Victims of domestic violence often feel as if they have nowhere to turn. If they have a pet, they feel even more helpless. They don’t want to leave their animal, so they stay with their abuser.
RedRover Helps Victims of Domestic Violence and their Pets
RedRover is a national nonprofit animal welfare organization, was recently awarded a $433,000 grant from an anonymous foundation in support of the RedRover Relief Domestic Violence Assistance Program, just in time for October’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month. You can find about the grants and more through the RedRover Relief materials available on their website.
This generous grant will allow RedRover to offer more financial assistance for safe pet boarding and veterinary care through the Safe Escape program, increase their Safe Housing grant amounts from $6,000 up to $20,000 and launch a pilot program that enables domestic violence shelters to create their own plan to help survivors of domestic violence and their pets escape abuse together.
The grant also funds general operating costs for the program.
How RedRover Helps
RedRover Relief Safe Escape grants pay for temporary boarding and/or veterinary care to enable a domestic violence victim to remove pets to safety so that no member of the family is left behind. These grants pay for on-site space to house pets at domestic violence shelters.
RedRover President and CEO Nicole Forsyth said, “This generous grant saves lives by expanding this vital program to more domestic violence survivors across the country, so they can escape abusive relationships safely with their precious pets. It also allows us to launch a Safe Housing expansion pilot program to identify boarding options beyond those just onsite.”
According to Sheltering Animals and Families Together (SAF-T), a national initiative that guides family violence shelters on how to welcome families with pets, only a fraction of the 2,500 domestic violence shelters in the United States report having the ability to house animals onsite.
RedRover is partnering with SAF-T to work toward the goal of having at least one pet-friendly domestic violence shelter in each state.
Deadlines to apply for Safe Housing grants are May 15 and October 15 each year. To learn more, visit: https://RedRover.org/
Fall 2016
In the fall of 2016, RedRover built a new shelter in Washington. Grant money and money from donations help fund new shelters. This way, more women and pets can be helped.
Pets and Domestic Violence
According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, more than 70 percent of pet-owning women entering domestic violence shelters reported that their batterer had injured, killed or threatened family pets for revenge or psychological control. As many as 48 percent of domestic violence victims don’t leave their abusive situations because they fear what will happen to their pets when they leave.
About RedRover
RedRover focuses on bringing animals out of crisis. They strengthen the human-animal bond through emergency sheltering, disaster relief services, financial assistance and education. Through their RedRover Relief program, they have helped thousands of animals and provided thousands of safe nights across the United States and Canada. For the third consecutive year, RedRover has earned a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator. To learn more, please visit RedRover.org.
Since helping its first victim of domestic violence with a RedRover Relief Safe Escape grant in 2007, RedRover has awarded 382 grants to help 688 people with 13,897 nights of boarding for their pets. Since the inception of the Safe Housing program in 2012, 58 grants have been awarded to domestic violence shelters for a total of $238,720.
What a great program! I hope that people have support like this in my area. Thanks for sharing.
I hope so too!