets, which is critical for victims and their children.”
LACASA’s Safe Pet Place has two on-site facilities that house pets according to their species, size and how they interact with other animals. In addition, some residential rooms have been allergy-proofed and easily accommodate the family pet. An exterior dog run provides a place for dogs to play with their people in a safe environment.
“Our Safe Pet Place accommodates all family pets, keeping them safe from harm by abusers who often threaten to harm pets as a way of exerting control over abuse victims and manipulating them into remaining in violent relationships,” Schrandt said. “Keeping pets together with their families is critical to healing from the trauma associated with interpersonal violence.”
From 2019-2020, LACASA provided nearly 2,000 nights of Safe Pet Place shelter for a variety of pets—from cats and dogs to birds and tropical fish.
“LACASA has always been committed to welcoming family pets into our shelter,” said Schrandt. “But it’s not without a financial cost, and the grant that PetSmart Charities has awarded us will go a long way to provide the proper care and medical treatment for victims’ pets.”
Since 1994, through its partnership with nearly 4,000 humane societies, SPCAs and pet rescues across North America, PetSmart Charities has helped more than 8.5 million pets to find loving homes via its in-store adoption program in over 1,600 PetSmart® stores.
PetSmart Charities is the leading funder of animal welfare. It has donated nearly $400 million to improve access to veterinary care, to positively impact communities, to connect people and pets, and to help preserve families through initiatives like this one with LACASA.
About PetSmart Charities®
PetSmart Charities, Inc. is committed to finding lifelong, loving homes for all pets by supporting programs and thought leadership that bring people and pets together. Through its in-store adoption program in all PetSmart® stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, PetSmart Charities helps to find forever homes and families for more than 600,000 shelter pets each year. Each year, millions of generous PetSmart shoppers help pets in need by donating to PetSmart Charities using the PIN pads at checkout registers inside PetSmart stores. In turn, PetSmart Charities efficiently uses more than 90 cents of every dollar donated to fulfill its role as the leading funder of animal welfare in North America, granting almost $400 million since its inception in 1994. Independent from PetSmart Inc., PetSmart Charities is a 501(c)(3) organization that has received the Four-Star Rating from Charity Navigator, a third-party organization that reports on the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of nonprofits, for the past 16 years in a row – placing it among the top one percent of charities rated by this organization. To learn more visit www.petsmartcharities.org.
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