Our Impact
The CARE Center was founded in 2004 on the basis of helping animals stay with their owners by providing resources to the owner. Since 2007, one of the major resources has been the Helping Paw Fund. Since that time, over 540 animals have been assisted. While the majority of animals are dogs and cats, 5 of the animals are ‘other’ species; this includes rabbits, chinchillas, and guinea pigs. The ages of animals helped has ranged from 4 weeks of age to 19 years. The animals have come from 55 different communities in the East Central Illinois area and 81 businesses were utilized in the providing of care to the pets.
Over the years, the Helping Paw Fund has funded over $95,000 of care to pets. The included chart shows the ebb and flow of incoming assistance requests (blue line) and funds spent on care (red line). The gaps in the lines show that some cases need more funds for care than others. For example, nail trims will cost less than an ACL surgery. While some years had more cases than funds spent, the cases may have been small that year. On the opposite spectrum, the years where more funds were spent than cases coming in were likely more expensive requests. About half of the requests that are granted are for less than $150.
The Helping Paw Fund is not the only resource that the CARE Center offers to pet owners. For example, requests for care regarding a nail trim, we will help the owner learn how to trim nails on their own. Another example is helping the pet owner find transportation to take the pet to a veterinary facility.
The CARE Center doesn’t just want to keep pets with their owners right now, but we want to keep the pet with the owner for years to come.