JANESVILLE, Wis. (WKOW) – The Humane Society of Southern Wisconsin is ready to receive extra funding that staff can use to help keep animals with owners who can’t afford to keep them.
Petco Love awarded the humane society a $20,000 grant investment to support its Better Together program, which aims to reduce animal surrenders.
“$20,000 is not small potatoes by any means, so seeing it go over the email resulted in a lot of applause from my office,” said Kaitie Swedlund, the humane society’s director of business development.
Swedlund says this is the third year Petco Love has awarded him funding for the program. This year’s award is part of more than $15 million in investments that the national non-profit recently announced.
“So, not that it’s not guaranteed by any means, but it’s certainly a path that we go down every year in hopes that, you know, we’ll promote the program every year,” he said. “But so far, every year they’ve invested in this program, it’s lasted us the whole year.”
The money supports things like veterinary care, food costs, or temporary shelter. It’s all part of the effort to keep animals with owners who say they can no longer afford to care for them on their own.
Swedlund is the one who takes those calls.
“So often, our conversations with people who are trying to make it, they don’t want to make it,” Swedlund said. “They really feel as if they have no other options.”
But Swedlund said going through the grant process to help fund the program is worth it because it has helped many owners keep their beloved pets. She said they are grateful for the resources.
“I can say I’ve cried on the phone with a lot of owners, a lot of very grateful owners, just happy tears,” he said. “I have a ton of thank you notes here that are signed by people who were like, ‘You know, that bill you covered for us really made a difference?’ Like, that gave me five more years with my little one.”
Since 2021, the Humane Society of Southern Wisconsin has helped more than 170 pets stay in safe and loving homes through the Better Together program.
