Highland Lakes Canine Rescue: Disaster Response and Recovery Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The money that the grant generously provided helped to offset the necessary emergency expenses we incurred in response to severe winter storms in Central Texas in mid-February 2021. These storms, which brought record-breaking ice, snow, and frigid temperatures, wreaked havoc on electricity and water supplies throughout the state and caused damage and disruptions for Highland Lakes Canine Rescue shelter dogs, humans, and infrastructure. We spent the funds to provide emergency water and care for the dogs in our protection during the emergency and to restore water and safe access to our shelter site as the storms receded.
The $610 Disaster Grant monies received directly covered the expenses we incurred from clearing downed trees, emergency labor due to impassable roads, fixing broken pipes, and purchasing water while pipes were frozen. Thank you!
Having these funds restored to our budget directly resulted in our ability to take in and afford basic medical expenses for four additional dogs in 2021. Our basic medical expenses average just over $150 per dog, which includes spay/neuter, vaccinations, heartworm/parasite tests, and a microchip for every dog we take in. As a small, community-supported non-profit dog-rescue shelter, our budget has already been impacted by COVID-19 cancellations of most recent fundraisers, so this $610 allowed us to increase our intake to four additional needy dogs following the disaster, all of whom have had all the standard medical tests and procedures performed, and who have all been adopted!
How many pets did this grant help?
4
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
This grant allowed us to bring in four additional dogs who might otherwise not have been lucky enough to be taken in from [open-admission] shelters, local law-enforcement kennels, or other [high-risk] situations. Specifically, this grant allowed us to intake Squirrel, Emma, Gecko, and Jackie O.
All of these dogs were given basic medical examinations, spay/neuter, heartworm/parasite tests, and microchipping by Highland Lakes Canine Rescue.
Squirrel (first two photos), an adorable terrier-mix puppy, came in after a car accident caused injuries that required her back leg to be amputated. Therefore, we incurred extra expenses and time spent with her on vet visits and wound cleaning/stitch removal.
Thankfully, her happy, loving nature and puppy energy were completely undaunted by this injury and she was adopted very quickly by a loving family who report that she is doing wonderfully!
Each of these four dogs was listed on Petfinder, except for Squirrel, who was adopted locally even before making it onto the website.
