{"id":2350,"date":"2019-12-20T20:47:43","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T20:47:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/?p=2350"},"modified":"2019-12-20T20:47:43","modified_gmt":"2019-12-20T20:47:43","slug":"humane-pennsylvania-2019-year-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.humanepa.org\/?p=2350","title":{"rendered":"Humane Pennsylvania 2019 Year in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Humane Pennsylvania 2019 Year in Review<\/strong><\/p>\n

by: Karel Minor, CEO Humane Pennsylvania<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It\u2019s time once again for Humane Pennsylvania\u2019s year-end round up!\u00a0 This past year has been especially eventful and impactful, so buckle up, this will be a long one.\u00a0 2019 was the first full calendar year in which we felt the impacts of the amazing $3.1 million Giorgi Family Foundation grant in support of our groundbreaking new approach to preventable animal suffering.\u00a0 The Healthy Pets Initiative (HPI) is a methodical and data based constellation of services aimed at helping the animals most at risk for relinquishment by providing specific, targeted services to them before<\/em> they come to us with problems.\u00a0 One of the keys to this approach is to be able to deliver services at a high rate and number but in an extremely short period of time- essentially we will be providing ten years of service in just two years.<\/p>\n

Beyond simply helping tens of thousands of animals in a very short period of time, we project we can decrease animal intake in our regional shelters from target service areas by 50% through HPI.\u00a0 Based on past trends a 50% decrease would take ten to fifteen years.\u00a0 We are shooting for doing it in just two.\u00a0 If it works, we will have identified a model that can be scaled and replicated.\u00a0 Although the bulk of services are being directed at the City of Reading, adjacent municipalities and targeted adjacent ZIP codes (19600 to 19612) due to the requirements of the grant, we are mirroring our services where ever possible in our Lancaster service area, as well.\u00a0 This means the benefits of this approach are being felt on the ground across Berks and Lancaster Counties, and beyond.<\/p>\n

HPI is the focus of our work for the next couple of years and it is built on several key areas of growth, expansion and improvement in order to help ten times more animals.\u00a0 These include: capital\/building\/renovation projects, emergency services and response expansion, partnership expansion, expanded veterinary services, key staffing additions, and training and learning opportunities, both offered and received by our staff.<\/p>\n

Capital Projects:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Humane Pennsylvania\u2019s 1801 N. 11th<\/sup> St., Reading, animal shelter is under a near complete demolition, rebuild, and renovation process.\u00a0 This project will be finished in 2020 and will be the final component of the Giorgi Family Campus.\u00a0 This campus currently features our Schumo Center for Animal Wellness, our full service community veterinary hospital which is one of fewer than 25 AAHA accreted non-profit veterinary hospitals in the United States (and it\u2019s here to serve your pet!).\u00a0 But the Giorgi Campus and HPI needs a new type of animal shelter that focuses on health and behavior.\u00a0 Our new Center for Animal Lifesaving will be that new shelter, featuring the best of animal housing merged with the best of shelter veterinary care and a high efficiency, high volume \u201cwalk-in\/urgent care\u201d veterinary service model to close the gap for those who have little or no resources but want to provide for their pets.\u00a0 The groundbreaking was Friday, December 13, at 10 AM!<\/p>\n

This project will cost about $2 million and the Giorgi Family Foundation grant covered about 1\/3 of the cost.\u00a0 We have been very fortunate to have several other donors make early gifts to bring our committed amount to over $1 million.\u00a0 This includes a generous $250,000 naming donation from a longtime friend of Humane Pennsylvania.\u00a0 We will still need to do final campaign asks of middle to low donors.<\/p>\n

We also added to our fleet a box truck, trailer, pickup truck, passenger car, and mobile \u201ctiny house\u201d clinic were purchased.\u00a0 We were also fortunate to be on the receiving end of Savage 61\u2019s generosity.\u00a0 They donated a Dodge ProMaster for use in our humane mission!\u00a0 Combined, these vehicles help us move food and supplies, set up our mobile clinic services, and do all the \u201cstuff\u201d we have to do and with the right vehicle for the job.\u00a0 We even got a fork lift (and our backs are very pleased about that.)<\/p>\n

Emergency Service\/Response:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We identified a building for program storage and emergency response use, which will be doubling as a wellness clinic and community resource center.\u00a0 It is the former Land Displays property, and they are a longtime supporter who worked with us to get a great deal and a temporary lease until our purchase this January so we could use the building immediately!\u00a0 Because of their creative and generous support, we were able to take the Giorgi Family Foundation support in the form of two years\u2019 worth of warehouse lease funding and convert it to owned property.<\/p>\n

Humane Pennsylvania representation has also returned to the Pennsylvania State Animal Response Team.\u00a0 Karel Minor (me!) rejoined the board of directors (I was prior board member and chair) to establish a more expansive program partnership using our newly acquired resources and programs to help statewide even more effectively.<\/p>\n

Partnerships established:<\/strong><\/p>\n

We have also been rapidly expanding our partnerships to have an even bigger impact.\u00a0 Some of our new or expanded partnerships include:<\/p>\n