The ASPCA has initiated a program aimed at providing animal welfare and community organizations in several U.S. cities with various resources.
The effort, dubbed “ASPCA Mission: Orange,” consists of what the ASPCA calls “a focused effort to create a country of humane communities, one community at a time.”
In order to achieve its goal, the ASPCA and its partners say they plan to identify the needs of each target community and implement programs that will result in immediate change for the animals in these communities, particularly the shelter population, which is most at risk.
The ASPCA says programs could include, but are not limited to, financial assistance and grants, strategic planning, community grass-roots activities, humane education, and a variety of training opportunities.
“In the more than 30 years that I have been involved in animal welfare, I have seen, time and time again, that we, as an industry, are most effective in saving animals when we put our differences aside and pool our strengths to achieve what is, after all, a shared goal - the elevation and continued welfare of animals in our society,” ASPCA President and CEO Ed Sayres said Jan. 10 during an announcement of the project.
The ASPCA says it has made a three-year commitment to each of the communities it will partner with in the 2007 phase of “ASPCA Mission: Orange,” and will invest up to $200,000 in each community for animal welfare efforts.
During the first year of the campaign, “ASPCA Mission: Orange” target communities are public and private animal welfare agencies in Austin, Texas; Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss.; Philadelphia; Tampa, Fla.; Richmond, Va.; and New York City.
For more information on “ASPCA Mission: Orange,” visit www.aspca.org/missionorange.