|
HELP
FOR ANIMALS, INC.
History
THE EARLY YEARS (1974-1996)
Help for Animals was formed in 1974 by its founder, the late
Dorothy Cridlin, and a handful of volunteers in Cabell County, West
Virginia. The organization was incorporated in 1977 as a non-profit
corporation under laws of the State of West Virginia and received
501(C)(3) status from the Internal Revenue Service (see latest non-profit
tax status letter from the IRS dated April 10, 1991 attached).
Their goals, mission and objectives were:
(1)
To promote animal welfare with special emphasis on spaying and
neutering pets
(2)
To provide financial assistance to needy underprivileged pet owners
so they can afford to spay/neuter their pets to stop the overpopulation
problem in West Virginia
(3)
To provide free spay/neuter sterilization to feral cats with a
catch/release approach
(4)
To provide education to the public to emphasize the pet
overpopulation problem and to try to curb pet overpopulation in West
Virginia
From 1974 through 1996, Help for Animals was run by
volunteers, raising funds through membership dues, donations, grants, and
typical fundraiser events such as bake sales, garage sales, auctions, etc.
Help for Animals was successful in the community for over
twenty-years and had an good reputation in the community but we only were
able to assist between three and six hundred animals each year, depending
upon the funds we could raise. Our
concern was to help minimize the number of cats and dogs who were becoming
a statistic and being euthanized in our local shelter.
In our early years, we discovered that many pet owners were not
responsible and that led to the "throwaway pet" concept.
Help for Animals continues to educate the public about the
overpopulation problem but we identified the major problem in getting
people to spay or neuter their pets in our area, was the cost of the
surgery itself. Between 1974
and 1996, the HFA Spay/Neuter Assistance Program was supported by local
Vets who charged their normal fees and HFA provided financial assistance
to the pet owner for a portion of those fees, usually about $30.
Even with that assistance, the cost of the surgery to the pet owner
averaged $85 each, without any shots which cost another $35, to a total of
about $120. That was too much for most people to afford.
From 1974 through 1996, HFA assisted in excess of 6,000 pet owners
in getting their animals spayed or neutered.
At $85 per procedure, this cost pet owners about $510,000 and HFA
contributed about $150,000 of that cost.
During the 1990-1996, the average number of animals euthanized
annually had risen to about 6,000 animals a year and the Board of
Directors believed we needed to do much more to improve this situation.
Historically, over 60% of our financial aid goes to elderly
pet owners who need and want lasting relationships with their pets, while
the remaining 40% goes to indigent families with children who don't have
the financial resources to pay for the total cost of their pets spays or
neuters. According to the
1990 U. S. Census, twenty percent (20%) of the people who live within the
city limits of Huntington, are 65 years of age or older.
Approximately 80% of our clients never used any veterinarian's
service. After the pet owner’s
animal receive a spay or neuter procedure, approximately 67% continue to
use the services of a local veterinarian to keep their animal
healthy.
THE
BIRTH OF THE SPAY/NEUTER CLINIC IN 1997
The
birth of a spay/neuter clinic in our area was inspired by four members the
Help for Animals Board after they attended a Spay USA clinic in Las Vegas
on the need for clinics to do spay/neuter at low cost .
Of these four original members who attended that Spay USA
conference, there are still two involved in HFA, Vicki Blank and Donna
Spencer. Both are on the
Board and both served as President of our organization.
After much research, financial planning and fund raising, Help for
Animals planned the opening of the first high volume low cost spay/neuter clinic in West
Virginia. The clinic
stabilized our need for fund raising to some extent, but since the HFA
Board is made up of concerned citizens who are not only pet lovers, but
responsible pet owners and individuals who have a calling, they wanted to
make sure everyone could afford our prices and so, we have had only one $2
increase to our price for spay or neutering in the ten years of our
existence.
Help for Animals started a Kitten Adoption Program to
attempt to place the unwanted kittens born to cats before they were
spayed. HFA requires all
animals to be spayed or neutered before they can be adopted or placed with
a responsible pet owner. We
also perform free Feral Cat alterations and a Spay/Neuter Assistance
Program (SNAP) with financial assistance to needy owners.
And so, on February 25, 1997, “Spay Day USA”, Help for
Animals, Inc. opened the first high volume-low cost spay/neuter clinic in
West Virginia and we believe, one of the first in the nation in a small
metropolitan area (with a census population under 500,000 people).
THE
SPAY MOBILE IN 1999
December 1999, through the generosity of a pet lover from
Clarksburg, West Virginia, we were able to buy and equip a twenty-four
foot mobile surgical van on the roads to perform spays and neuters at
locations in Ohio and West Virginia, outside of our normal customer area.
At the present time, Help for Animals has services the
counties of Barbour, Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln, Mingo, Logan, Putnam, Mason,
Kanawha, Fayette and outlining areas in adjacent counties to these who
bring their animals to the mobile site that is within fifty miles of our
home base.
THE
FIXED CLINIC
In the early years of the spay/neuter clinic, we rented
space of about 1,100 square feet in a remodeled building that was an
Auther Treachers restaurant. When
the owner of that building decided to tear the building down three years
later, Help for Animals decided to invest in their own land and building
to minimize our operational costs and secure our future in the area.
In 2000, the Board of Directors decided to purchase a piece
of land near the Huntington Mall for immediate access to our community,
just off I-64 and Route 60 at the east end of the Huntington area, in
Barboursville, West Virginia to locate our new double wide trailer of
2,500 square feet. The unit
was remodeled into a commercial spay/neuter clinic by volunteers and
opened for operation in June 2000.
In
2007, help for Animals performed out 50,000th alternations on
February 26, 2007, a day that is almost ten years from the date of our
originally opening. And in
June 2007, we have performed over 52,000 animals, bringing the total
animals that HFA has altered, or help to spay or neuter to over 58,000
animals in our 33 year history.
|
