Animal Care Centers of NYC: Play Yard Renovation Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
Animal Care Centers of NYC (ACC) is truly grateful for this generous grant from the Petfinder Foundation, which was used to install a roofing structure at ACC’s Brooklyn Care Center’s outdoor play area to facilitate dog play groups and dog-to-dog socialization. This roofing structure is essential for the comfort of our dogs. ACC runs playgroups daily to provide the best possible quality of life for the dogs in our care, but inclement weather such as rain and snow as well as the hot sun can remove some of the benefits that dogs receive from this lifesaving program. The newly installed roofing structure at our Brooklyn Care Center ensures the efficacy of daily playgroups in a healthy and stimulating environment for NYC’s shelter dogs by providing high-quality enrichment and valuable socialization, which reduces stress and illness and ultimately increases adoptions.
ACC is one of the largest animal-welfare organizations in the country, taking in more than 35,000 animals annually. We are different from other rescue organizations because we never turn away any homeless, abandoned, injured or sick animal in need, including cats, dogs, rabbits, small mammals, reptiles, birds, farm animals and wildlife.
The generosity of the Petfinder Foundation has enabled us to achieve our goal of providing the tens of thousands of dogs we care for each year a healthy, positive environment with the greatest possible chance for placement. Each year, on average, our Brooklyn Care Center cares for more than 3,500 dogs. For years to come, each dog now entering the Brooklyn Care Center will benefit directly from this roofing structure.
How many pets did this grant help?
3,500 yearly
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Orchid, a 7-year-old mixed breed (first photo), was found abandoned and tied to a pole in Rockaway Beach, New York. She was then brought to ACC’s Brooklyn Care Center by a Good Samaritan. Orchid immediately became a staff and volunteer favorite, as she was so sweet and always wagging her tail! Overweight (yet that much more to love) at 78 lbs., Orchid would become very hot and winded during playgroup. Once the roofing structure was installed with the generosity of the Petfinder Foundation, she learned how to stay cool in the shade, which enabled her to spend more time out in playgroup, socializing with other dogs and letting her true personality shine. Orchid was placed with one of ACC’s dedicated New Hope rescue-group partners.
