Animal Rescue League of Berks County: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

With our shelter being at near maximum capacity for the first half of the year and now being past capacity over the duration of this summer, our shelter officially entered crisis mode when we also had to halt adoptions due to an unexpected disease outbreak among both our cat and dog populations.

With a limited number of cats and dogs being available for adoption, utilizing the Kia adoption grant funds towards the fees of these pets was absolutely imperative in supporting live outcomes for as many of our animals as possible. With many of our community members facing the hardships of inflation in a post-Covid economy, we have heard from countless adopters that waiving these adoption fees helped relieve a major barrier to their potential pet ownership.

How many pets did this grant help?

43 cats and dogs, whose adoption fees were all waived thanks to this grant.

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

Cupcake (first photo), an orange and white senior cat, has been in and out of our shelter twice in the past three years through no fault of his own.

When we first met him in 2020, he had entered the shelter because his owner passed away unexpectedly and had nobody to care for him.

He was adopted a few months later, but returned to ARL this past June due to an unexpected diagnosis of diabetes at 12 years old. Knowing his placement would likely be difficult due to his age and diagnosis that would require ongoing medical expenses, we waived Cupcake’s adoption fee thanks to the Kia adoption grant, which helped him find a home within one week of becoming available!

Phoenix (second photo), an adorable tan terrier, came into our care as a stray and waited three long months at the shelter before finding a new home.

Although she was sweet as could be, she exhibited signs of anxiety around new people and would pull roughly on her leash on walks, which made her a more difficult placement in comparison to our other dogs.

Similarly to Cupcake, within one week of having a waived adoption fee thanks to the Kia grant, Phoenix went home with a new family and has been thriving ever since!

Lena (third photo), a 4-year-old tortoiseshell cat, came into our care after being abandoned in a home that her previous owner had vacated.

Initially, Lena was very underweight and under-socialized, and it took over a month to help her recover to a healthy weight and gain confidence around new people so that she would be adoptable.

At the time she went up for adoption, many of our cats were being held in vet care due to a tragic calicivirus outbreak, so moving as many of our adult cats as possible to empty the shelter was critical.

A few days after receiving her Kia/Petfinder Foundation sponsorship, she found a loving home to call her own!