Without a shelter, the pets taken in by Greece Animal Control — even the friendly, healthy ones — face euthanasia if their owner's don't claim them. Greece Residents Assisting Stray Pets, or GRASP, is a volunteer organization devoted to saving those animals by reducing the number of stray and homeless cats and dogs in Greece.
Here are five things you should know about the animal-saving group and how you can help:
1. Origins
GRASP became a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal rescue organization in 1996, but its story begins years earlier with Barbara Pingree, who at the time was a vet tech at Stone Ridge Animal Hospital. In her time working there, she saw many healthy, friendly stray pets brought in by Animal Control and euthanized when no owners turned up.
Alone at first, Pingree started finding homes for some, taking others home with her, and bringing the rest to Lollypop Farm. Friends soon joined in her mission, and before long, those friends had gotten their own friends involved, and GRASP was born.
2. Animal control
GRASP works in conjunction with Greece Animal Control. Animal Control first selects friendly, healthy pets as viable for adoption. GRASP Cat Coordinator and Intake Coordinator for the cat team, Karla Barkley, contacts the organization on a weekly basis to find out what animals are available and how many GRASP can take.
3. Fostering
GRASP operates without a centralized shelter of its own, meaning the number of animals it can save is directly related to the number of foster homes available. Fosters volunteer to house a cat or dog until it can be adopted.
"There's no commitment to it," Barkley said. "Some people just take an animal home for a week or two so it can stretch its legs."
One benefit of fostering is that, if the foster has children or other pets, potential adopters can know how an animal behaves in that type of home environment.
Fosters are also directly responsible for saving the animals' lives.
"If we don't have fosters, there's no place for them to go," said Sharon Jacklin, GRASP Dog Team Coordinator and foster. "There's nothing like it for volunteering. This is the best volunteer experience I've had."
4. Volunteering
Fostering isn't the only volunteer opportunity GRASP has, though fosters are the most in-demand.
"There's always a shortage of fosters," said GRASP Adoption Coordinator Nicole Gallo.
Volunteers are also needed to answer questions and handle animals at adoption events, clean cat cages twice daily, process adoption and foster applications, run the organization's website, fill out various spreadsheets, transport animals from Animal Control to veterinarians and adoption events, handle public relations, coordinate fundraisers and more.
Without a shelter, the pets taken in by Greece Animal Control — even the friendly, healthy ones — face euthanasia if their owner's don't claim them. Greece Residents Assisting Stray Pets, or GRASP, is a volunteer organization devoted to saving those animals by reducing the number of stray and homeless cats and dogs in Greece.
Here are five things you should know about the animal-saving group and how you can help:
1. Origins
GRASP became a 501(c)(3) non-profit animal rescue organization in 1996, but its story begins years earlier with Barbara Pingree, who at the time was a vet tech at Stone Ridge Animal Hospital. In her time working there, she saw many healthy, friendly stray pets brought in by Animal Control and euthanized when no owners turned up.
Alone at first, Pingree started finding homes for some, taking others home with her, and bringing the rest to Lollypop Farm. Friends soon joined in her mission, and before long, those friends had gotten their own friends involved, and GRASP was born.
2. Animal control
GRASP works in conjunction with Greece Animal Control. Animal Control first selects friendly, healthy pets as viable for adoption. GRASP Cat Coordinator and Intake Coordinator for the cat team, Karla Barkley, contacts the organization on a weekly basis to find out what animals are available and how many GRASP can take.
3. Fostering
GRASP operates without a centralized shelter of its own, meaning the number of animals it can save is directly related to the number of foster homes available. Fosters volunteer to house a cat or dog until it can be adopted.
"There's no commitment to it," Barkley said. "Some people just take an animal home for a week or two so it can stretch its legs."
One benefit of fostering is that, if the foster has children or other pets, potential adopters can know how an animal behaves in that type of home environment.
Fosters are also directly responsible for saving the animals' lives.
"If we don't have fosters, there's no place for them to go," said Sharon Jacklin, GRASP Dog Team Coordinator and foster. "There's nothing like it for volunteering. This is the best volunteer experience I've had."
4. Volunteering
Fostering isn't the only volunteer opportunity GRASP has, though fosters are the most in-demand.
"There's always a shortage of fosters," said GRASP Adoption Coordinator Nicole Gallo.
Volunteers are also needed to answer questions and handle animals at adoption events, clean cat cages twice daily, process adoption and foster applications, run the organization's website, fill out various spreadsheets, transport animals from Animal Control to veterinarians and adoption events, handle public relations, coordinate fundraisers and more.
5. Events
Petco on West Ridge Road and Pet World in Ridgemont Plaza allow GRASP to keep cat cages in their stores. The organization holds at least two adoption events every week and has found homes for 188 animals so far in 2012. Adoptions through the pet stores are handled entirely by GRASP, and all pets are fully vet-checked and treated for fleas and worms, vaccinated, and spayed or neutered. Cats are tested for FIV/leukemia and dogs are tested for heartworm.
GRASP is also holding its first ever Putts for Pets Golf Tournament this Saturday, August 11. The nine-hole tournament costs $50 for a single golfer and $180 for a foursome and includes prizes, contests, a picnic, and golf carts.
