Hi everyone,
Indy here! I hope you are all remembering to wash your (human) paws for at least 20 seconds and to wear your mask when you go outside! It is very “im-paw-tant” that you do those things to keep everyone healthy!
The last time I wrote to you, the nice folks working on the Cleveland APL’s expansion project had to stop construction in order to help slow down the spread of COVID-19. And wow, look at how much can change in three months! The construction team is back at work, and the exterior work on the expansion in the back of the building is nearly finished. The inside work has started: the floor is down in the new laundry and food prep room, and the construction team is working on building the fancy, new clinic!
The new clinic will allow my friends at the APL to help many more people and animals through project CARE (the APL’s Community Animal Retention Effort.) That program is so important that during the COVID-19 lockdown, my friends added an extra clinic day to help even more animals who were in urgent need of veterinary care. Project CARE normally helps pet owners on government assistance, but the shutdown showed just how close many pet parents have been to struggling to feed their pets for a month right now. The Cleveland APL was there to help these families with donations of food from our community, GreaterGood.org, and Hill’s Pet Nutrition because they believe—and I agree— that animals should stay with the families that love them! I know I would never want to leave my family!
I’ll tell you a secret—before the APL started working on construction, families who came to project CARE went through a door attached to the garage to get help. It is a newer program that was added to a building that had already reached capacity. It wasn’t very pretty, but my friends at the APL made it work—they always do. But soon that will all change!
The new addition will give the pet parents coming to the APL for assistance through project CARE a nice, friendly looking door to come through, a shiny, bright waiting room with seating for dogs and their owners on one side and cats and their owners on the other side, and a new, efficient veterinary clinic to help the animals.
So, as my friends at the APL continue to help animals and people in need, we should do everything we can to help them get the space they need! During this thing everyone is calling a pandemic, the APL’s team has learned that increasing access to essential services for pets through project CARE is even more important than ever.
Woofing sincerely,
Indiana Bones