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Dear Friends,
A quick update for those of you who have followed our recent contract negotiations with Maricopa County Animal Care and Control (MCACC). Just a short while ago, we were preparing to vacate MCACC’s West Side Shelter, as our contract was not going to be renewed. After many weeks of conversations and tons of “homework” being done on both sides, we are very pleased to announce that the County Board of Supervisors has signed a renewal of HALO’s contract for another year, valid until April 30, 2017.
While this gives us a moment to take a sigh of relief, there is still much work to be done! Although the last 3 years have had its challenges, we can see first-hand that the partnership is saving more lives with our combined efforts than before HALO moved its headquarters to MCACC’s West Side shelter. The pets are worth the trials and tribulations we’ve all experienced in working toward a better, safer shelter system for the homeless animals!
HALO plays a significant role in Maricopa County’s animal welfare community in many ways.
- HALO provides 53 full time employees to aid MCACC’s homeless pet population. We operate two full scale adoption centers and 5 PetSmart and Petco cat adoption centers out in our community. All of these centers are occupied with animals from MCACC’s shelter system.
- In the last three years alone HALO has secured over $7M dollars in revenue via grants, donations and adoption fees, all of which goes directly to providing support to pets received from MCACC’s shelters.
- In partnership with Purina and Tidy Cats, HALO is able to provide all of the food and litter for the 22,000 plus animals coming in to the West shelter annually at no cost, allowing pets to receive a high quality, age-appropriate diet from the moment they enter the shelter.
These examples are but a few of the many contributions HALO has made to MCACC’s animal welfare operations in the last few years.
In the coming year, HALO’s plan is to increase our dog transport program and transfer hundreds of dogs to other shelters across North America including Canada and Alaska! Watch for a flight going out in partnership with Dog is My Co-Pilot and The Idaho Humane Society, on March 15th, weather permitting!
We also plan to keep up our efforts on saving more of the bully breeds that enter MCACC’s shelters by continuing our Adopt-A-Bull campaign aimed at saving pit bull type dogs over the age of 6 months by waiving their adoption fees.
HALO will continue to work with MCACC’s executive leadership team to improve shelter operations, elevate the standards of care for the pets and customers and provide a more fun and rewarding environment for our staff and volunteers.
The data, both for the animals and for dollars spent show that, together, we are saving more lives than we did separately and HALO is doing so in a fiscally responsible manner to ensure we can continue to save the lives of homeless pets for years and years to come.
It is my sincere hope that by seeing the undeniable success we’ve had during the first 3 years, added with the unanimous support of the community’s executive leadership team and the financial support of all the major animal welfare funders in the United States, it helps paint a clear picture that supporting this partnership is in the best interest of the animals and the humans we serve.
On behalf of HALO’s board, staff, volunteers and the animals, I thank you all for the trust you place in us and hope that we can continue this partnership for years to come.
Thank you,
Heather Allen
President and Co-Founder
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