PAWS in the Time of COVID-19
Since March, like most of you, PAWS has had to rethink how we do business. We faced the challenge of COVID-19 head-on by restructuring our activities and services to comply with the recommended precautionary protocols. For example, we started by limiting the number of visitors allowed in the office during our regular Saturday adoption hours and quickly readjusted to virtual adoptions. This has been no small feat.
Between March and November, we've taken in about 25% more cats and kittens compared to the same period last year. For us, this increase can be attributed in large measure to the effects of the pandemic. People and their animals have been affected by the complications of the disease, economic losses, housing and food insecurity, and more. In addition, most animal shelters had to reduce their in-house population and move pets to foster care or to other organizations. Since PAWS has always been foster-based, we were in a good position to help out immediately. More homeless cats find their families The silver lining in this cloud is that many people, now working from home, were ready to add a furry friend to the family, and PAWS was prepared to make those adoptions happen. From another point of view, many of our long-term cats have found their special person and have finally been adopted after spending quite some time in foster care. MA Pet Food Task Force serves People Food Pantries In April, PAWS joined the Massachusetts Pet Food Task Force, a coalition of shelters, rescue groups, and individuals working to address the growing problem of pet food insecurity. Initially our office staff contacted area food pantries to determine which ones supplied pet food in addition to human food. When we learned that the Wakefield food pantry did not have the ability to address pet food needs, we opened a small pet food pantry at our office. Managed by our dedicated volunteer, Becky, the pantry is open every Tuesday between 1:00 and 5:00 pm. Local Businesses and Community Members Help Out Many of our volunteers and generous community members have donated a substantial amount of food to the pantry. In addition, the following businesses have donated cash and gift cards to support this initiative:
Third-grade students at Saint Joseph's School in Wakefield held their annual pet food fundraiser in honor of St. Francis, the patron Saint of animals, and donated all of the food collected to the PAWS Food Pantry. Saint Joseph's School also held a casual dress day in which students donated $1 to not wear their uniforms. They raised $290, along with many donations of pet food and gift cards from the students' parents. The work of the Massachusetts Pet Food Task Force (aka Pawsitive Pantries) has reached beyond the Commonwealth. The Nutmeg Spay/Neuter Clinic in Stratford, CT, reached out to the Task Force to share twelve pallets of pet food and litter donated by Chewy.
The growth of the Pawsitive Pantries has been incredible. Each week, many pet owners come to take advantage of this free food for their cats, dogs, and even birds and guinea pigs. Recently someone came to Wakefield all the way from Fall River! PAWS will continue to support the needs of our many homeless felines and the needs of our local pet families as we struggle together to overcome the COVID-19 threat and the adverse consequences of the pandemic. Keeping the coronavirus restrictions in mind, this past summer we held our first-ever Pet Photo Contest. Throughout the summer we engaged in a grassroots project called Five-Dollar Fridays featuring a different cat-in-need each week. In the fall, our annual Fun Run became a virtual event instead of a trip through the Reading Town Forest. Thanks to the generosity and support of the community, all of these events have made a significant contribution toward helping us meet our expenses as we care for an ever-growing number of felines. While the road ahead looks promising we still have a ways to travel before safely returning to life as we knew it. We are grateful for the bright spots and thankful for our volunteers and the community supporters who have helped us to carry out our mission even in the face of a global pandemic. |
PAWS volunteers, Becky and Jacki, joined other task force volunteers who drove to Connecticut to help pick up this substantial donation. More PAWS volunteers helped to unload the van and store the products until they could be distributed to the food pantries in surrounding communities.